If beauty is in the eyes of the beholder then it appears that estimates of an individual’s age operate in the same manner.

Anne and I are just back from three weeks in England. That’s a trip I never expected to make again.

Not long ago we sent an e-mail off to a friend who is wintering in a location far to our south. In the e-mail we wrote: ``The winter doldrums have officially descended. We are sick of the snow, not that we have a lot. We are sick of the cold, which we certainly do have.’’ In response we were told to get ``...more exercise. It releases happy stuff into your system...’’ This was followed by a suggestion to ``Keep up the exercise. The happy stuff increases the more you do.

We have learned as we have traveled the road of life, that there are many, many things which we simply cannot explain.

I don’t mean disrespect, but I hope some future pope will wise up and canonize deceased people who, though not Catholic, magnificently embodied Christ’s example and teachings. What a giant step that would be in acknowledging all of God’s children!

We are most pleased to announce the arrival of Abigail Gilpin Ellsworth, a.k.a. Boo. Abby arrived on Monday, Jan. 18, 2010 at 8:13 p.m., weighing in at six pounds, seven ounces and measuring 19.25 inches in length. On hand for her arrival were her mother Annie, something which no doubt goes without saying, her father, Christopher, and her maternal grandmother, Judy Higby.

You know, it’s almost like paging through a photo album. Every New Year’s I pull out the last year’s file and rifle back through them, recalling the columns and enjoying again the pleasure I had writing them for you. OK, let me be honest: I wrote them for me, too. It was fun, even if steadily harder work.

It is no secret to my closest friends that I am not much of a conversationalist. Perhaps I am a reaction to a mother who loved conversation and ranked it right up there with other forms of expression that she revered: theater and art. Ironically, so long as I can stay awake, and no matter how vibrant any conversation might be, my preference has always been for listening.

The Ellsworth family has paid school taxes on the property at 105 Pioneer Street in Cooperstown for just shy of one hundred years. And while we rather doubt that is a record for the longest run by a single family, we feel it is not an insubstantial record.