Hi, folks... It has been a whirlwind around here for the last week. The death of my sister Judi necessitated two trips to Hickory, the first to sign the cremation paperwork and to help her partner with writing the obituary, and the second for the actual memorial service, which was held Friday night. I took the opportunity to reconnect with old friends from high school, whom I had not seen since graduation in 1968, and to see old friends I had already reconnected with. So, despite the sadness involved, it was a good trip, although I have still not caught up on the everyday tasks and on the client research waiting to be done. And to top all that off, we re-financed the house in order to pull out some equity and do some much-needed work on the exterior. So we are replacing our cheapo vinly siding with Hardie board, replacing our gutters with some better stuff, and replacing our windows with hurricane windows. We were planning on less expensive windows but were told that, in order to conform to code, we would either need impact windows or hurricane shutters or some other barrier to protect the windows. Those of you who have been with me for years know that, when we built on the marsh in North Carolina, we installed hurricane bolts to use with plywood panels, and it worked very well. But we're both a lot older now, and I don't think it would be a good idea for us to go crawling around on the roof, trying to avoid damaging our solar panels, with sheets of plywood in an effort to cover our windows. Some things were just not meant to be. Daughter Maya is in New York City this week. She is in the running (and actually ahead in the popular vote) for Portland's Chef of the Year award. She has been hush-hush about it, but this might be why she's traveled to NYC. I'm sure we'll find out something about it later on in the week. Daughter Sara is downstairs working hard on her Master's project, due today. This is the biggie she needs to graduate, and of course she's stressing about it. I think she's nearly finished. If so, and if it passes muster, she'll be able to graduate this winter and work on getting a position with a counseling service. Fingers crossed for both daughters. Well, time for me to hit the research books, the research log, and Ancestry to continue downloading, sourcing, and writing in the project I'm currently working on. Y'all take care, and have a good afternoon. Peace, Part of the Tree, Greg