A grateful reader in Michigan: “My sister [name] has been on a

several-year-long binge of listening exclusively to bagpipe bands, John

(stay with me, there is a point to this missive). She especially loves a

world-class group called the 78th Fraisers, travelling to Ottawa, North

Carolina, etc. to hear them perform and compete.

“Recently I got her hooked on Fire from the Sun

http://www.olimu.com/FireFromSun/FireFromSun.htm . Referring to you, John,

she e-mailed me today that ‘He’s got me listening to Callas again.’

“(!)

“When I told her she should express her gratitude to you for your writing,

she wrote that she ‘doesn’t want to have him suffer thru any stilted praise

I could come up with.

“Stilted or not, I thought you should know that you’ve performed a miracle.”

Stilted praise is no problem at all, Sir. Obsequious flattery and fawning

adulation also OK. I draw the line at graven images, though.