Leland, I'm "just up the road a piece" in sunny southern VT. Either it isn't as pretty here or I don't write as pretty but it's a darn nice place to call home. I live on "the home farm," came home to care for my Dad in his dotage. We live on an eighty plus acre former working farm that has been in the family since, I guess, Revolutionary War times. The farm is bisected by US Rt. 5 but other than that it is pretty quiet here. When I get up at about 6 AM I look out the bathroom window into the top of a large Maple tree that was just a sapling when I was a kid. Now there are usually birds and occasionally a squirrel or two romping around out there. When I was a kid we didn't have that luxury, the ony bathroom was downstairs and in cold weather you had to hustle down as the hall was unheated and very COLD. We get our milk from the farm next door, usually from a cow named Dorothy. I am sort of sad as the farmer said he hasn't bred Dorothy back and he is getting rid of her this summer because she is getting old and tends to be sickly. This is the disadvantage of having a personal relationship with your food. Ruth At 8:05 AM -0500 3/21/03, Leland Torrence wrote: >Cp, > Clearly you are the one up early! Or you haven't gone to bed. I >start work at 5:30 am EST, but my office is in the house, so I can enjoy >the kids by 7:30, before they walk to the bus. We all share a large >work/study room with cathedral ceiling and small library off to the >side, with views of Connecticut farm land all around. It is grey and >wet outside, the oaks tilt there gothic heads in wait for the fog to >dissipate. The sun and moon rise over West Rock Ridge, where three >judges hid from the British, and the light is always spiritually >uplifting. >What are your surroundings like? >Best, >Leland -- Ruth Barton [log in to unmask] Westminster, VT -- To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to: <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>