The End is Nigh. . .

Many Diacon Alley participants (you know who you are) have been writing wonderfully witty, thoughtful, touching posts about what a wonderful experience it has been.

Given the amount of wine, French cheese, and full English tea (sandwiches, scones, and cake) I have consumed, I have no comparably clever posts to offer.

Suffice it to say that I have had one of the times of my life. And it's not quite over yet -- at this very moment, I'm sitting here in Crone Cottage, eating more French cheese, sipping the last of the Sancerre, and watching my dear fellow cottagers (Tetley the Second and The Real Snape, the best friends a crone ever had) play on the internet.

We check out of the cottage tomorrow, and I have rarely been sorrier to see a vacation end.

Very often, when you look SO forward to something, the reality can never live up to the ideal you've created in your mind. But this trip, this con, this meeting of friends has totally

EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS.

In a word, the entire experience has been OUTSTANDING.