First things first--Anyone who has read this poem will understand how exciting my news is: last night, the Harmony boys' basketball team beat the Athens's boys' basketball team in a nail-biter of an away game. As one of our 6th-graders said when he walked out into a lobby full of triumphant mothers waiting to drive their kids home, "This is like walking into a Hall of Fame!"

Second things second--Recently my sister and I learned that we both have oddly shaped optic nerves, which can be a sign of incipient glaucoma. And since glaucoma runs in families and our great-grandfather went blind from it, we have both been undergoing a battery of eye tests. Yesterday I finished my tests and was told so far, so good: in other words, no need to worry about turning into Milton yet. I'm sure all my amanuensi will be relieved to hear about this diagnosis.

And now, back to the books. . . .