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Hi, Rusty!
We had a great time!
But Goodness, I am exhausted!
I am not moving from the sofa for at least the next couple of hours!
Did you watch the Great North Run?
I know who won the Elite Women's and Men's races, but haven't actually seen the races themselves as yet.
A treat in store shortly, as I set the recorder.
What have you been up to?
Any more news from the travellers?

Hello, Elle!
Yes, I watched the Run.
Was very good on sunny Tyneside.
I was out earlier, just having a dander.
Just got home and two granddaughters showed up.
So that kept me on my toes!
The travelers have left Anna Maria Island and are going to Disney beach club or something like that.
They have another week yet.

Hi, Rusty!
I have just watched the Run - can you imagine......41,399 people took part!
It is wonderful that a large number do this mainly to honour family and friends , and to raise money for charities.
You sound to have had a great afternoon, too - you have a lovely family who obviously hold you in high regard the way they are always visiting you!
I looked up Anna Maria Island........
I was confused by its naming?
One bit of info was that it was so called by the Tampa Mayor who named it after his wife and sister.
Another said that it was named after Charles II of Spain's queen?
Anyway, it looks a lovely place!
I am about to start reading "Centennial".

Good evening, Elle.
They sent me some nice photos of the island.
Including look-out towers for spotting sharks!
I do not know who Anna Maria was.
Hope you take to Centennial.
First couple of chapters are very informative but can be hard going absorbing info from millions of years ago!
The research is incredible!

Hi, Rusty!
Regarding "Centennial".....there is a temptation to stop and look something up, if I do not know to what it refers, or do not at that stage have the necessary background knowledge to hand, but I am resisting this in the expectation that all will become clear and fall into place as the story develops....
Otherwise I will spoil the flow....
I can well believe even at this early stage that the research is in great depth.
I was planning to have a brief look at the Paralympics at 9 o'clock, but not sure that I can multi-task with this book!
We have had a lovely evening here...but is dark now by eightish.
That seems very early?

Hello, Elle,
Yes, the first couple of chapters set the scene for the main part of the book, and I found them hard going.
About how the land was formed, and the dinosaurs and early mammals.
Though some of it was intriguing, like reading about the ancestors of the horse, for instance, and how they developed.
I remember I liked Rufus, the bison!
Once you get to Lame Beaver and Our People, it gets interesting, as the various human characters make their their way to Colorado.
It is quite an epic.
Let us hope you like it!

Hey, Rusty!
I have just finished talking on the phone to my cousin.
All is well with the family up north.
Her grandchildren will be going to secondary school next September (2017) so they will have to be thinking about schools for them soon.
Speaking of which....BB starts full time tomorrow!
He look so grown up in his uniform!
Like the rest of the family (apart from me) he is tall for his age and wearing age 7 -8 clothes, despite being only 4 and a half!
I am definitely the "vertically challenged" one !
My soon -to-be -nine year old grandson takes a bigger shoe size than I do!
Still mulling over a doubtful parsing in the Everyman...though I did all the rest quite quickly this morning before I went out!

For Rusty, Elle, Pigale, Ros... everyone here, a clue from today's Times cryptic.

14 A. Out of practice, rugby guy lacks aptitude for a start (5)

If I am correct, we had this word previously, though clued differently?

Pigale, I think you could be right -it's obviously a good word for setters!