On the day my husband’s grandmother died, I had a surprise. I went to the cellar and did a double-take: one of the butterflies had “hatched"–about four months early! There was a storm coming, so I took it upstairs and put it on the Christmas tree. I fed it sugared water daily, and it fluttered around for 27 days. Found it this morning on its back with its little legs up in the air. At least I won’t have to clean any more butterfly poop off my hardwood floor.

My yearly letters are about to go in the mail. But since postage has gotten so high (2 bucks to send a letter to the States!), I’m greatly reducing the number of hard copies I’m sending out. The list of recipients includes immediate family, relatives in Chipley, people who sent me a card last Christmas, people who grew up on the Lane, and people over 70. Everyone else will get a PDF copy via email, and I’ll probably post a copy here as well. Thanks for understanding!