l.p. - luminous pondering - hmm...

Yeah - family gatherings always go sour quick... They have a definite tendency to do so, that certainly is for sure... And, with a family and extended family like mine I feel like Dorothy does, right there; like I'm not in Kansas anymore...? *lol* Or make that - not in the Açores, anymore! As long as I don't feel like the Strawman there... All is fine and dandy! I just have to keep telling myself this, now as, this year, it is hard to find reasons to be thankful and not, actually, reasons to ask "why"...? Oh shoot... in hindsight... I really look more like the lion... the Cowardly Lion, no need to remind me... than any other character on there... And to think that, last year, right here, I was identifying the most with... Ernie? Or maybe even... *gulp*... the Count? Yikes! How much things change during the course of a year... " Les années se suivent mais ne se ressemblent pas. " +++