My vacation in NC came to a premature end today when I received word from home that my mother, 90, had passed away during the night.

Although I'm back home now, and although many of you expected that I wouldn't be online anyway for a few more days, I just wanted to share this sad news with all of you, whom I consider "friends" and part of my extended family -- although we may have never met.

I'll check back in a couple of days.

Don