Broadcasting this fine afternoon from the air-conditioned confines of the Berkshire Valley Inn in Hancock MA, belly full of decent-but-not-as-good-as-Hot-Tomatoes pizza from CRUST in Williamstown. The good local ale was a plus. (Burp!)

If you like bawdy limericks (and who doesn’t?) Rex commenter JOHN X is your man. He must have been away for awhile because he was warmly welcomed back by the gang. I hope he stays because his post, which I am reposting in its entirety below, is just about perfect, IMHO. Here it is, limerick and all:

I haven’t done a crossword puzzle in ages, ever since I killed those two guys in that bar. When you’re in jail they take away your iPad, unless you (or a friend) can smuggle one in up your ass. But I got off with a $400 fine ($200/victim). Between the killin’, the trial, and my release, it was the longest six hours of my life.

On the chest of a barmaid from Yale
Were tattooed the prices of ale.
And on her behind, for the sake of the blind,
Was the same information in Braille.

This puzzle was pretty easy, is all I’m saying.

[Here’s that Ivy League barmaid, but covered up. Smoky eyes.]

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Ignorant boor that I am, I needed the crosses to get FRANZEN as the answer to “Author of 2001’s ‘The Corrections’” in today’s puzzle. It was quite a big hit, if you consider a best-seller that wins the National Book Award (in 2001) big. But did you hear about the flap that arose between Franzen and Oprah? The Big O selected it for her book club and he dissed her! The book achieved a balance between entertainment and serious literature and he felt the Oprah imprimatur could tip the balance too much into entertainment, or have it be viewed as a “woman’s” book. He damned some of her selections as “schmaltzy.” She refused to invite him on her show — the only author selected by the club that was snubbed in that fashion. He later apologized and they made up in 2010 when she selected a different book of his and it went smoothly.

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Special thanks to Owl Chatter friend Sandee for reaching out with a “like” for the post on Welly’s birthday. Sandee is missing from our gathering this year, since she is vacationing far away — so it was especially nice of her to chime in! We miss you! (Jeff too.)

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It was opening night at Tanglewood last night and we all went to catch their all-Beethoven program: the violin concerto and the Eroica. Gil Shaham replaced Hilary Hahn for the concerto and a question arose. Shaham, you may know, is considered one of the world’s great violinists, and he certainly seems great to me (ignorant boor that I am, see above), but word reached us second- or third-hand that our friend Marc thinks poorly of him. Marc spent his career writing the programs for the Boston Symphony Orch, so he knows a thing or two about the subject. We’re trying to track the story down and will get back to you on it, unless we forget.

He looks just a bit deranged in this shot. Phil — did you give him something? We’ve spoken about that!

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Crazy stuff in the Astros-Twins game in Minny last night. Houston held on to win 13-12, but almost blew an eight run lead in the ninth inning. And how about this catch by someone named Joey Loperfido? Never in doubt!

It’s back to Jersey tomorrow. We’ll see you there. Thanks for stopping by.