google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday April 7, 2010 Donna S. Levin

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Apr 7, 2010

Wednesday April 7, 2010 Donna S. Levin

Theme: GOLF (Across 60. This puzzle's theme - according to Twain, it's "a good walk spoiled") . Perhaps, more likely, this puzzle was inspired by this week’s Masters, from Augusta, Georgia, home of the GREEN JACKET, the first of the four Major Championships of Golf.

16A. Extremely defensive state of mind: BUNKER MENTALITY. BUNKER being the name for the sand traps we often find our balls buried in.

30A. Physical play: ROUGH HOUSE especially when we hit our drives in the ROUGH, the thicker grass next to the Fairway.

39A. Abstinent one: TEETOTALER like the members of the WCTU the TEE is both the place where a golf hole begins, and the peg which holds the ball before it is struck.

54A. Sam-I-Am's story: GREEN EGGS AND HAM one of our favorite Dr. Seuss stories, and the GREEN is the place where the hole is located in golf.

Lemonade blogging.

With only four theme words, Ms. Levin managed to pack in lots of spaces with two 15 letter fills, unusual for a Wednesday. Her last puzzle for us being the Keep It Simple Stupid puzzle from March.

Welcome back to Wacky Wednesday, today featuring the stylish offering of Ms. Donna Levin who has endeared herself with her witty puzzles, and her background as an ex-attorney. I hope you all appreciated how we have been preparing you for this puzzle with all the talk of the Masters, and a special shout out to GAH, who has picked PHIL MICKLESON to prevail.

Across:

1. Date with an MD: APPT because the clue has an abbreviation, you know the answer will as well.

5. Horse of a certain color: ROAN

9. One of the March girls : BETH played by Margaret O. Brien, with Elizabeth Taylor as Amy, in the 1949 movie version of LITTLE WOMEN .

13. Runny fromage: BRIE certainly does not make the cheese appealing, but keeps our French education going, FROMAGE = CHEESE.

14. "La __ Mobile": "Rigoletto" aria: DONNA, I really like how she worked her own name into the grid.

15. Declare openly: AVOW

19. Pablo Neruda work : ODE a very important 20th century poet, who has appeared both in puzzles, and CA’s daily rhyming remembrances.

20. Landlocked Asian sea: ARAL becoming a staple of our constructors.

21. Spats spots: : ANKLES , love the alliteration, the clue and the memories of SPATS from old gangster movies.

22. Trial in simulated conditions: TEST RUN

24. Short orders in a luncheonette? : BLTS short being another way to clue an abbreviation.

25. Giant Mel: OTT classic crosswordese.

26. Retired Cunard liner, briefly: QEII which is paired so cleverly with the down 26. Part of 26-Across: QUEEN.

27. '60s protest gp. : SDS Students for a Democratic Society; I fell in love on election day 1968, while the SDS was rallying with “Vote with your feet.”

34. Joint problem: GOUT

35. Pig Latin refusal: IXNAY

36. Precipitous start? : PEE. Letter P starts the word "Precipitous". You have to love a puzzle that has PEE right in the middle, and clued with such an ominous word to hide the simplicity of it being the first letter of the word.

37. Limoges product: CHINA some really beautiful Dishes.

38. Gardener's areas: BEDS are often places for planting things.

41. Caps or Cat preceder: SNO this was in my last blog, so go to March 17, 2010, if you want a picture.

42. Seedless bit of flora: FERN they reproduce by SPORES.

43. Channel where Susan Lucci hawks her jewelry line: HSN which with the death of the Soap Opera will be her only TV home.

44. Funny Fey: TINA or should we say SEXY FEY , notice the handcuffs….

45. Ghoulish: MACABRE

49. __ rod: powerful Old Testament tool: AARON’S a shout out to my oldest son, who is going to GABII as a staff member! .

52. Luminous glow: AURA

53. Objective: AIM

57. Margarine: OLEO

58. Condos, e.g. : UNITS

59. Like Cheerios: OATY okay, as opposed to my humor which is often CORNY?

61. Insignificant: PUNY

62. Prejudice: BIAS

Down:

1. Monk's superior: Hey ABBOT .

2. Bluenose : PRUDE Bluenose has so much feeling to it, wonderful clue.

3. Sappy trees: PINES though we like Maple sap better, anybody want some pine syrup?

4. Drug in Shatner novels: TEK if you missed the whole TekWar phenomenon, it is is very well done.

5. Like I, in some cases: ROMAN a new twist on our old friend the ROMAN NUMERAL, very visual.

6. Turow work about first-year law students: ONE L a term I disliked when I taught at law school, but it will make some happy.

7. Political commentator Coulter: ANN who received so many comments about her unappealing persona.

8. Hollywood's Wood: NATALIE a beautiful girl, who died under strange circumstances.

9. Goofs on the mound: BALKS ah, goodie, a baseball reference also.

10. Activity from below? : EVIL The Devil Made Me Do It .

11. Schlep: TOTE okay, a little French, a little Yiddish…

12. Major rtes. : HWYS

14. Diminutive celeb sexologist: welcome back DR. RUTH who always wanted to keep us busy. Also, 39. Stiffen: TENSE UP Dr. Ruth?

17. Like garden smells: EARTHY

18. Not behind: ANTI when you refuse to get behind a project, i.e. not support, nice fill.

23. Frat party garb: TOGAS

24. Assailed: BESET

27. Dirty: SOIL must be careful here.

28. Beach sight: DUNE who doesn’t like to play in the SAND .

29. Headline (in) STAR in my guest blog.

30. Teases: RIBS a nice old fashioned word

31. Beasts of burden: OXEN and 55. Wildebeest: GNU

32. Word processor command: UNDO sadly life has no such choice.

33. La Scala production: OPERA a recent topic of discussion with OPUS

34. Togo neighbor: GHANA we will teach Geography yet!!

37. Medical imaging proc. : CT SCAN how about some background music 5th Dimension.

40. They held Tara's title: O’HARAS Scarlett et al.

42. Helsinki native: FINN

44. "... newt and __ frog": "Macbeth": TOE OF Eye of Newt

45. Like some basements: MUSTY

46. Religion founded in 19th-century Persia: BAHÁ'I isn’t it fun to learn?

47. Cowboy's rope: RIATA

48. Small-screen awards: EMMYS with all the 60” and more TVs this may not be true anymore.

49. Wide-eyed: AGOG

50. Woody's offspring: ARLO The father and son Guthries, with Alice’s Restaurant the longest song ever to get airplay on the radio; Arlo refused to sing any of it when we asked at Woodstock.

51. Fishing gear: REEL it’s been “REEL” nice blogging “AGIN”

52. Not fer: AGIN against (if you’re not fer me you’re agin me)

56. Driver's lic. info: DOB date of birth

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here are a few Asana (Yoga posture) photos from our regular poster Lucina. Click on each one, it will enlarge. Simple amazing. Lucina is 72-year-old semi-retired teacher living in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Twins great Harmon Killebrew also resides.

This over and out from Lemonade in the sunny south, to Dennis, Robin and all who need, our best thought.

Lemonade

44 comments:

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Lemonade,
Wouldn't it be nice to start the puzzle with TEETOTALER and ends with GREEN EGGS AND HAM (Tee to Green)? But, the restrictions of symmetry! I had to read your explanation for the ANTI clue. Come to the Butler Cabin, I'll award you a Green Jacket for the superb blogging today! Have you been to Augusta?

Dudley,
Don't hide in your bunker. Walk with us in the fairway.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Al & Argyle,
I like the ROAN clue: "Horse of a certain color". It's a play off some idiom, isn't it?

Lemonade714 said...

Yes, C.C. it is a play on HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR .

In 1986, I was working with a big company and I had an invitation to go, but my ex was pregnant with Aaron, and we had some prior problems and I did not want to leave, and I figured I would have other chances...I have never been, still on my list.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, CC and All. This was a GREAT puzzle. As I immediately filled in APPT, I knew I was in for a fun spin. All the wonderful and misleading clues made for a good time.

I especially liked Spat Spots = ANKLES.

I bet Mainaic thought of a this for Bluenose. It was a ferry boat that ran from Bar Harbor, ME to Nova Scotia.

There is a big Baha'i temple in Haifa, Israel. It is the second most holy temple of the Baha'i faith. Haifa their international Headquarters.

I never heard of the HSN channel, but the perps filled in that blank.

Congratulations to your son, Lemonade. How exciting for him to be involved is such a fascinating project.

In honor of Mark Twain, who inspired this puzzle's theme, here is today's QOD:

It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. ~ Mark Twain

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. ~ Mark Twain

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Lemonade,
Ah, my lethologica is getting worse.

Haltool
I like the alliterative ANKLES clue too.

Dennis,
I hope you are getting back to top soon. It's just strange not to seeing you first thing in the morning.

Lemonade714 said...

I agree Hahtool, Ms. Levin always gives us fun, but challenging puzzles, in the three bears school of construction, not too hard, not too soft, just right.

Hahtoolah said...

There is a Baha'i Temple in my town. Is there one in yours?

CC, your question about the Horse of a Certain Color made me think of the horse in the Wizard of Oz.

Lemonade714 said...

BTW:

LUCINA, asombroso! I have talked about Yoga for years, but do not ever do it.

Al said...

The Aral Sea. In the 60's it was as large as Ireland. Here it is today due to Soviet Union irrigation efforts for cotton fields.

tfrank said...

Good morning, C.C., Lemonade and all,

This was a neat puzzle this morning and a great theme for Masters Week. Not many challenges, but fun, nevertheless.

Re the Masters, I think the guys facing the biggest challenge to concentration this week will be the guys paired with Tiger. I would not want to be part of that madhouse.

Good job blogging, Lemo. Lots of good links. I liked the way you connected stiffen and Dr Ruth. Favorite clue was "They held Tara's title".

I hope your favorite wins the Masters. I think I will root for Kim or Stricker.

Have a good day.

Spitzboov said...

Goodn Morning everyone. A nice Wednesday puzzle. Love Donna's clueing. Theme words fell early. PEE - cute. Favorite clues were ANTI, OHARAS, and BALK. Consider BRIE soft but not 'runny', but I defer to you gourmands out there. No searches or strikethroughs.

Thinking of you Dennis and hope you have the strength to continue to help your friend any way you can.

Off to see the urologist.

kazie said...

I enjoyed today's puzzle, which I breezed through, unlike Mon-Tues. this week. Lots of fun clues and a straightforward theme.

Great blogging with interesting links. Thanks Lemonade!

I thought I'd heard of a bluenose dolphin or shark before, but on searching didn't come up with anything other than bottlenose dolphin and a fish called bluenose.

Brie is nice and spreadable, but I prefer camembert for flavor.

Nice to see a word like MACABRE in a CW too. I guess if Lemonade's link for SAND were coupled with the precipitous clue, I'd be thinking PEE all the way down!

koufaxmaravich said...

I LOVED today's puzzle -- kudos to Donna Levin. I learned it's usually not the first word that comes to mind.

Insignificant is not tiny, it's puny.

Great word selection, and clues which make you think.

Roan, gnu, schlep=tote, ctscan, ixnay.

Pee in the middle (brilliantly obscured by precipitous) is obviously a reference to the halfway house after the ninth hole, no?

Thanks for cleverly boosting my Wednesday. Enjoy - supposed to hit 91 in NYC today.

Donna L. said...

Thanks for the kind words, gang. The fortuitous timing of this puzzle, leading up to the Masters, was entirely Rich Norris's idea. There are so many little decisions (like this one) made by an editor that we take for granted -- but that contribute to a puzzle's being shown to its best advantage. Rich is a real master, though perhaps not one with a green jacket. :-)

--Donna L.

Tinbeni said...

Lemonade, great job and embeds.
Very informative.

DONNA is becoming one of my favorites.
Getting her name in brought a smile.

GOLF theme well done except
IXNAY on TEETOTALER, that's blasphemy.

SOIL & DUNE next to each other was cute.

DOB reminded me of a scene where this cop asked a perp his birthday. He replies, April 7th. Cop asks, what year? He says, every year.

TEK, Drug in Shatner novels, all by crosses.
How did I miss this area of literature?

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Smiles all around this morning for this puzzle. Donna Levin didn't fool me this time. I looked over the clues and found the hint at 60A. With just a little help from the SW perps, I had GOLF. GREEN EGGS AND HAM was an easy one and I was on my way up.

I skipped around a little bit because I didn't want to miss any of the perps that had been filled in without my being aware of them.

AARONS was the only unfamiliar fill. BTW, congratulations to your Aaron, Lemonade. He looks totally delighted in the photo. It is wonderful when your children get to do something they love.

Lots of women's names scattered about; Dr. RUTH, ANN, NATALIE, BETH, DONNA, TINA, FERN (I had a great aunt named Fern) and there were even some EMMYS.

We also have EARTHY, BEDS and SOIL. Even MUSTY is related to the damp smell of the earth.

My father, who didn't have a middle name, adopted Langhorne (Mark Twain's real middle name) as a teenager. It wasn't legal, but he loved Twain and since his initials were L.L., it made for nice alliteration.

GAH has a big man-crush on Phil Mickelson, so he just has to root for him. GAH figures Phil will rise to the occasion with Tiger as competition. Phil is always in the running....as long as he gets his putts. There is some concern about his drives around our house too. (Oh...the frustration!)

Wishing Dennis and Robin the best with their loved ones.

Lucina said...

Good morning, Lemonade, C.C. and fellow bloggers.

Great blogging, Lemon, really amusing, made me chuckle aloud.

What a fine Wed. xwd. I love it that Donna included her own name and crossed with Dr. Ruth, hmmm ...
just coincidence I'm sure.

As all must realize by now, sports are not my forte, but I've learned so much just from solving; so wasn't particularly excited about the theme, yet admired the cleverness of it.

New to me: balks, had no idea it was a golf term, so did not even realize that I had "balls" there until the blog and had not checked on "ankles". (sigh) so much to learn yet.

Have to cut this short for a dental appt. Later!

I wish you a beautiful Wednesday!

Elissa said...

I laughed when I saw the Twain quote -- the perfect description of golf. I play golf badly. When asked about my handicap, I always say "My clubs. I get my money's worth on a per stroke basis."

Clear Ayes said...

The following is just the first 19 lines of Pablo Neruda's "Ode To Wine". It is too long to post all of it here, but you get the idea.

Ode To Wine

Day-colored wine,
night-colored wine,
wine with purple feet
or wine with topaz blood,
wine,
starry child
of earth,
wine, smooth
as a golden sword,
soft
as lascivious velvet,
wine, spiral-seashelled
and full of wonder,
amorous,
marine;
never has one goblet contained you,
one song, one man,
you are choral, gregarious,
at the least, you must be shared.

Anonymous said...

Lucina
Balks is a baseball term.
The pitcher makes an illegal move with a runner on base (to entice, so he can "pick him off").
Umpire calls a 'balk' and the runner(s) advance.

dodo said...

Echoing Lemonades wishes for you, Robin and Dennis. dodo

melissa bee said...

good morning c.c., lemonade and all,

love donna's puzzles. timely, clever theme (thanks rich), and alot of colorful fill, loved everything about it.

wonderful job lemonade, you make it look easy. perfect planting comment. terrific accomplishment for your son, congratulations.

c.c., brilliant thought of tee to green placement.

a few years ago i attended a pro-am tournament and was surprised at how exciting it was. can actually feel the crack on tee-off, very powerful. mickelson won.

lemonade, i remember the arlo story, and still like him. on his live in sydney cd he came up with a way to do alice, without actually doing alice. very funny.

limber lucina, great pics!

MJ said...

Good day to all,

Terrific write-up and links, Lemonade. Thank you! Also, congrats to your son. Should be an adventure never to be forgotten.

I absolutely loved this puzzle! It gave me so many smiles along the solving way. Great evocative fill such as MACABRE, MUSTY, and GOUT. And I found it delightful that Donna put herself in the puzzle in such an unassuming way. All thumbs up!

Warm thoughts sent out to Dennis, Robin, Lemonade, and all with friends and loved ones facing mighty challenges.

Enjoy the day!

eddyB said...

Hi.

Different strokes. I'll be watching
the IRL race this weekend since
Versus is back on direcTV.

eddyB

Jeannie said...

Wonderful puzzle Donna, and nice write up Counselor. A golf theme how fitting that you should be the one blogging today. I have to admit I had to hit the g-spot for the Rigoletto aria – Donna and Bahai. Other than that I did pretty good. My favorite clues were “Piglatin refusal” – Ixnay and “activity from below” – evil. I can’t wait to get out and dig in my garden and get that earthy smell! Enjoy this wonderful day.

carol said...

Hi Lemonade, C.C. and all -
Great job blogging Lemonade!

Fun puzzle, I didn't know all the answers but the perps took care of most of them. I always enjoy a Donna Levin puzzle and am usually on her 'wave-length'.
I never can remember what BLUENOSE means, and I refuse to look at my notes so I can try to get over my lethologica but if C.C. has it, I am in good company:)

34A (JOINT PROBLEM/GOUT) really had me stopped for a while, as did 18D (NOT BEHIND/ANTI)- great tricky clues, loved 'em.

Speaking of EARTHY smells, I plan to generate lots of them today. I am planting Dahlias. I put 3 in a few days ago, but today I am planting 9 more. They are so bright and beautiful and wonderful for cutting.

JD said...

Good morning Lemonade, CC and all,

Fun Puzzle Donna. Most clues made me think, then smile when it clicked, such as pig Latin refusal. Unfortunately 16A never did click, as I could not come up with the K in bunker or tek. Thanks Lemonade for explaining the theme. D'oh girl here.

I agree that Brie is sofy, but not runny-my favorite.

Lucina, I am impressed with your finesse with those yoga poses. I'm still working on gaining strength doing yoga, as I already have the flexibility.

Hahtool, I think the closest Bahai temple to us is in SF. San Jose celebrated 50 yrs at their center a few yrs back, and there is a school over in Santa Cruz.The Lotus Temple in India is stunning.

Baha'i House of Worship, India( I have NO idea how to post a picture, so we'll see if it shows up.)

Lemonade, "Up, Up and Away" brought us back to the corny routines we once loved. The plastic see thru dress is a bit on the Lady Gaga scale for that time.

Giant Mel= ott.....HELP

Lucina said...

Thanks, anon! I saw the "mound" part and could imagine a pitcher, but otherwise, no idea.

Some really great clues today from Donna (sorry about the earlier remark, couldn't help myself and made me smile):

Pablo Neruda and Rigoletto. If you haven't heard that aria, please do so, it will break your heart.

Green eggs and ham, always a fav as are all Dr. Seuss
ixnay
gout (that's why I do yoga, to prevent it!)

On teetotaler, I initially was convinced it should be "monk" (celibate after all) at the end, so that gave me endless troubles until erased it then china and star appeared like magic and the rest filled in.

Thank you for your kind remarks, Lemonade and melissa bee.

Clear Ayes,
I always enjoy a poem from you and especially one by Neruda.

Lucina said...

Thank you, JD; you shall gain that strength in a very short time, I'm sure. Four years ago I was desperate for the end of each routine, but now i love it and feel so energetic.

Jerome said...

Donna is an absolute gem. All her theme entries are terrific, fun phrases.

14 across= DONNA. Oh, but it gets much sneakier than that. Where is she going to put S. LEVIN? In the top right hand corner check out the crossing of EVIL and ANKLES. You can't trick me, sister! :)

DR. RUTH cures. DR. HURT doesn't.

Top-notch job, Lemonade.

Chickie said...

Hello All--I enjoyed your blogging today, Lemonade. Good job.

My one lookup today was One L. We've had this before, not too long ago, and I just didn't remember it. The N in Donna didn't help as I hadn't that word either!

For basements I had Dusty. As I do the downs and across fills together, that error was soon corrected with Macabre. All in all a fun puzzle with a great Golf theme. Very apropos for this week.

Chickie said...

Lucina, I'm so impressed with your yoga expertise. My exercise routine is hit and miss and I surely would be anxious for any yoga routine to be finished almost before it started.

JD, you too, are a great yoga enthusiast and I admire the hard work you put in.

Jerome, leave it to you to find Donna Levin's entire name in the puzzle. Excellent work!

Annette said...

Thanks for the fun puzzle, Donna!

I finished on paper with no assists and got the theme, not that it was easy going the whole way though! There were many fun reveals. I sent it right off to the golfers of the family.

When you bake brie in phyllo dough, it it rather runny until it starts to cool off.

Bob said...

Fairly easy puzzle today. Took 18 minutes to complete. No errors or difficulties. Northwest corner was the last part to be completed.

Clear Ayes said...

Annette, I was just going to say the same thing about baked brie....lovely runny Brie en Croûte.

Don't be overly concerned about typos. We see what we expect to see. You may have written "it it", but I saw "it is", just the way you meant to type it.

Lucina, terrific photos. I've tried some very simple yoga and enjoyed it. I wish there was a gym or someplace for classes around here, but no such luck.

Lemonade, sorry I omitted my good wishes for your sick friend in my morning post. Both you and he are getting them right now.

dodo said...

Very enjoyable puzzle today. I did it last night on Cruciverb but because of their difficulties it wasn't savable so I printed it. Not such a bad idea, but I miss the morning brain work!

Lucina, your pix have inspired me to get back to my Pilates classes! Thanks, my dear! Flexibility isn't a problem, but balance certainly is so Yoga isn't for me.

Annette said...

Thanks, Clear Ayes. I knew the right term was "Brie en Croûte", but didn't think I could spell it!

My b-i-l does "hot yoga" every Sunday morning. My sister went with him once, but between the heat and bending over, she got light-headed and just lay there until he was done.

Lemonade714 said...

Jerome: Thank you, kind words from a constructor who is also a wit mean a great deal to me.

My favorite TEE TOTALER joke is an old one; at the temperance meeting, the speaker has in front of him a glass of water and a glass of whiskey. After a 10 minute harangue on how whiskey will kill you, he opens a container with holes in it and shows the crowd two big fat healthy earthworms.
"My final argument against demon rum will not be words, but you will see with your own eyes." He says.
He then places a worm into each glass; in the water, the worm is swimming around happily, while after just a few seconds, the worm in the whiskey, shakes, and floats to the surface dead.

"You see," he continued.

From the back of the room, a voice booms, "Yes, I see; if I drink me whiskey, I'll never have worms."

Tinbeni said...

Lemonade:
For obvious reasons ...

I think that was me.
LOL

MJ said...

Annette and Clear Ayes, I also thought of baked brie for the "Runny fromage" clue. Yummy graphic link, CA!

Lucina, your yoga postures are inspiring. You obviously have very good balance.

Dodo, do the numbers "1029" in your e-mail have significance?

We were blessed to babysit our darlin' grandson Drake last night while his parents had their first "date" since his birth. All went well, and we are now "Certified Sitters."

Cheers!

Lucina said...

Thank you, all, for your very kind comments. As an advocate of any kind of exercise for good health, it is joyous to know of others who also work out.

Annette, I congratulate your husband on doing hatha yoga; that is something i could not do. I am always hot and high temperatures really stifle me. Ironic that I live here, too.

Dodo, that is good news! I salute you for doing pilates. Good luck. I did that for one year, liked it but returned to yoga which I much prefer and, too, the instructor was changed, not for the better, unfortunately.

Lemon, congratulations on your son's achievement. What a grand opportunity!

MJ, how delightful to enjoy your grandchild so much. They do steal one's heart, don't they?

And Donna, thank you for creating even a sports themed xwd fun!

Jeannie said...

Hey all, if you google this site and type after that "brie" you will find a recipe I posted a recipe that is a "stunner" for my friends. I believe it was December 7th; coincidentally Windhover's birthday.

Frenchie...how did your Italian dinner turn out for your Pete? just relying on my memory. It may or may not be reliable.

Frenchie said...

Jeannie,
Peter was very pleased with the spaghetti! He enjoyed it very much. I explained to him how I'd gotten the recipe from you and he says if our group ever gathers together, he hopes you cook!
Thanks for sharing, it was well appreciated!
Frenchie

Frenchie said...

MS. Levin,
Excellent puzzle! I enjoyed each and every entry! I look forward to more of your puzzles in the future.
Lemonade714, I really 'got it' the way you explained each clue was excellent! You are the best! Congrats. to Aaron. He is one brilliant young man who is going places, literally and figuratively!!!
Hope you feel better. Allergies, infections and settling in the chest...very bad combination!
My positive thoughts go out to you and to Dennis...