This is Susan in Vermont, A small, WONDERFUL, state in the US. I actuallly live closer to Montreal (2 1/2 hours) than I do to Boston (3 hours)

It has been unseasonably warm, and dry for the past month, and today we finally got rain. It's daffodil time, and my apricot trees are blooming. usually they do it just as we are getting the last frost of the season. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Montpelier VT (the state capital) is small, some 7,000 souls. We also have two terriffic book shops, a movie theater that plays real films, and about thirty restaurants, one of which is mine.

I cook international food for the folks here, launching weekly menus that take in Indonesia, India, South Africa, Japan and Italy (for example) When I'm not working I sing and play fiddle and mandolin and some mountain dulcimer. I'm in a civil war group called Hardtack and HOmespun, and also in a trio that does just about anything we like.

I'm married to a concert pianist, and sometimes we do Brecht songs, Jazz, Bach Ives or Schumann together, depending on our whims.

That's me. Susan