Matt... After all this, reading the whole thread for the first time, and feeling very moved by so many things here, it was the lines from "Maggie" that brought tears to my eyes. Thanks all.

I wouldn't let Bill D or Don Nichols put up any of the photos they took of me at the Getaway.... So Mick's words did me good too... Many thanks to Nancy-Jean Siegel, who e-mailed me a beautiful photo from my concert. It made me look the way I feel when I'm singing and, in WW's words, "sailing right down the center of a song."

Guess I'll have to put it on Bill's web site.

About 6 years ago, a friend of mine was moaning about turning 43. Well, I'm 10 years older than her. I told her, "I don't see what the fuss is about growing older. The way I see it, I earned every one of those 53 years. The bad as well as the good, turned me into the person I am today and I value them all." Not directly about beauty, but in a way it is.

Rita Ferrara