Some of the messages here have asked for information on the memorial celebration for Jonathan. It will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 15, at the Washington Ethical Society, 7760 - 16th Street, NW, Washington DC. (That's a few blocks below the District line, at the intersection with Kalmia Road. For information and directions, go to the Folklore Society of Greater Washington website, www.fsgw.org.)

Thanks to all of you who've been sharing your memories of Jonathan on this thread. Your wonderful stories cut through the clouds of those last years of illness and bring him back in all his ornery, quicksilver aliveness. Don't stop! And if you can come to the memorial, please bring them to share.

Andy and I still play the road sign game. From long drives with Jonathan he remembers Samaria Blissfield (elegant, graceful, leading a charmed life) and Ida Peabody (not) -- from, he believes, the road to Ann Arbor.

One lasting regret is that I never could persuade Jonathan to let me (or anyone else, so far as I know) record -- or even write down the words to -- "Waltzing With Whales", his exquisite parody of "Waltzing With Bears". ("...trip the heavy fantastic, waltzing with whales...") He had taken the notion that he might get caught up in the copyright litigation around "WWB" and some alleged predecessor called "Waltzing With Terwilliger", and nothing could shake his opinion. Part of me thinks it was as much cussedness as conviction. But now Jonathan's gone, and the whales may be gone, too. Unless someone out there was luckier than I?