Last week corporate cartoonist Grant Brownrigg sent a note to his customers:

We will be closed Dec. 24 thru Dec. 28.

I liked that.

I think I'll put something like that e-mail auto-reply for today thru Jan. 4.

Not, "I'm out of the country" (my usual ruse), not, "I'm taking some time off and checking e-mail sporadically," not even the truth: "I'm on a sailboat with limited Internet access."

That nonsense doesn't work anymore, because everybody knows there's Internet access everywhere except along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

So we're back to just plain old, "Sorry, We're Closed."

Good.

But before I swing the sign around, I'd like to share what I've been sharing with all my writer friends (and I don't know who has more of 'em than I do).

It's the last words of Charlotte's Web: "Wilbur never forgot Charlotte. … It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both."

Happy Holidays, my Charlottes.

January 5, I'll be back on the web.