Weeper, there is a #2 already started ;) Here is a link that might be useful: Far North Gardeners Roll Call 2

Well ... I guess we can shut off the lights and close and lock the door of this thread: I'm to fly out of Detroit early evening Fri. Jan. 23 - fly out of Phoenix morn. Mon. Feb 2 ... just under $250. For folks who might be in or able to come to Phoenix, my email address is available here, and I can send daughter's address - don't remember the suburb - and phone. Got a card in mail Fri. Nov. 28 saying item to pick up at P.O., picked up passport Monday ... postmistress says it somewhat resembles me. She's supposed to have identif'n., but not too concerned ... I got out photo driver's licence ... she said she doubted that she'd let me into States on that - look too much like terrorist. Application went in Nov. 21, it was issued Nov. 26 - really quick service. I am disappointed that I'll not get to visit folks along the route ... but hope that I can meet several of you some time in the future: maybe a spring or fall trip (summer too hot). I hope also that you have the start of a fine week under your belt. ole joyful

Hi (again) Amer Auto Ass'n. ("A A A" for short) It has, so far ... ... now all I have to do is avoid getting into "scrapes" (or bang-ups) ... ... and I'm good to go for the next two ears. (Dang keyboard - that was supposed to be "years"!). Hope I can keep the equipment between those "ears" - and function, as well - in half decent shape for those two years ...for in recent times increasingly it seems as though I can't remember a darn thing. ole joyfuelled

I haven't been out much this week - staying home and getting the establishment more or less back in shape. An art show has take over the village church today, and when I saw one of the old guys walking down the street away from the church, I'd forgotten that we were to meet at a seniors' apartment building this week, till I got to the church, then as I was going to the meeting place, passed him, there was traffic (four-lane street), I went down a short way and turned around, came back to pick him up. He was nowhere to be seen ... I almost went into a store there ... then saw someone walking down a side street, drove down there, picked him up and we went to the Old Farts' Coffee Hour. I wrote a story about the church magazine's situation, our discussion group, and my getting to know the other members in a much more in-depth situation than we usually find, maybe it would be a good idea to suggest it for other churches, to send to the magazine. I'd checked it with the minister of that church and went to pick it up today: she had minimal suggestions as to editorial revisions. Had a good visit with another cancer survivor that I've known for a dozen years, both members of an investment group: he'd had radiation and chemo at the same time, not a pleasant experience, and one doc had suggested that he might have only a few months to live ... but he's still here, and going strong. Fewer visits to bathroom, so feel that I'm on a much longer leash. At one grocery store today a staff person had picked up a stray bag of milk, and another said that he was careful about picking up stray items near the bathroom when the door was closed ... and a man came out just then to reclaim his bag. I thanked them for having that available bathroom, as I had made good use of it several times in recent months, sometimes when given quite short notice from an interior authority of an essential change in my plans. Weather's been rainy and chilly, but warmer, and the landlord cultivated both gardens yesterday, initial pass. He took out a full tractor trailer load of sod, yesterday afternoon: I was embarrassed, for I hadn't removed some of the stakes. So I guess that spring has finally sprung. "Spring is sprung ... the grass is riz ... I wonder where ... the flowers is?". Actually, forsythia and daffodils are out ... and some grape hyacinths down behind the shed. Can't resist this: one of the items passed around at the Old Farts' was a colour "pic" of a rather rough landscape, with a smiling civilian with an automatic rifle in a saddle atop a moose carrying large antlers ... titled, "Canadian Border Patrol ... watching for illegal Americans". Hope you're all having a good day - good wishes for the rest of the week. ole joyfuelled ... who, sitting at table right next to the stove, forgot to turn the burner off under the stew pot last night ... and had some scraping to do as a result