Dear Ferret Folks-

It's about 10:30 AM here, and I see my inbox is filling up with kind
messages from FML'ers who I guess...missed the sound of my typing. That
is a good feeling. I have had a lot of time to consider the losses of
Ping and Puma, and the hostility I encountered when they passed. I
still get a lot of messages about Vikki Walsh and Tressie Dutchyn.
There is hostility in those messages, too. What concerns me are the
rumors I hear suggesting that those two ladies have literally been
"driven off" of the FML..

I don't like the sound of that. I can't imagine the three of us hanging
out on the sofa in front of the Cable, munching brownies and cracking
wicked jokes about men. I really can't. But here are the facts--

Vikki Walsh is a tireless friend of weasels who works with MAFF, the
Massachusetts Ferret Friends. I really like MAFF. I like the people at
MAFF. I like what they do. They rescue, they have a great shelter
network, and they have found many a good home for weasels in need.

Tressie Dutchyn (I hope I spelled that right) is a highly intelligent
lady associated with a well-respected university. I don't know much
about her beyond that, and my certainty that she, too, is a friend to
weasels.

They have their reservations about me, I have my issues with them. But
I consider all of that a private matter. What I had to say to them I
said in private.

I have missed the FML very much, but I have really needed the break. I
still do. This is just a visit. And I think I would be lost if I felt
like I could never return, if I had been driven off.(It's how I felt
for a time and it was bad.) If the ladies feel that they have been
driven off the whole FML will suffer for it, be poorer for it. It's no
"victory" for anybody if these ladies feel that they have been
effectively silenced. Nobody wins.

A bad thing happened and it is over now. I'm sure Vikki and Tressie are
thoroughly sick of it, too. But the FML is *their* special place, too.

Alexandra in MA
Sending a copy to Tressie.
Please someone send a copy to Vikki.  

[Posted in FML 6111]