My thanks to everybody for the sentiments and good wishes (and poetry!).


The day was spent in a rather relaxed way - I fielded a few phone calls and e-mails from relatives and friends, did a bit of reading and relaxed with a little guitar practice in the evening (my neighbors probably want to kill me by now).

One amusing incident - I was on the phone with a relative for well over an hour, then decided I needed to jump (crawl, actually) into the shower. So there I was, dripping wet with a towel around myself when my doorbell rang. Thinking it was my building superintendent (he's the only one who shows up at my door without advance warning), I ran to see who it was, and it turned out to be a good friend who only lives a few streets away - he had been trying, unsuccessfully, to reach me by phone, and after leaving several messages (while I was in the shower), he thought something might be wrong and ran over to see if I was all right.

Well, I did appreciate his concern - I invited him in and quickly reassured him that the only person in danger would be him if he didn't let me dry off and get dressed!

Yessir, folks, as I sit here, Methuselah-like, counting my rings like a felled tree, I look back on the last 365 days and wonder how on earth time can pass so quickly. But, I'm still here. Actually, I'm reminded of the Simon & Garfunkel song, "The Boxer" (it's been running through my head a lot lately, for some reason) and the "missing verse":

Now the years are rolling by me,
They are rocking evenly;
I am older than I once was,
And younger than I'll be, but that's not unusual.
It isn't strange,
After changes upon changes
We are more or less the same;
After changes, we are more or less the same.

Looking forward to another year with youse guys (and gals)!

Signor V.