Folks,

Dux:

Signal received 5 by 5 and understood. Googlemail it is old chap until told otherwise.

Considering all that must be going on in the castle right now it is remarkable that you got a moment to type here today. Has your Good Lady Wife managed to get her happy face to evidence anything other than the broad smile she has been wearing since the blessed event took place?

It is amazing to me even after 37 years of marriage to see the metamorphosis that takes place when a woman...any woman, any age sees an infant. That was once again called to my attention just yesterday at the Hess station where I was buying gas. Gas is almost $2.00 a gallon here once again, down from $4 just a month ago. Anyway, as I was paying the lighter tariff to a particularly grumpy cashier I noticed a young woman enter carrying a small baby. I paid what was owed and I turned to leave just as the young woman approached the counter and spoke rather pleasantly to the grumpy old grouch at the register. I glanced back. As the frowning woman looked up it was as if she had been struck across the forehead by a 2x4 in mid sneer.

A brilliant smile suddenly covered her face. Where had the frown she greeted me with gone? I thought she was going to jump over the counter and grab the baby and eat it. She was a totally different woman at least from my perspective. Both the child and her mom were quite beautiful I had to admit that however the change in the cashier's demeanor was startling.

As I walked out I wondered to myself if just a photo of a happy baby would have the same affect? And if so, would it work on my mother in law.... a picture of that particular lady tearing wings from bats on Halloween flashed across my mind and I quickly decided that it probably would not.