Happy 2003 Holidays!

Wow!  Arnold!!  Cal-ee-four-nyah!!!  Not since the "hanging chad" have we had a more intriguing political
situation.  Well, as they say, "To grope or not to grope--that is the question."

At this time of the year, we all hope for "whirled peas."  (Wait a minute; that was "world peace!")

Well, it seems age creeps up on you, a day at a time.  Doing the crossword the other day (as is my wont) I ran
across the word "senescence," which seemed oddly appropriate! (Yes, I had to look it up too--but the clue was
"Evening of one's days."  Hopefully, for us, early evening.)

Tie score!  On May 17, our second grandson, Jonah Lee Nelson, was born.  He's with parents Cindy & Israel &
brother & two sisters in Tiberias, Israel.  Our son, Steve, remains in the Columbus, Ohio, area doing safety-
related research for Honda.

Why did the checkout guy at the grocery store always ask if the customer wanted paper or plastic?  He knew
(careful now...) that "baggers can't be choosers!"

And what did the feline cell phone tester for Verizon keep saying?  "Can you hear meow?"

North--Platte, Nebraska!  Actually, the song goes:  "North--to Alaska!" but the rhythm's the same.  In
September, we took a 7-day cruise along the inside passage with stops at Juneau, Skagway, rainy Ketchikan &
Glacier Bay National Park.  Back to Vancouver & a week-long bus tour through British Columbia, Montana &
Yellowstone National Park before ending up in Salt Lake City for our flight home.  Hurricane Isabel visited
while we were gone & brought down our 35-year-old Bradford pear.  Hit the fence, but missed the house!

We've reached that ideal age--somewhere between "younger than springtime" & "older than dirt!"

Scary, scary, scary!  If you've ever taken I-295 coming into D.C. from Maryland, you know it's a speedway
and some areas have no shoulders.  So there we were, plane late into BWI from a week in San Diego for the
U.S. Animal Health Association meeting in October (see www.usaha.org for my webmaster work), heading
down the BW Parkway after midnight when the car lost all power!  Fortunately, I was able to pull off on
Kennilworth & stop at the side of the road with less traffic.  Cell phone to AAA; tow to Honda dealer in
Virginia; flag a cab & home at 2:30 a.m.  Bad alternator! 

New definition of a "scratch golfer": Writes down all the good scores--& scratches out the bad ones.

Britney Spears!!  Besides being senior girls league director for our Springfield Youth Club (since 1990), I
maintain web sites for the U-19 & U-14 girls leagues.  This past season, after updating some info, I got this e-
mail from a coach:  "Thank you for correcting the mistake.  The girls kept calling me.  Everyone uses the web
site! Your site is more popular than Britney Spears!!!"

Our RBC.  You've heard of ABC, the network, and SBC, the phone company--but how about RBC?  Well,
that's Suzi, our "Running Black Cat."  Actually, she's a blackish tortoise-shell in color, but very fast, very fast,
in fact, extremely fast....

Just remember: Enlightenment is not a new diet plan.

Sticks & stones.  Actually it was a cement sideway & when Mary fell & fractured her shoulder in late October,
I thought I was looking at a six-week laundry buildup!  But she taught me how to push the bottons (even though
I don't sort & fold like "the master").  We were, as Mare says, "walking for our health" when she tripped on an
irregular sidewalk & went down on her left side.  Arm in a sling for 5 « weeks & now physical therapy.  But
she's doing fine.

Annual license plates: GL D 8R; UP2ME2; 2DVUS; O2BN SF; ITZ BTZY (a silver Toyota MR2 Spyder
convert); FNSHWL (for my soccer players); KMCHI-KD; 1 OLGOAT; SINK NAV; CUBS 1ST; MATRNL 1
(a van); HKNGRL (wi sign "My other car is a pair of boots"); GO4IT; 1 BLKHNY; 52BNTLY (& it was!
Bronze & beautiful).

So we'll close & wish you & yours a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!  

        The Marks--Mary, Larry & Suzi..... 

Web=www.erols.com/ldmark   &   e-mail=ldmark@erols.com