Dear Friends, Thank you very much for the birthday wishes and the really kind sentiments that accompany them! I've had a wonderful birthday so far. There's a terrific blizzard, very pretty. I took the train twenty miles or so south (saw a pair of bald eagles in a tree along the way) where a friend with 4-wheel drive met me at the station and took me to heaven. Yes, that's right, heaven. I'm talking about a guitar shop. I've played guitar for twenty years and never really went to a guitar shop, never really looked at other guitars, never considered buying a new guitar. I just played my own little guitar and figured, well, that's my guitar. I can't believe the FUN I've been missing out on! We spent hours there, the staff was friendly and not at all pushy (my friend is a good patron of theirs), and by the end of the day I had become attached to a used jumbo body Larrivee and a new Guild D-55. They're both beautiful, but really different, and I'm not sure what to base my decision on, and maybe I won't end up with either. But it was exhilarating to think of the possibilities, and to finally acknowledge that, well, yes, I AM a guitar player, and not be horribly shy or embarrassed about my skill level, or feel presumptuous to say that I play just because I'm not as good as some other folks and not as good as I eventually may be. So it was a great way to spend a birthday as I contemplate how to craft my life ahead as I want it to be. I'll take this opportunity to thank the Mudcat (which means, of course, the people of Mudcat) for helping me in the journey to take music seriously -- which always seemed like an option for other folks but not really for me. I've changed my perspective on that. Hear Me/PalTalk, in whatever incarnation it takes, has been enormously important to me, and if I have given anyone pleasure in the listening it's been paid back in spades through the kindness of people's encouragement. Thanks, everyone. Margaret PS Amergin, that was a very touching link!