When is an "s" not an "essss"? When it's combined with an "h" -- then it's a "sh", as in SharonA! Ho ho ho, hish hish hish... thank goodnesssss I can sssstop doing thisssss hisssssing now!

Maggie, I'm so glad to hear that the package arrived at your door safely. Sounds like the tiles are intact (*whew!* I was worried about that!).

Actually, I live 'way south and east of Williamsport (home of the Little League World Series), in the northern suburbs of Philadelphia PA -- not too far from Max! I'm about 10 miles away from the Moravian Tile Works, a working-history museum and one of the creations of Henry Chapman Mercer in Doylestown PA, so when you said that you wanted tiles from your Secret Santa, I knew where I had to go! Mercer was a pioneer in reinforced-concrete architecture, but he was also rather eccentric -- his museum and mansion look like castles, with glazed tiles of many colors and designs set into the concrete inside and out. If you ever have a chance to come back to Pennsylvania, these places are must-see's for a tile fan like yourself.

For the rest of Mudcat, who didn't receive all those brochures and postcards about Mercer's legacy (no, I don't work for the Chamber of Commerce, I just like to send lots of area info -- just ask Jaze, Robin2 and Gloredhel!), here are a couple of websites to show everyone what we're talking about:

Short bio of Mercer, his museum, mansion, and tile works
Pix and info -- museum and mansion
Pix and info -- Moravian Tile Works
Pic of SRS's larger tile (they say the translation is: "Music gladdens the home")

The smaller tile is the one where I had to superglue things together: the initials SRS (yes, they do sell individual letters and numbers) onto a rectangular glazed tile (one of many pieces used to make custom mosaic designs). The significance of the glazed letter tiles is that Mercer inlaid such letters throughout his three buildings (for example, here on Rollo's Stairs, in honor of his dog).

Hope you'll enjoy the CDs. Nothing professionally produced there, just some home-brewed stuff to give you an idea of what I write and a few of the cover songs I like to sing.

Have fun with all that stuff, and have a wonderful new year!!

Sharon