[Jayne Osborn]

Poor you, Cally - I sympathise and hope you'll soon be on terra drya.
I've had a flood, too - indoors! I came home from shopping the day before Christmas Eve to find part of the house ankle deep in water from two burst pipes; the ceiling in a large room had come down, bringing all the insulation stuff with it, and the damage is colossal. It's been a nightmare... but it's getting sorted little by little.

...Anyway, it sounds as if you're having fun with all those gorgeous hunks around you!

[R. Nemo Hill]

You are a gorgeous-hunk-of-natural-disaster magnet, girl!
Happy New Year!!

Nemo

[John Whitworth]

Best regards to you and Janet. May you be together TONIGHT (our time) to watch the Aussies lose the Ashes. It hasn't happened yet. Five hours and counting. And Janet's only Aussie by election. I watched New Zealand whack Pakistan in one of those twenty over runfests TODAY.

[Mary Meriam]

This just in!

Congratulations,

You have won 750,000.00 Great British Pounds. (Seven Hundred And Fifty Thousand Great British Pounds Starlings).

John, do you really have that many starlings there? Should I make pies with them?

[Michael Cantor]

Mary, I sent you and other Spherians that message with all good intentions, I have gone to a great deal of trouble to establish addresses and identities, and belittling the opportunity that has risen up because of a single typografical error is not only impolite and unkind, but cruel.

Fortunately, Great British people have been more responsive. Make the checque out to me, personally, John. It is easier to disberse the funds that way.

[Rick Mullin]

To get back on topic, Michael's assertion that photos of Spherean encounters don't count unless they are taken at West Chester or some such miserable gathering is kind of pushing it. We would, however, normally require the "Hello My Name Is:" badges with "Maryann" and "Julie" scribbled in using the Sharpie® kept on hand for signing books and chapbooks and such. This would also help us to know which is who.

RM

[Maryann Corbett]

Required ID: Short graying hair = Maryann. Long, not-so-graying hair=Julie.

I've been out in my own natural disaster, you know. I flew to Cambridge MA to visit my daughter at Harvard, and to escape the twenty-some inches of snow on the ground from the blizzard we had the weekend before Christmas. So I go to Boston, and presto, blizzard. Full on 17 inches of snow, gale winds. Most of state shuts down. We did have a couple of days to have fun before the awfulness.

Back home now, back to normal. Sigh.

[Mary Meriam]

Cally! I only said that about the poems to give you a laugh - I can imagine the scene! Please check in with us when you can, ok?

Hilarious, Michael! Now I'm waiting for delivery of my Seven Hundred And Fifty Thousand Great British Pounds Starlings.

[David Rosenthal]

Where does a 750,000 pound Great British starling sit?





P.S. -- Cally, stay safe!

[Maryann Corbett]

Yes, wishes for safety to Cally and everybody affected by Australia's weather problems!

And safety to all the Sphereans and friends on the east coast still affected by Monday's blizzard conditions and heavy snow, or trying to get home after a day of non-operating airports.

Oh, and the UK--are you all unstuck from the recent air travel messes?