Sheila...magnificent idea! Magnificient heart touching thread you have here. If in some small part I contributed, that is not me but my soul deserving any mention at all when none is sought or needed.

Rosa and Jeramie are lovely ladies and the food looks tasty, considering I had a "lean cusine (tm)" tonight!

I have a dear friend I have not met who lives in Russia. We started as teacher/student in jewelry work when he contacted me on www.allexperts.com. From then came social issues, family, other needs and the same things all of us feel and share even in different places and conditions.

One statement he made to me was strong and simple, obviously refering to the Stalin times: "Thomas, my friend, country is not built on bones of dead men." Indeed, it is not. That is not a firm foundation but one of decay and fear. The images you have show hope and joy and really some GOOD SMILES in diversity. Hurrah!
My Russian friend would like these pics, too. He has a big heart and a poet spirit. (May I send to him? I won't download unless you say it is ok.)

I am thankful for getting to know folks "even only in a whisper of all they are" through Rosity and other Internet connections. Common ground does exist.
Good stuff. Tom.

Message edited on: 03/09/2005 23:56