On the plus side of the ledger, all this means that there's a growing reservoir of reading material for if and when all returns to normal. In the ordinary course of daily living, we're always on the brink of running out, especially now that the Austin Public Library seems to acquire few books and is hard to find open. Last month I found a list of all the subscriptions that we had to change when we left New Mexico. At that time, we were receiving about four dozen magazines and other periodicals. It used to be that subs for incredibly long terms were available to be locked in--right up to "lifetime." But now, in this era of frequent rises in postage rates, a three-year term seems to be the longest offered, and many don't go beyond two. No wonder we see only about half as many. The difference between newstand and sub rates is not so great, either.