Hello Jerry,

"Caught in the cross-fire of pedants".... what a lovely word picture! Yes, it was a shame that happened...still...let's spread the table with goodies, including your blueberry muffins (not the ones you baked especially for the baseball season (!)brew some good coffee and put the world to rights. We might also meditate on the fact that the wind is wuthering round the gables and the leaves are swirling across the street and piling up in drifts by the gate. There was* nothing better than kicking through the dry leaves when we were kids. If they are wet, you looked out for some of the really big ones...the ones that had landed and trapped some water underneath. If you stamped on them you could make quite a splash (which annoyed those wearing white socks as I recall!)

One day...one day....we must get the kitchen tablers together in reality! Now what a day that would be!

Best wishes.

Peter

*still is, if I'm honest!