Greetings from Nassau! This is the first chance I've had to get on the Internet, and I am just tickled pink to see all these really good posts here. The plan is to return on Sunday afternoon, but this having fun doing nothing in particular is addictive.

I was last here in the early 1960s, and things have changed. To give just one teensy example, they used to sell little handmade ceramic figurines called "chickcharnies." A local legend, these mischievous imps were part frog, part bird, part man, part rabbit, and they came in all sizes. They are not only nowhere to be found, but most local people (who are young) don't even know about them. Only the older people know the word "chickcharnie" and they only have the vaguest memories of the little figurines that used to be sold. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that they don't want to remember.

Plus, the old Straw Market has been moved (and the new one sells a lot of Asian imported straw products instead of the native handmade variety), the Civil War-era Royal Victoria Hotel is gone, and gigantic casinos have moved in.

Nassau is still lovely, but change always makes me feel old.

Resistance to change must be a childish thing.