Thanks go out again

Many thanks go out to the kind person who sent me a copy of Return to Dragon Mountain by Jonathan Spence.

Also, a few of you have used the donation button lately, for which I am grateful.

I will sip the Oolong as I read the Spence.

UPDATE: 

And another thing: I am seeing in my visitor stats some frequent visits from someone in or near Redmond, Washington.  A while back in Rome, I was out with some friends at a very small and wonderful restaurant near Sant’Agostino (Da Pietro).  Someone in the restaurant, according to the proprietor as he told me later, recognized me and paid for our entire meal and quitely left.  If it happens that you are reading the blog, thanks again for that.  I haven’t forgotten.

Also, to the person who has breathed threats against me if I show more East Asian movies during visits (especially Korean), please know that I just saw Zhang Yimou’s Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles.  You would have liked it.