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From a completely unrelated posting of December 14, 2006, "Aside: We are having a glorious sunrise. So much so that I just had to take a few minutes out for admiration. The silhouetted trees along the creek bank, against the red-struck clouds, are so peaceful and beautiful."
Now that I have my computer up and running well, and the software to my camera re-installed, I'll post the photo that I took that morning. Ooooooh...Ahhhhh....
December 27, 2006 at 09:56 PM
Posted at 09:56 PM in Current Activities/Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0)
While writing the above posting, just now, I was interrupted by the doorbell's ringing. There was a delivery of a small box--from Illinois. (Now, who do we all know who lives in Illinois?!!!) Puzzled as to what could be in a compact box that didn't weigh enough to be a book, I tore it open.
It was the most imaginative gift you can imagine--not one, not two, not three, but four lumps of coal! Each "lump" is labeled "PREMIUM MILK CHOCOLATE: You Deserve a Lump of Coal!" You have to have followed the comment exchanges on Buffy's Arrrgh!!!, Another Idea for Traditions, to understand where that was coming from. I had opined that it was traditional for me to get a lump of coal for Christmas. Buffy supplied me for the next four Christmases. Thank you, you dear, sweet person! What a clever offering of your local nut & sweets house.
P.S. I should note that each individual candy wrapper shows Santa checking his list. The top of the list is turned down so that, upside down, one may read, "NAUGHTY LIST". How cool is that?
December 23, 2006 at 04:03 PM
That is very cool CC...coming from a very cool lady. One of these days I'm going to meet my fellow Illinois blog buddy and see just how cool she is in person.
Posted by: Joy | December 24, 2006 at 12:02 AM
Considering the "conversation" that has gone on in the last week, that is the coolest thing ever!
Posted by: bogie | December 24, 2006 at 06:19 AM
Joy--Buffy is every bit as delightful, in person, as she is online. A more considerate, friendlier, smarter...(fill in the blank, here)...friend, you won't find, I'll wager.
Bogie--Obviously, I agree with you!!
Posted by: Cop Car | December 24, 2006 at 11:37 AM
Merry Christmas!
Posted by: bogie | December 25, 2006 at 05:09 AM
(blushing) Cop Car.....Dear Husband gets most of the credit for the idea. I told him about your "coal comments." He told me that he had seen chocolate coal in several shops. When he went out to do more shopping he picked up the coal, and I sent it off. I guess it was a collaborative effort. It seemed like the perfect thing to send after our conversation. *G*
From our household to our favorite "Naughty" friend: Merry Christmas, and the best in the New Year! HUGSSSSSSSSS!
Posted by: buffy | December 25, 2006 at 07:30 PM
Buffy--Please convey to your Dear Husband how thrilled I was with (now that I know) his and your thoughtfulness. What a hoot!
Posted by: Cop Car | December 26, 2006 at 09:17 AM
Posted at 01:03 PM in Current Activities/Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0)
December 19, 2006 at 07:54 AM
Ahh yes Joy is a wonder. Kudos Girlfiend!
Posted by: janet | December 18, 2006 at 10:30 AM
OMG...you actually did it! You gave me that "Atta Girl" we were talking about CC. Where's the kleenex when you need it? You made my day...hell, you made my week. Good timing too.....thanks for the support. Hold your head up high CC...coming from you is WAY better than TypePad anyway. (sniff)
Posted by: Joy | December 18, 2006 at 10:30 PM
Joy--After the week that you've had, you could use a small positive vibe. Hope the rest of the year goes right for you and that you have heat pronto! Thanks for the kind words. I'm sending hugs your way. ;^]
Posted by: Cop Car | December 19, 2006 at 10:06 AM
Isn't it astonishing that she found the answer despite all the distractions and aggravations of last week? I'd have been totally unable to read a manual, or work through the help info under those circumstances. Way to go, Joy!
Posted by: Buffy | December 21, 2006 at 04:01 PM
Posted at 07:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Since finishing Madeleine Albright's book, I've read a couple of less-weighty ones: 1) Jimmy Buffet's A Salty Piece of Land and 2) Joyce Carol Oates's Black Girl White Girl. As fiction, they were not fluff; but, they were shorter and easier to read. It surprised me to learn that Jimmy Buffet is a song-writer and performer. (You may have known that.) At any rate, if you wish to read something light, but well-researched, I can recommend either of those tales to you. Just now, I'm working on Karen DeYoung's Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell.
On 12/21/2005, I started knitting a poncho while visiting with Mrs A in the nursing home. For months, it lay about--untouched. Finally, a couple or three weeks ago, I picked it up, started knitting on it, again, and nearly finished it during my more recent visit with Mrs A. On 12/14/2006, I did finish it. Soon, I shall post a photo of it. What knitting project next?
No, I've not finished Hunky Husband's Afghan quilt (which was started in October 2005). The quilting is about 75% done. I really should finish it before Christmas, don't you think? I really, really wish that I had just paid someone else to hand quilt it. It would have been so much better. Oh, well.
Elegant Friend and I were chatting about my blog (mostly about Long Lost Nephew's having shown up and about how I suspected he had found my blog--and, yes, that was how he did it--by Googling my real name and finding it on a comment on Ronni's blog--from which he followed the link to my blog.) The next time I am at EF's house, I plan to teach her how to leave comments. She has been lurking for some time (a couple of years). Let's give her a lot of encouragement--and get EF involved!
There is another lurker out there--SQ--retired manager of disaster response & planning. We need to get SQ more involved, too.
December 17, 2006 at 08:29 AM
because i only like to knit garments, there are now two scarves languishing. when spouse learned to knit,and enjoys row after row,i realized opportunity. all this to say there's a little poncho for a grandchild he is now knitting. from my idea to his basket. good luck on finishing the HH quilt!
Posted by: Naomi Dagen Bloom | December 17, 2006 at 10:06 AM
Wow! If only I could recruit my Hunky Husband to do anything that doesn't involve computers or paper work. Well, to be fair, he does do the shopping, the carpet vacuuming, the laundry & ironing, and most of the cat/bird feeding/watering. You must be doing something right!
The secret that you probably haven't stumbled across, yet, Naomi, is that I hate to sew--though I've been doing a certain amount of it ever since 1943. I'm not what can be termed "domestic" in any sense of the word. Thanks for the wishes. We shall see.
Posted by: Cop Car | December 17, 2006 at 05:59 PM
I've had the itch to start knitting again CC. So much so that I just took out some yarn and started. I have no idea what I'm making....although, there's a good chance it will just be a little blanket for my granddaughter's doll. I was going to make slippers again for Xmas for all my kids, but time just slipped away. There was a time when I'd knit and crochet ANYTHING....but, I haven't done that for quite a while. I do love how it relaxes me.
BTW...where did you find HH? Did you win him in a lottery?
Posted by: Joy | December 17, 2006 at 07:08 PM
Margeritaville - a great song!
Posted by: bogie | December 18, 2006 at 03:14 AM
No, Joy, HH has transformed from a guy who did absolutely nothing around the house into a guy who does his bit. It only took 32 years for the transformation to take place. (Well, actually, he didn't start transforming for the first 30 years. It's a long story.) He's definitely a "keeper", though!
Posted by: Cop Car | December 18, 2006 at 08:00 AM
I can tell this post is going to take a lot of comments. So, the first comment is: What was it you thought Jimmy Buffet did? What caused you to pick up the book? DH might have thought he was related to Warren Buffet......*G*
Posted by: Buffy | December 21, 2006 at 04:07 PM
Buffy--I have no earthly idea why I picked up the Buffet book. I had no idea that Jimmy Buffet was famous for anything! I did briefly think Warren when I saw Buffet, but the title intrigued me and I could read the font is all I know. About half of the books that I check out, I look for by title (or, at least, by author). Currently, I'm about 1/2-way through two books: Karen DeYoung's Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell and Bob Woodward's State of Denial. Both are really good books. The former is checked out from the library. The latter is on loan from Elegant Friend.
Posted by: Cop Car | December 21, 2006 at 09:38 PM
Posted at 08:29 AM in Books, Current Activities/Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0)
We are having a glorious sunrise. So much so that I just had to take a few minutes out for admiration. The silhouetted trees along the creek bank, against the red-struck clouds, are so peaceful and beautiful.
Yesterday, Hunky Husband and I attended a lecture on pandemic flu. (If you missed my book report on a related, historical topic, and if you are interested, you may read my overly-long review of The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry.)
The physician who made the pandemic flu presentation is an American-born, ethnic-Chinese woman of tiny physical stature whose great intellect was quite evident. She gave a marvelous over-view on what pandemic flu is, how it differs from our garden-variety flu, and the assumptions that should be made in planning for such a possible occurrence. She clearly delineated among things that she knew, things that might be known but not by her, things that no one knows--and she took pains that we not infer from her remarks greater knowledge than she/researchers have. A great speech.
P.S. HH just called me into the breakfast room to see the 41 turkey in our back yard. They got spooked and flew over the trees to get to the field beyond the creek. Now he believes the book when it says that turkey are "strong flyers".
December 14, 2006 at 07:59 AM
What a wonderful and touching surprise for you Cop Car. It's always so rewarding to be recognized for work well done by the people you work with...and for. And to have it happen and catch you totally by surprise...that's really special. Congratulations CC.
You deserve to feel very proud...and I'm sure HH is feeling pretty proud of you too.
Posted by: Joy | December 14, 2006 at 09:48 PM
Congratulations on the award - you certainly deserve it! Although, I didn't realize HH was so sneaky.
Tell HH that turkeys are very strong fliers - those that aren't are weeded out of the gene pool very quickly, just ask the one that didn't gain altitude fast enough to avoid the rental car I was driving (several years ago) - he is no longer in the gene pool!
Posted by: bogie | December 15, 2006 at 06:09 AM
Holy crap!
Sorry, just tracked down this blog and I must say that I'm impressed with the layout, content, humor, and just about everything else.
Who knew aunts could be cool like that? ;)
Posted by: Long Lost Nephew | December 15, 2006 at 08:08 PM
how i wish that you lived closer to where i am in new york city. you know so much that would be very, very useful to me in new role at my co-op where i'm co-chairing an emergency preparedness effort. it will be a challenge in this 1,000 apartment complex but needs, as you know, doing.
congratulations of the honors. sounds as if the important volunteering you do hardly leaves time for much else!
Posted by: naomi dagen bloom | December 15, 2006 at 09:31 PM
What a wonderful surprise for you. I know that's not why you do it but it is wonderful when your efforts are noticed and appreciated by others.
CopCar, you thoroghly deserve the approbation.
Posted by: Adele | December 16, 2006 at 03:48 AM
Joy, Bogie, LLN, Naomi & Adele--Thanks for the kind words. I hesitated in posting such a self-promoting piece; but, I was so excited that I just had to do it! Obviously, I bask in your approval!
LLN--It's about time that you stopped by! Thanks for the compliments. You might want to take a peek at one of the blogs listed in the left-hand sidebar: http://www.silverfox-whispers.com/. The author, Marie, is a retired school teacher in your fair city, and her husband is retired Navy.
Naomi--If you've not already done so, you may wish to follow the link in the right-hand sidebar (Other Links), to the National American Red Cross web site. Follow their Get Prepared link (in the upper, blue area of their left-hand sidebar). From that page you may access lots of information. You might (in the lower, red are of their left-hand sidebar) input your area code to access contact information for your local chapter. They may have someone who can suggest how/where to get information helpful for one in your position--or they may offer training classes or personal advice. Good luck!
Posted by: Cop Car | December 16, 2006 at 09:54 AM
Congratulations! I always love hearing about the good folks in the world even if you have to tell about it yourself.
This is a very important issue for which we all need to be prepared.
The link didn't work for me,but I'd like to read it if you could email it to me that would be great. inwestcliffe at yahoo.com
Posted by: janet | December 16, 2006 at 12:21 PM
Janet--Thank you for your gracious congratulations. ;^}
While the Red Cross link was checked before my comment was posted, I understand that something can go amiss in the space/time continuum--just when we need it to go right! I've emailed you the link from the Red Cross home page.
Posted by: Cop Car | December 16, 2006 at 04:09 PM
Hey, toots! Congratulations! What a wonderful thing for your chapter to do. I'm glad they recognized your effort. I know you didn't expect this recognition, but that shouldn't negate the pleasure of knowing that others were aware how much you helped the chapter. I suspect they are delighted to have a "self-starter" like you around.
Posted by: buffy | December 16, 2006 at 08:27 PM
Buffy--Thank you, thank you, ma'am. As in the workplace, so it is in the voluntary sphere: you gotta figure out for yourself what needs to be done and go do it!
Posted by: Cop Car | December 17, 2006 at 08:02 AM
Well, wouldn't you know it, I miss a few days and you get a terrific award for being you. Congratulations on the Award. And Bogie's right, I didn't know HH could be that sneaky either.
Posted by: Wichi Dude | December 20, 2006 at 03:34 PM
Bogie & Wichi Dude: OMG--the man has been sneaky his whole life. Or--at least for the 50 years that I've known him! Just remember that one who cannot keep secrets cannot be trusted to work on classified programs--which HH did for many years (I assume! *grin*)
Posted by: Cop Car | December 21, 2006 at 09:43 PM
Posted at 07:59 AM in Fauna | Permalink | Comments (0)
When we finished our stint at the fitness center, this morning, Elegant Friend and I stopped by the local nursing home (the one at which I served as long-term care ombudsman, and in which EF's husband had spent his last few months) to drop off some presents. Each year we have purchased items that are useful to the residents (sweat pants, sweat shirts, dusters, slipper socks, toiletries, stationery & stamps, et cetera). The staff gathers all of the donated items, figures out who most needs what, wraps, and has the gifts ready for the holiday gift exchange. In addition, EF has a special friend to whom she was taking a fancy holiday vest, and I wished to check with one of the women to see if she would be available for a knitting/crocheting/chatting session tomorrow morning. The woman was being wheeled out by a couple of relatives, for an outing, so I had a bit of time on my hands and sauntered down to the physical therapy area to say "hi" to the physical therapist. As I walked in the door, a man who was there for therapy (having had a stroke that left him unable to speak or use his right hand, some months ago) saw me and broke into the brightest smile imaginable. When I shook his left hand, he raised my hand to his lips and planted two or three kisses on it. What a sweet gesture, and how touching. I'm a big, bad engineer; but, it melted my heart.
December 11, 2006 at 07:58 PM
Glad to hear you have a soft spot. Who ever told you an engineer wouldn't?? *smile* As a former long term care ombudsman you certainly zeroed in on the kind of gifts that can be most appreciated and used in so many such facilities.
Posted by: joared | December 13, 2006 at 01:02 AM
Joared--The local newspaper provides space for non-profits to list their Christmas lists, each year. Elegant Friend and I have been gifting the nursing home residents for so many years that we no longer need to look: we know what it will say (besides, we know the staff well enough to just ask!) And, no one told me that engineers couldn't have a soft spot; but, the required course "Shell Integrity Assurance" was a pretty good indication. *grinning*
Posted by: Cop Car | December 13, 2006 at 07:41 AM
Posted at 07:58 PM in Health/Human Welfare/Quality of Life, Human Nature/Human Foibles, Volunteer Endeavors | Permalink | Comments (0)
Madeleine Albright surpasses any super hero, any rock star, any TV star, any movie star that I've ever seen/heard/read about in popularity with me. She is fabulous; so cool, so calm, so intelligent, so knowledgeable....You get the idea. Thus, I just had to read her latest book; and, I was richly rewarded. One might find it odd that an avowed agnostic would bother reading a book that has "The Almighty" in its title. I had no qualms about picking up the book. Partly due to my respect and trust in Ms Albright and partly due to the subtitle of the book "Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs". It has always been obvious to me that religion has played a leading role in America and world affairs. Let's dive right in.
There are nineteen chapters in the book (plus 16 pages of sources and another 6 pages of acknowledgments that made fascinating reading--especially her acknowledgment of having consulted Republican Senator from Kansas, which made me feel really good about her having mentioned him in two places in the book ), divided into three sections: One: God, Liberty, Country; Two: Cross, Crescent, Star; and Three: Final Reflections. Within those three sections, the author leads one through the role of religion (Ms A, by the way, believes there should be one) in politics and government, through the conflict among the three Abrahamic religions, and finally through her thoughts on how the world can become a more serene place through correct diplomatic choices--some of which, of course, are not in the hands of Americans.
Early in Part One, the author (who teaches one course on foreign policy, each semester, at Georgetown University) writes, "Increasingly, in the classes I teach and in discussions with friends and colleagues, I have solicited thoughts about the impact of religion on current events....My students tend to equate religion with ethics and so frame their responses in moral terms." I find it sad that the students would equate the two, but the author does not dwell on that. She continues by addressing the responses she gets from people of various ethnic backgrounds. "The foreign students I teach are an eclectic group....They are most divided, not surprisingly, by questions of right and wrong in the Middle East."
"My friends who are experts on foreign policy--a somewhat older group--are focused on the threat posed by religious extremists, including the possibility that terrorists will gain access to weapons of mass murder. They are alarmed, as well, about the gap in understanding that has opened between predominately Islamic societies and the West."
The author continues by providing sketches of the reactions of Arab leaders, religious scholars, political activists (of multiple parties), all to whom she spoke, and her own response as a daughter of Czechoslovakia. After a couple of preparatory paragraphs fleshing out some history of her own life, she writes, "There are days now when it is hard to pick up a newspaper. I think the U.S. government has thoroughly botched its response to international terror, damaged America's reputation, and substituted slogans for strategy in promoting freedom. I willingly concede, however, the difficulty and complexity of the problems the Bush administration is facing. I have often said that those who have never held the highest jobs in government do not know how hard these jobs can be, and that those who retire from them tend to forget quickly. Critics have an obligation to be fair and to offer constructive ideas. That is the purpose of this book."
The author certainly is fair in her book and some of the ideas are truly constructive, and a couple of her suggestions are out of the hands of the U.S. I would really like to give you the flavor of the book (which, to me, read like an exciting novel); but, as I marked over 30 passages that I found interesting enough to address in this review, I realize that it is unreasonable to address them all. I will give a few excerpts and let it go at that--hoping that you will avail yourself of the opportunity to read the book, yourself.
"History would be far different if we did not tend to hear God most clearly when we think He is telling us exactly what it is that we want to hear." Ms A goes on to present the case of the Philippines. "[President] McKinley liked to conceive of the expansion of American power as part of a divine plan, but although the war against Spain was successful and quick, consolidating control over the Philippines proved difficult and slow." Ms A then goes into more detail of how the U.S. took over the Philippines, and how our leaders refused to call it what it was: Imperialism. She leaves it to the reader to draw a parallel between our current troubles in Iraq and the oh-so-similar troubles that we went through in the Philippines.
"At the turn of the twentieth century, a young senator from Indiana, Albert Jeremiah Beveridge, became famous for an oration, 'The March of the Flag,' that he gave repeatedly in public appearances and on the Senate floor. 'The Philippines are ours forever,' exulted the senator, 'and just beyond them are China's illimitable markets. We will not retreat from either....We will not abandon one opportunity in the Orient. We will not renounce our part in the mission of our race, trustee under God, of the civilization of the world'." Wow! That sounds so familiar!
Ms A quotes Martin Luther King on the subject of the damage done to America's standing overseas by the Vietnam war. "Each day the war goes on the hatred increases in the hearts of the Vietnamese and in the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct. The Americans are forcing even their friends into becoming their enemies....The image of America will never again be the image of revolution, freedom and democracy, but the image of violence and militarism."
Speaking of her time in government (Secretary of State, in case anyone doesn't recall), "I saw government as a practical enterprise that had to operate in a messy and dangerous world, although the realist approach struck me as cold-blooded. I did not understand how we could possibly steer a steady course without moral principles to help guide us." Notably, she did not speak of "religious principles".
"Generally speaking, a 'just war' is one carried out by a competent authority with moral intentions for a cause that is right. The effort must have a reasonable chance of success, with the expectation that it will result in no greater harm than the injury that produced it."
"As Mark Twain's harrowing War Prayer reminds us, even to pray for victory in war is tantamount to asking that horrors be visited upon the innocent of the opposing side. The duty of leadership, however, is inescapable: to try to make moral choices despite the immense difficulty of doing so, at the risk of being wrong."
"...Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the Holocaust...recalled how a group of scholars had once been asked to name the unhappiest character in the Bible....The best answer, Wiesel suggested, might in fact be God, because of the sorrow caused by people fighting, killing, and abusing each other in His name.
"This is why so many practitioners of foreign policy--including me--have sought to separate religion from world politics, to liberate logic from beliefs that transcend logic."
"Especially since the bitterly contested national elections of 2000 and 2004, commentators have made much of the role of religion in widening political and cultural divisions within America. Conventional wisdom suggests that those divisions will continue to grow. If that happens, the America I grew up in and fell in love with will become harder to recognize. I am already angered by the facile discussion of a split between so-called "red" states and "blue" states, as if we did not all pledge allegiance to the same tricolor flag."
"Many were the times I wanted to grab the Palestinian and Israeli negotiators by the ears and try to knock some sense into them."
"....I...like George Bernard Shaw's observation that 'the reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.' "
"In 2001, Colin Powell, who was then secretary of state, summarized the situation accurately. Referring to the sanctions [against Iraq], he said, 'Frankly, they have worked.' Powell noted that Hussein 'has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project power against his neighbors. So, in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq, and these are the policies we are going to keep in place.'....By early 2002, President Bush had decided to abandon them and instead prepared to invade."
"According to Vaclav Havel, 'Communism was not defeated by military force, but by life, by the human spirit, by conscience, by the resistance of Being and man to manipulation.' It was defeated, in other words, because those who opposed it were able to summon the better aspects of human nature to expose its lies and wear it down. Terrorists may still succeed on occasion in penetrating barriers designed to keep them out. But they can never succeed, unless we let them, in separating us from the values that, over the long term, hold the key to their downfall and our success."
"As I grow older, I am reminded of a good Catholic--the friend of a friend--whose chosen epitaph was 'I leave the world as I entered it: bewildered.' "
December 01, 2006 at 01:01 PM
That was a long post..
I did however make it to the end and liked best what Vaclav Havel had to say. Haven't a clue who this individual is but I'd like to believe what he said is true.
Posted by: janet | December 02, 2006 at 09:14 AM
Janet--For wading through the whole thing, you should get a prize. Unfortunately, there is none. I will tell you, though, what I should have told you before: Vaclav Havel was the first elected president of Czechoslovakia (late, late 1989--after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which of course is a non-sequitur), following "The Velvet Revolution" that ousted the communists from power. He is a writer, these days.
One of my favorite stories concerning Havel is found at http://www.reason.com/news/show/28781.html which says, 'On his first New Year's speech, in 1990, he started by saying "I assume you did not propose me for this office so that I, too, would lie to you," '
Posted by: Cop Car | December 02, 2006 at 02:42 PM
Fascinating! I'll have to add this book to my Christmas Wish List! I was astonished and delighted when Madeline Albright was appointed Secretary of State. There have been a number of brilliant women in politics, and I'd certainly include her in that list.
I, too, loved the last quote, from Havel. *G*
Posted by: buffy | December 03, 2006 at 03:59 PM
The quote is priceless and it is one that I will remember. Thank you for posting this book review. I found it fascinating and have ordered the book from Amazon. I can't wait to read it.
Posted by: Maria | December 04, 2006 at 08:16 AM
Wonderful Women--Thanks to you, all, for not making me feel that I was wasting your time with such a long piece. I am terrible at organizing my thoughts for book reviews; but, I do so want to encourage others to read books that I find rewarding.
Posted by: Cop Car | December 05, 2006 at 08:03 AM
Posted at 01:01 PM in Books, Government/Military/Politics | Permalink | Comments (0)
Oooohhh, Ahhhhhh is right!
Posted by: bogie | December 28, 2006 at 06:52 AM
WOW...what a gorgeous shot CC. When I enlarged it...it looked like a painting. There's something about a beautiful sunrise that just melts me....all of us. Thanks so much for posting this one.
Posted by: Joy | December 29, 2006 at 10:09 AM
I wish I got up early more often to catch the sunrise. Beautiful.
Posted by: janet | December 29, 2006 at 06:42 PM
Happy New Year!
Posted by: bogie | December 31, 2006 at 06:28 PM
Lovely! It makes it worth rising early to be able to see something so beautiful.
Happy New Year to you and HH!
Posted by: buffy | December 31, 2006 at 07:11 PM
Thank you for the comments, all, and for the good wishes. May you each enjoy peace in 2007, and all best wishes for whatever will make your 2007 one that you can look back on in satisfaction!
Posted by: Cop Car | January 01, 2007 at 10:45 AM