Anne,

A techie friend of mine told me that there is a website that can turn what you see while running Windows 10 to look just like what you were so at home with on Windows 7. You'll have to ask around with your techie pals (or your children's techie pals), but it is out there. I'm still running a vintage Dell that I bought secondhand from a private high school. It had a fresh installation of Windows 7, but I still miss Windows XP. I think Windows 10 was invented for people who can't spell, but can look at pictures; but don't quote me on this. That is my inner Luddite speaking.

Speaking of being a Luddite, I've been out in my woodlot 3 days in the last week (between rainstorms) cutting balsam fir trees that have blown down across my woods road. Cutting them with a good old hand powered bucksaw, into 12 foot logs. Then, I limbed them out, and peeled the bark with an axe. Good exercise, and I better appreciate how my grandfather frequently did this for work in the 1920 - 1950 era. I do have a chainsaw, but lugging it and a full gas can down 3/4 miles of wood road (plus, getting the cussed thing to start) is less work than lugging a saw and an axe. Also, a few days in the spring hand sawing logs does a feller good. (I've noticed that all of that rain has my little trout stream full, so I've got to get my fishing gear out.)

A friend of mine who built a sawmill will pick up the logs and keep half of them got cutting my half into 4 by 6 beams for a garage I'll build this summer for my 1936 Plymouth.

Well, now for the good news. Each day in the woods, a juvenile Bald Eagle slowly circles about 15 feet above the treetops (which are about 45 feet tall). I enjoy watching him (or her?) as much as he does watching me. I don't know if it's the hunter's orange cap I'm wearing, or the swoosh - swoosh of the bucksaw that attracts his attention, but the eagle puts on a good airshow.

By the way, Anne, did you write a book about small scale sheep farming? I read it 2 winters ago, but had forgotten to ask.

This isn't quite in the same vein as other posts of good news on this thread, as it involves a terrible tragedy, but:

My daughter went to Portugal yesterday, with her husband, my grandson and his friend. Within a few hours of arriving, they had to flee for their lives, away from the terrible forest fire raging where they were staying.

Dozens of people died in their cars, trying to escape, but my daughter, son-in-law and the boys made it to safety, though only just!

So, it's good news that they're OK, but there have been tears too, of relief. They're all flying back on Tuesday, which was the earliest they could get a flight back together.

Rather than end on a sad topic, my other good news is that I recently won an award at the magicians' club I'm a member of, for an inventiveness contest. There were only three other entrants, but I don't care! :)

Jayne

Jayne,

What a terrible fire in Portugal, and I'm so glad your daughter and her family and their friend got out safely! I've had that "just in the nick of time" experience, and it's a blessing you carry with you for the rest of your life. What a life-changing relief for them and a great boon for you as well.
There may be some survivors' guilt but that will pass. They're so lucky!

This is the first time I've looked at this thread in many months, so Michael Ferris, I hadn't seen your posts on Almodovar (I don't get notifications, having been a member forever and must have canceled them years ago). Thanks for the Julieta review and trailer. One of the films I saw at moma was Dark Habits, which was the jaw-droppingly wildest yet. He is like a cross between Fassbinder and Fellini, updated and funnier than either of them.

Yes, I believe that Microsoft invented Windows 10 when they found that all those Trump voters just weren't buying computers.

Err ... are they still swimming, or did they all sink?

Cheeky! :p

Actually, I just forgot to put a bit of salt in the bread, so it tasted really bland, but was probably better for the ducks without it.

They're still afloat, I'm happy to say, and I'm sure they appreciated home-made bread more than the usual ''Mother's Pride Sliced'' junk in a plastic bag!

I suspected you were a wizard, Jayne, after running into you five years ago, and I'm glad you have been officially recognized as such.

Duncan

Well, it was good news for the swans and ducks! And for me -- whose day is made the better for knowing it :o

Jennifer

Seven years after I started writing it in earnest, What You Will has gotten its first review. I hope other reviewers will show equally good taste. :)

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/r...jose/sj92.html

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added later:

Thanks, Bob and Susan, for the kind words.

The second review is now out. I can't link to it, because it's print only. It excoriates the play, intimating, among other things, that the play is completely unintelligible. Something to read any time my head gets too big.

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review #3

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one last update now that the show has closed:

In total we got eight reviews, seven of them positive. I've quoted from and linked to several at maxgutmann.com/reviews.

Throughout the run I was disappointed at ticket sales, with full houses and half-full houses alternating, so I was glad to hear from the artistic director that such a turn-out is considered a success, and that the play sold the second-highest number of tickets in the theater's 15-year history.

Now to try to get a second production--and maybe to start writing again!

Splendid, Max. I hope you can film a performance and maybe share it on YouTube for those of us too far away to see it in person.