I can't believe January is GONE! I've just gotten comfortable with writing 2010 rather than 09 and still occasionally write the 0 and have to squeeze the 1 in front of it. The trees are lovely this morning. It's still only 25 degrees so I think the fog froze on the limbs and twigs and make them into a sort of winter wonderland! I'm escaping to Phoenix on Wednesday (to Atlanta tomorrow) and the highs there are now in the low 70s! Maybe, just maybe I'll come back with a little suntan even with only a few days there. Win and I talked via Verizon yesterday and I learned that they did have some problems with the excess rain - Jackie (my namesake for which I will forever be humbled!) was out on her tractor scraping the road to their ranch to get rid of some of the deep ruts so her little car can navigate it again. I hear they had damage from a tornado a few years ago but never rain problems before. As the oldtimers said, "it's all because they put that man on the moon!" Win and I have been friends since the 50s when both our husbands were students at the University of Oregon in Eugene. For many years we managed to live near enough to visit often but now it's a flight, not a drive. There is something very special about long-time friends. Even though we change somewhat unnoticeably when physically separated for years at a time, the bond is still there and when we meet again, the changes are absorbed, ignored, accepted or enjoyed and the friendship continues. When you have shared the early years of marriage and your children have shared times together, the bonds remain. And, even though the bonds may have weakened over the years of long separations, in our elder years, they become tight again. Memories that were put on the back burner during the middle "busy" years rise up again and fuel our days with grand, happy thoughts that make our lives more whole.