From The hills of Southwestern Virginia elevation 2000 feet. My pears were a disapointment for me this year in that my best two trees had a very low set. I also had a lot of damage from CM which I've never had before. I didn't spray, but didn't see the damage until the fruit started getting ripe. Hamese- my earliest pear was new this year. Just a few to taste. They were medium sized, quite aromatic for an asian pear, but rather mealy. I may have left them on too long. Chojuro- Smaller than usual this year and there was a low fruit set. They had good strong flavor as usual. Hosui- Some sized up better than usual maybe because of low fruit set. I think the hot weather actually improved the flavor as they were as sweet and tasty as the chojuro but larger. There was a good bit of watercoring which I hadn't seen before, but it didn't detract at all from the taste. Twentieth Century (Nijiseiki)-pretty much a failure--the few that set cracked like dried mud. Shinseiki- these were very good this year. Flavor like TC but much larger and no cracking. Korean Giant- Great flavor and large-unfortunately a lot of CM damage, so I couldn't store them even if I had enough to do so. Shinko-Nearly tasteless. This must be good somewhere but apparently not here. Ya Li- Pretty, pear shaped pears but not particulary sweet and little flavor. These may have not fully ripened. Only a handful to try. Yongi-Just a couple of fruits. A lot like chojuro but quite small. May not be representative since the graft is small. Moonglow- These fooled me; they were ready early because of the heat so I got to many of them too late. Most ended up canned. OK flavor; the skin is thick and tough here. Maxine- first time to get any fruit (just One) It was relatively small and somewhat rounded. Very good fresh eating. Unknown Euro- grafted this a couple of years ago from an aquaintance who had this in her front yard when she moved into her house several years ago. It was probably planted by the first homeowner (she's the third), and no one here knows what it is. Her neighbors told her it's the best pear in the county. Looks a lot like a barlett but is picked ripe from the tree like an asian and has a slight crunch. Perhaps a euro-asian hybrid? The flavor is mild, like a europen, and very good.

Very interesting about syndication. Thanks. My friend is a syndicated political cartoonist; his work appears immediately...for obvious reasons. Hub and I didn't realize the syndicated NYT puzzle was a week behind. No, I didn't see Wordplay. Maybe I'll look for it. I love crossword puzzles and am pretty good. But my mother, and her father, well, they had a standing challenge to beat each other every Thursday on the diagramless puzzle that appeared in the old Chicago Daily News. First one to call the other won! After a couple hours, mom worried every time the phone rang - "Please, don't let it be Pop!" she say. My mom is now 86 and has severe short-term memory disorder so she can no longer live alone, or remember any thing that occurred in the past six years, but she can still do a diagramless puzzle. She confounds her doctors. Anyway, I digress. This was fun and helpful. Thanks, everyone. Oh, and I've completed today's puzzle. Ta Da! Sherry

Those belts are like Hillary and her headbands. The belts she adds to an outfit ruin the designer's work. The Obamas are wealthy, and she can afford to have a dress custom fitted so that she doesn't need to hold it in with a belt. Another belted cardigans from the European tour: A designer can whip up a cute little number with a properly fitted cardigan if so requested. It is not a miracle: No belt. No cardigan. Fabulous. The original Kai Miller couture emerald gown was pleated and flowing in front. (I think I can find the photo again somewhere.) She ruined the look adding the black belt. The couture version of the gown was altered to give Michelle a more modest neckline, but she could have requested other changes instead of trying to "fix" whatever it was she did not like about the final version, with a black belt holding in the pleats: That pinata tunic worn to Westminster Abby is the absolute worst. At least she didn't wear it with a floppy sun bonnet. Pairing it with an old tweed pair of pants from her lawyers days made it even worse. I'm going to take a wild guess here and guess that, that was made for her from the Anna Sui spring collection that I saw.

I was waaaaay to impatient to wait that long before mosaicing my front column - 'twas five days and I pulled the cardboard off and mosaiced away.