On Christmas Day, 2008, I sent a reply to Roger Ebert’s blog post that included a link to my sextuple-acrostic portrait of him. His reply, posted that Christmas night: Ebert: That manages to be touching and amusing at the same time. And awfully ingenious! Thank you. Since then he’s sent me a shiny new dime (long story) and declared me Second Place Winner in his Great Limerick Contest, awarding me a print of an Edward Lear etching and a copy of Lear’s The Owl and the Pussy-Cat. Now he declares via his Facebook presence: I’m aving a lot of health troubles that are keeping me from doing work and functioning online. Best person to contact is Chaz. Not in best of shape. So he is on my mind. The poor guy has been to Hell and back more than once (see my page); but his spirit is gigantic. I hope he does more than just get by this latest quality-of-life sandbar–I hope he makes it to tranquil coves.