Thanks for providing the links to two very interesting articles! India is an important part of this world to keep informed about. With all due respect though: summarizing well-written articles from other publications is certainly helpful and informative, but really, the articles credited to “by The Staff at wow.com”, could use some editorial polish … honestly, dear wow people, you can write better than this, I hope!

Super-Liz … as Charlie Rose would say: “I adore you” … specially now for sharing the guilty pleasure that was ‘Xena, Warrior Princess’ … what a hoot that show was, Lucy Lawless (what a name) really rocked … having a particularly male-centric job at that time, I always wished for that butt-kicking ‘super power’ … now I am in very non-confrontational phase and have to chuckle about myself …

Green … in a city-kind of way … I love my little fire-escape improvisation … vincas, rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley, basil, mint (alas, only one each in this tiny space…) … as much as useful, it’s also the lovely little scents on my hands, breezing into the apartment … next market-day I’ll get some geraniums … I carried in rocks from the beach and got some artsy pots and planters … all is thriving and it’s a pretty picture - a little illusion of a barrier to the ugly buildings out back … And luckily our building is ‘tolerant’ as long as pots are not blocking the ladders/railings … and I am not the only coop member trying a bit of ‘city-scaping’ here … - we even have planter boxes on the stoop, which this year I did with ivy and mint (that will show the street thieves who ‘lifted’ off the pretty marigolds last year … oh this city …) Never have been good with house-plants though … guess it’s my strong feeling that plants should not live indoors, same as I don’t like animals in cages in the zoo or pets in small city apartments … just doesn’t seem fair to them … I also really love the scrappy/hardy little East Village community gardens … some are really gorgeous, others just seem to exude courage and chuzpa … thanks to Bette Midler for being such a champion of the Green Thumbs! My retirement dream has always been to have a garden (by the sea somewhere … well, a woman can dream …!) - and there are always the pretty (mostly British…) garden books I love to look at, a very relaxing escape …

oops, sorry, of course it’s meant to say ” what good is it if …” (note to self: Preview!)

… always looking forward to your stories on “Nightline” ! … very curious about this one: “synchronicity or fate” - always catching us, somehow !… and what a storyteller you are, your conversation with your son came so alive … ” do you really think I am from NoWhere” … what an opportunity to talk about where we all are from: nowhere …

oh, so bitter/sweet … thinking more about it - “if I can’t breathe … what could is it if it keeps me afloat” - it’s not just an environmental conundrum but a political, economical, social, cultural one … life, always bitter/sweet

Hi Mugsy Jr. … you lovely Peadbody girls, please, take good care of your Aunt Mugsy! Sending many good wishes!

P.S. oops, forgot to say: Many thanks, dear Edith Ann, for the ‘sandbox’ to play in, and all your wonderful articles! You are the best!

Hi Kay Sara … what an excellent comment! nothing to add; just love the acknowledgment that our curiosities should not cloud the understanding what’s best for those children (and their parents) … and yeah to needing a “big dose of happiness and lightness for a change” …

hi again ki b … the Hamptons are actually quite beautiful - all those painters out there about the amazing light! (and I love gawking at all the pretty houses, at least the ones not hidden behind the (in)famous hedges …) … it’s just the ridiculous summer grid-lock party season that’s so silly … try East Hampton in the fall and it’s really lovely … and there is nothing better close to the city than walking the rocks around the Montauk lighthouse, eating a lobster roll at Gossman’s dock, watching the working (!) fishing boats … PS. thanks for liking my name .. nothing exotic there … just plain old German Ursula, shortened to Ulla, … a popular name in the fifties …

Danke schön, mit herzlichen Grüssen nach …?! btw: loved your Wittgenstein quote (on the language thread) … thanks for that!

Hi Jane (of the hilarious ‘melonhat’ cat … what a sweet kooky idea! ) … just thinking about the possibilities … makes me want to move back to Europe pronto … visited my brother in Spain last winter, hopped on a cheapo flight from Barcelona to Paris, took a night-train to Germany … had almost forgotten how easy it is … if it weren’t for the miserable dollar/euro … You really are lucky! … Greetings to the ‘old country’ from NYC

hi ki b … it’s Ulla again (see a note earlier here…) … just to say: yeah … I too need the Long Island fix every now and then (better outside the idiot Hampton’s ‘season’ though …) … a bus or LIRR ride to Amagansett’s dunes in the fall … always the perfect one-day vacation …

dear ki b … sorry, you missed it … but she comes back every summer (and is right now going on to Boston and Canada …) … the speech, I think, can be found on her website, www.amma.org (or maybe a link to it) … … one lovely sentence in there: “It is women who have given birth to every single man in this world … take pride in this unique blessing and move forward with faith in your inherent power” have a nice weekend, fellow NYCity lady!

…. a nice long walk and two subway stations away: I just had a “day-trip to India” … Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, aka as Amma, was visiting NYC and hugging us all … and spending a day in that environment of music, meditation, Indian food, a bazaar to shop, white saris whirling around, beautiful Indian children running all over, and New Yorkers of all shapes, shades and spiritualities, hanging out and taking it all in at this make-shift ashram in an old ballroom … definitely a marvelous vacation from the everyday … stepping back out into 34th Street, the Empire State Building shimmering in a balmy night air … a reminder of how many worlds within a world this city harbors … PS. her speech at the 2008 Global Peace Initiative of Women (Jaipur , March 2008) was titled ” The Infinite Potential of Women” … http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/nyregion/10hugs.html?scp=1&sq=amma&st=…