Stay with me, kids. It's the harvest season in Vidalia, and it won't take long to hit home. Karen Biglane up the street just lost her daddy to colon cancer yesterday, Bo Weatherly, Belinda's daddy, just across the street, is not looking good, and Jimmy Gardner, up a block or two isn't looking good at all.

In our case, it's my mother-in-law, Girl. She is pretty swiftly losing her mind. Not Alzheimer's, I think, but something more akin to senile dementia. It's tough on Lyman's father. He has loved that tiny girl with the clicking heels for 62 years and counting.