Very nice, Dana. You always paint such wonderful word-pictures. I feel a bit wistful for people in my past, too. Actually, for some reason, I feel very wistful today--always a dangerous feeling for me.
I do like how the ex-Yank, the Mighty Quin, dug right into Capitalist Pig Syndrome a mere three weeks after arrival. Apparently, you can take the Yank out of America, but you can't take the America out of the Yank.