Caroline

@Mean Old Lady, I believe you’re thinking of Frommer’s “Europe on Five Dollars a Day.” It was my family’s trusted companion on our first European sojourn in the mid 1960s. One of my brothers memorized whole passages about the virtues of frequenting cheap and lively sidewalk bistros rather than the stuffy high-end restaurants that Americans had previously tended to associate with European travel. Nice article on it here: <a href="https://www.rutlandherald.com/europe-on-a-day-started-tourist-boom/article_ac0cdaac-98ba-5998-ab34-39d475b432cd.html" target="_blank">https://www.rutlandherald.com/europe-on-a-day-started-tourist-boom/article_ac0cdaac-98ba-5998-ab34-39d475b432cd.html</a>.

@Andrzej Please do consider writing that “ghost story.” Though I very rarely add my own voice to the comments, I read yours with much interest — and never more so than this particular thread.

@Andrzej Though I frequently read the comments, I very rarely add one of my own. Today, however, I am compelled to tell you how very much your words of hope and encouragement mean to me. Thank you a thousand times over.

@Tom My father was a great fan of orange marmalade. He would eat any kind he could get his hands on, but he always said that Seville orange marmalade was the best. As a child I found it too bitter for my taste, but I recently had some and enjoyed it a lot — much better than ordinary orange marmalade. (My mother was a devotee of Valencia oranges, so between then they had their Spanish orange cities covered!)

@Barry Ancona Indeed! This took me about half the time that yesterday’s did.

@MC At the risk of being ridiculously picky, I can’t resist pointing out that correct usage would be “thou usest” (2nd person singular) rather than “thou useth” (3rd person singular). The word “espial” was entirely new to me as well, though!

@Rachel So nice to both you and your mom back! Wishing you the best.

@Dan Collins you might enjoy today’s Strands puzzle.