FIFTY YEARS AGO.

As fraught as conditions here on the good earth might be, a half-century ago we witnessed North Korea capturing a Naval Intelligence ship, the Tet offensive, Lyndon Johnson's abdication, the murders of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, the student rebellion in France, the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia, the crushing of dissent at the Democrat convention, and the end of the winning years of the Green Bay Packers.

The Second Era of American Greatness was not yet over, though, and the Apollo 8 circumlunar voyage included a greeting to the world from out of this world.

Provide your own optimistic closure for this year.

Thank you for looking in.  Cold Spring Shops will be taking a long winter's nap, until sometime in the new year.