Well, Sharon, you're more disciplined than I am! I was on the phone with Night Owl, yesterday, when Rog walked in with a HUGE computer monitor box and said "Who do we know who lives in Ohio? Is this from Spaw?"

I looked at the name and addy and said, "No, it's not Spaw, it's HOLLOWFOX!!" Oh, joy! My SS pressies had arrived. How could I ever have doubted that I had a SS?!! "Yes, Virginia, there really is..."

Now, Night Owl heard all of this and egged me on, YES, you did, N.O.!! SO, never one to stand on ceremony, I opened it while she was on the phone, it was so much fun, almost as though a room of Mudcatters was here with me, having a blast.

First, I opened a small package with a LOVELY BLUE book in it. I've already started reading it and would recommend it as a book of magical prose and loving story to everyone. "The Blue Cat of Castle Town" by Catherine Cate Coblentz. HOLLOWFOX, I can well understand this book having a profound effect and I've only just started it! It is so precious, the little kitten learning the river's song and so much more. Just the opening paragraphs endeared the author and characters to my heart. THANK YOU!!

Then I opened a small envelope which had been sent separately. It was a tape Hollowfox had told me about a while back. She'd picked it up for me knowing how interested I am in songs of West Virginia during the Civil War, where my ancestors were. This tape is INCREDIBLE!! It is field recordings done between 1976 and 1994, stories and songs told by the genuine folks, some of them only known in those specific families. It is really incredible, though I don't have much stories from those relatives, this tape gives me an idea of what it was like; it's as though someone threw me a line back into my family's history, or opened a window. I really am too choked up to really explain it well. Thank you, HF.

Then, I went back to the BIG box and opened a smaller box, within which was a chunk of rock! I LOVE it!! Ya know I collect stones, anyway, and I'll tell more about it in just a minute.

I had come to the BIG package. Wrapped very nicely in Christmas paper. It was sort of misshapen and heavy. All of this time, Night Owl and I are laughing and talking with joy about this cool SS stuff, then I ripped the paper off. Now I know Hollowfox is as crazy as the rest of us! She sent me 18 lbs of CAT FOOD!!! That brought the cats running, although they were already interested in the crackly paper. I suddenly had cats crawling all over the box and N.O. and I were laughing hysterically.

THEN, I find a card in the bottom which says, "Open the packages first, then open this envelope." So, I open it and the first thing she says is the cat food was "just a diversion!" LOL!!

Find out the stone is a piece of flint from Flint Ridge, Ohio's state rock, and also part of a trade network, about 500 years ago, among the native peoples, trading their flint out in Yellowstone, for obsidian, and down in the Gulf of Mexico, for shells and shark's teeth! It has a great "feel" to it and now sits in front of my monitor with a few other special stones.

Hollowfox, so much thought and care, thank you so much. What a wonderful surprise! That little blue cat has already stolen my heart, esp. as I can readily envision Castle Town, VT in my mind, having seen so many little similar villages while living in New England, but NONE with such a beautiful legend.

I really cannot tell you how much this means to me, nor express enough thanks. Just wonderful, fun, and so thoughtful!

luvyakat!