It's raining and chilly here in Virginia, too; time to get out the sweaters and start making soup. I just spoke to my mom; it made me think of your mom, Jerry, and to hope that she is happy and at peace with herself, on whichever side of the river she is presently located. It certainly sounds like it; I am glad of that for her. I have relatives (not my parents) who spent or are spending their lives carrying around a great deal of anger and bitterness; it is so sad to watch, and know that nothing will change unless they decide it should happen.

I am also glad to hear about A Handful of Songs. Thank you, Dennis!

My family tends to make up words, which pass into the family vocabulary. "Unlelse" comes to mind; a combination of "unless" and "or else." "Becase" comes from "because" and "in case". I leave it to you to figure out usage; in our family, we are too busy laughing over the memories such words evoke to pay too much attention to logic. Connotation wins out over denotation, every time, which is funny in itself because we are a family of readers, writers, and conversationalists, who normally do care, a great deal, about correct use of language. While I'm on the subject,please, please, please, whatever you do, never tell me anything is very unique (it hurts to even type it!