T.

Clare Island appears, disappears from moment to moment.

Last night the wind howled, as Paul put it, "like straight

out of Lear!" Is this summer? Nearly. Not quite.

Last night I talked to Nelson (4,500 air miles away)

using Skype -- online. I remember calling home 

to Renton while hosteling around Europe in 1977.

One had to locate a call center, generally in a big city.

The drill was you'd write your desired phone number down

at the front desk, then they'd assign you a retrieval number,

and when that appeared above one of the booths, your 

call had gone through, and you had the booth to yourself

for as long as you wanted, but it was pricey --  thankfully

good ol' mom accepted my collect calls. There weren't many

options back in the old days. Now I can video-chat with my sons

for not a penny. We are spoiled!