[Brian Allgar]

Good news? Hmmm . . . Well, I haven't had any BAD news recently, Jayne. Will that do?

[Michael F]

Max, I agree with Jayne: that sounds like a big deal!

It’s been a hot and dry Summer in upstate NY. Nice -- but we needed rain badly. This morning I awoke to the thrum of a steady rain on the roof and in the leaves, with the occasional muffled clang of a fat drop from the oaks falling on a gutter. I love to sleep to the sounds of rain. I rolled over in bed and fell back to sleep. I had the most soothing dreams; I got up late.

Now, the woods smell fresh and the world feels scrubbed. I hear the flowers drinking.

[Ann Drysdale]

That smell is called "petrichor". Thank you Michael, for reminding me of it.

[Michael F]

And thank you, Annie, for teaching me the word -- which I should not be surprised you know!

[Terese Coe]

Fabulous news from your daughter and you, Jayne! And congrats to all on your good news or lack of bad!

My good news is that after months of various degrees of on-again off-again pain (not going into the complicated details), I'm hopeful now that I've found the right meds. Also good news on the writing front which I'm not going public with just yet; and happy the Northeast heat wave is over at last!

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by Ann Drysdale

I've still got to find a way to make shortcuts and how to prime its innards with flash-driven history, but for now, rejoice with me! I have found that which was lost!

OK. Mouse to bottom left corner of screen. See that funny blue windows thing that pops up? Click it. Then select "All Apps." Pick the app you want.

While it's up, move your mouse to the bottom of the screen. See that bar that comes up? Look for the icon of the app you're running. Right click on it. Select "pin to taskbar."

Et voila! Now it'll always show up when you move your mouse down there. Left click it when it does, and you're golden!

HTH,

Bill

[Edmund Conti]

I had a rara avis sighting the other day. I encountered a Mr. Robert Schechter (you may have heard of him) on my Facebook page. He scampered off before I could get a picture.

[Julie Steiner]

My elder daughter has been repeatedly intubated for surgeries in recent years, causing severe damage to her vocal cords in the process. After a year of speech therapy, for which our insurance finally agreed to reimburse us just month (hooray!), Jenn's vocal cords are now functioning at 85% of normal. When she started speech therapy, they were only functioning at 5% of normal.

She will probably never sing again--she used to have a lovely alto--but she can now talk without getting hoarse after only two or three minutes. Which is wonderful, because she has a lot of worthwhile things to say. We're all delighted.

[Janice D. Soderling]

Especially Max, Julie and Terese, big congrats.

Happy birthday, Jayne. Though belated.

And to my other friends, thanks for heeding Jayne's call and accentuating the positive.

[RCL]

I’m happy to have turned 78 a few days ago, having survived 10 years after the diagnosis of prostate cancer, 9 years since the surgery (it took me a year to fall apart and reassemble).

Also this month, within the last few days, I watched the fire keep gripping the ridge of the foothill my place faces and the ten hour battle by copter drops of water and retardants to knock it back. In ‘08 I had to evacuate twice, the second fire reaching just a few feet from the house. I am sooooo lucky, and grateful!

Oh, and a year ago I lost 30 pounds, but with a minimum of effort managed to find them again.