April Fool's day etc.

Hi friends. Gee several folks are actually reading this so I have to think a bit more carefully about what I write.

Thank heavens March is over! Though that lands us on April Fool's Day. According to Wikipedia the origin of this day lies in the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar or moving the first of the year or some such thing. I have an inkling it predates that.

On at least one occasion when Good Friday fell on April 1, my friend Diana and I both took it as spiritual sign - the Devil was fooled on Good Friday - seeing Christ on the Cross he was certain that Christ was a fool and that he, Satan, had won! But Easter Sunday proved him wrong. Death was fooled!

Diana enjoyed minor pranks. One year at the FDIC we went in the night before and set up several pranks - only one of which back-fired. We tied some chairs to tables, wrapped a desk in newspaper, strung paper clips together. Oh - and another time Diana made a mock-apple pie - using the recipe on the side of the Ritz Crackers box. Just Ritz crackers and sugar and water and no apples. edible and sweet - but kinda weird.

Diana was invited to dinner on April Fool's Day and brought dessert - a delicious-looking sponge cake. You guessed it. Much to the relief of her hosts' children there was a real cake in the car. We talked about dipping mushrooms in chocolate for people who loved chocolate truffles, but we both hate to waste food.

Now on to the etc. part:

As of today, the Washington Post has finally published Diana's obituary. The link should be good for a few weeks. It includes a photo provided by one of Diana's friends - Pat Petrash. I met Pat the evening before Diana died - again I'm glad that Diana has such wonderful friends. That is the picture posted here.

Finally - I have been thinking about a journey that Diana and I made to New York City in October, 1999 to see Dame Edna on the Royal Tour at the Booth Theatre. We took the bus up and stayed with friends and we had a grand time. Our tickets put us in the first row all the way to the side. But eventually Dame Edna engaged Diana in conversation as she did other members of the audience. At the end of the show the people that Dame Edna had been talking with were invited to take part in the show and Diana dutifully suffered through this and was rewarded with the photo here of herself with Dame Edna. A few years later I was able to get Dame Edna to autograph it for her after a performance in Washington, DC.