That is wonderful news!! Times are hard everywhere and it is pretty scary to me. I am praying for our entire nation...it just has to get better soon. Deb

Ha!Ha! My kids will be so happy to hear this, but alas, we have no cotton candy to celebrate with! We usually have it 2-3 a year if we are at the circus or amusement park. I guess everyday of the year has some silly National Day associated with it!

Heh! Carolyn, differences sure can be peculiar. But please don't be disillusioned with me -- we can still be boon reading companions. :-) Veronica, I agree that Sudoku puzzles are not really math; they are logic problems -- the nine numbers could be replaced easily with nine different letters and the solving aspect would be the same. Kath, I've always liked reading maps...give me an atlas and I'll be content for hours. My father, who always did most of the driving on our family trips, had one rule he strictly enforced: at least one person besides him had to stay awake to 'ride shotgun', talking to and reading the map for him (it kept him from nodding off). My mother could talk but she was a lousy map-reader; one brother could read a map but would forget to talk; other brother could do neither very well; and then I, the youngest, could do both. I was always proud of that and the fact that daddy trusted me most. The only problem that developed for me was I cannot sleep as a passenger in a moving vehicle; I'm apprehensive that as soon as I fall asleep something bad will happen. Daddy complimented me by saying I was part 'homing pigeon'. His training put me in good stead, because I've driven on five continents with usually no more directions than the notion that such-and-such place is north/south or east/west of wherever I am at the moment. I'm a pretty good navigator at sea, as well. Kath, the spatial thing that gives you problems is something that perplexes me at times. Although I'm reasonably good at visualizing such things as, for example, the internal structures of crystals and can draw them (my geophysicist husband cannot), when it comes to most forms -- especially life forms -- I can't make them look realistic. My drafting ability is fine (e.g., I love to draw floor plans and elevations), but my artistic ability is practically nil. Aren't we all curious conglomerations of abilities?!

Ohhh, I had no idea it was National Dog Day! Happy Doggie Day to all you wonderful canines! Here's my Howie. He rescued me back in April of this year six weeks after losing our 11 year old chocolate Lab. I was not coping well when he showed up on our patio one cold, dark, stormy night. He was soaking wet, starving, full of fleas and had been shot. Discovered 2 months later that he had heart worms :( Just finished the protocol for that on Oct 1. He's been thru hell and back but is one very happy and grateful dog and I am very blessed that he chose me to be his guardian :)