It was sometime in the 80's when my husband had a teacher's convention in Detroit. After having dinner in Windsor, Ont., just south of Detroit, we got on the customs line to reenter the US. We could see that the customs official was having the driver ahead of us open the trunk of his vehicle. Upon inspecting the trunk, the customs officer took out, and held up for all to see, this huge garish painting on black velvet of a bright pink devil sitting on a toilet bowl. She was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down her cheeks. And, of course, we were watching all this and laughing too. When it got to be our turn, the officer still couldn't contain herself. All she asked us was, "Did you see that? Did you see what he had? Wasn't that the funniest thing you've ever seen?" Then she waved us through. It was the first time we had ever seen a customs official crack a smile, let alone laugh. And then we went on after the convention to see all five Great Lakes that trip. But that's a different topic...

Carrie, where it's spring at last in Bardonia, NY