Can't help chiming in to this great conversation. First of all, Denise - I remember my grandmother's chicken soup, feet and all, and it was wonderful. She was also from Russia.

I grew up in Southern California and lived there until I was 16. We lived on the "wrong side" of Beverly Hills (south of Wilshire) and, as Al described, were always outside and totally unsupervised. It was just a different (and probably nicer) time to be a kid. We moved to NY when I was in my last year of high school - I lived in Manhattan, Queens and back to Manhattan until 1971, when we finally made it down to Florida.

Back to my Grandmother, for a minute, she lived with us and for a while, shared my room and I fondly remember some great times with her. When I would read a book for school (such as Little Women), she would read it along with me. I only hope that our grandchildren will have such great memories of us.

It's funny - Bud and I are pretty much loners and almost always travel alone. However, since I got up the nerve to join this board, I am really looking forward to meetiing everyone on CROSS.

Nini