Hey, Jay and all:

My wife Ruth and I took our morning walk along the Housatonic River... a beautiful morning with a temperature in the 50's, and low humidity. The leaves are starting to turn color here, and there's a feeling of fall in the air.

Driving down to the river, we got caught in the first-day-of-school traffic. Just walking to our car in the driveway, we met a young couple with a baby in a stroller and two little girls with new, pink flowery backpacks, heading off to school. I remember those days well, when my sons first started out.

My first day of school was more dramatic than anyone should have to deal with. Besides having all that first-day-in-kindgeraten jitters, I had to deal with a tragic accident. We were having breakfast in the kitchen (aitting at our oil-cloth covered kitchen table) when we heard the screech of brakes and tires. We ran out in front of the house to see a car a couple of blocks away, driving as fast as it could, and lying dead in the street was my young dog puppy, Tipper. I'd always wanted a dog (all the five years of my life,) and Tipper was better than any friend I had. And there he was, dead in the street. We carried him up onto the front porch and then it was time to head off for my first day of kindergarten.

You never forget days like that.

Hopefull all the kids starting school have a lot happier time than I had, that morning.

Jerry