Hi Michael,

 ML> > I woouldn't mind going back to the city (visit friends) and the
 ML> country > as a whole (visit relatives). Steve wants to go to Italy
 ML> some day to see > the area his mom's family came from (toe of the boot
 ML> region); maybe some > day we'll get over there.

 ML> I hope so. The boot region is a pretty long
 ML> haul from Germany, though.

We'd probably get a Eu-rail pass (Do they still have such things?) so we
could stop at other places along the way. Florence, Venice, Rome (and
probably others) are ones that come to mind.

 ML> >  ML> Often imitated, never duplicated could have been
 ML> >  ML> written with him in mind (it wasn't really).
 ML> > Could be written about a lot of people.

 ML> There are more geniuses out there than you'd
 ML> think. Only few of them get discovered and
 ML> appreciated, much less rich. Some of the
 ML> aforementioned Pollock's works have recently
 ML> sold for nine figures (!), but he and his wife
 ML> were often barely able to scrape by when they
 ML> were working.

The proverbial starving artists.

 ML> >  ML> My sister and I had a subscription to the New York
 ML> >  ML> City ballet up in the 4th ring, where, especially
 ML> >  ML> with my eyesight, everything was kind of abstracted
 ML> >  ML> and nonrepresentational anyway, so I have a leg up
 ML> >  ML> in that department.
 ML> > More so than I do. The only way I've seen ballet is on tv.

 ML> That medium is not for me in general (what is that
 ML> tagline that you often use), and for dance you are
 ML> at the mercy of the camera worker and the director,
 ML> because it is up to them what gets focused on.

True, but my parents weren't into such things and the cost for our
family would have been rather much. It wasn't until my mother started
working for the school (especially after moving from aide to librarian)
that the financial picture eased up a bit. I was in 6th grade when she
started, 8th when she moved to the library job.

 ML> >  ML> The question then is why use one in the first place,
 ML> >  ML> when ordinary electric burners can do everything better.
 ML> > Crock pots use less energy than stoves. Don't know about induction
 ML> cook

 ML> The lowest minimum ("warm") for a crockpot is
 ML> 70W; most inductions can go down to 120W, with
 ML> the fanciest capable of less. Lilli's has a
 ML> low setting that seems useless to me - I can
 ML> keep my hand on it when it's on this. Maybe
 ML> one can make yogurt on it, something like that.

Possibly so, we've not made yogurt in years (used to have a yogurt maker
but it bit the dust a long time ago).

 ML> > tops (like our one "burner" job) but I've found that it tends to cut
 ML> off > after a couple of hours of run time.

 ML> A defect or a safety feature?

I think a safety feature. Anyway, I use the stove top when I know I'm
going to be cooking something that takes more than a couple of hours.


 ML> > Sounds like it's a rather convoluted situation.

 ML> That's the only way I can think to explain
 ML> her cutting off everybody.

Sad, you were close at one time.


 ML> >  ML> I am, mostly because if something is good, it should
 ML> >  ML> go by a name by which it can be asked for again.
 ML> > True.

 ML> And that, basically, is why terminology matters.

Altho "that blueberry thingy, dessert, what have you" may work just as
well in some instances. (G)


 ML> > BTW, it looks like we're going to get some wind and rain from the
 ML> latest > storm. Don't know how much; it's supposed to come up along
 ML> the I-95
 ML> > corridor. We're west of that but don't know if we're far enough west
 ML> to > avoid major damage or not. Will keep you updated.

 ML> Yeah, I looked, and it seemed that you'd be safe
 ML> from flooding, though limbs down, power outages,
 ML> and general soggy conditions are themselves no
 ML> picnic.

I did a rather detailed write up in a message to Dave Drum in the packet
I uploaded this morning. Turns out the tornado was an EF-3. We were down
in Raleigh earlier today, started sprinkling on our way home and it
turned into a full blown thunderstorm the further we went. Steve checked
the rain gauge after it tapered off--2.2 inches from just one storm.
That was almost as much rain as we got out of Isaias.


---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


...  A mind stretched by new ideas can never go back to its original size.

--- PPoint 3.01