Congratulations and Best Wishes

[L Verge]

It was wonderful to finally meet Jenny. We have corresponded for about ten years, and she and her mother are very warm and friendly folks (of course, they are Southerners!).

Thanks to both Jenny and Jim for setting me straight on the use of the hatchet. I was relating its symbolism to Lincoln's rail-splitting axe - having forgotten that one of the first things I learned about Kate was her interest in the Lizzie Borden case (just like several of us Boothies - even have a friend who spent the night in the Fall River house).

Now I know that Dave is really serious about owls. I inherited a preserved owl that was given to my mother when she was 16 in 1930. It was a gift from an 84-year-old lady who was given it in the late-1800s. I once mentioned that I should give Hooty to a nature center, and Dave offered to take him if need be. Hooty is still in my basement.

He's a large, fierce looking beast, and he used to sit on top of our 1890 upright piano in my family's living room. I think my mom kept him there on purpose to frown down on me and frighten me enough to practice my piano lessons. I'm just a tad concerned about whether or not he has been preserved with arsenic all these years...