Gushes

The family that instills thank-you notes, cards, cold drinks and snacks for workmen on hot days. These things . . . are just plain nice touches on common courtesy.

— Anonymous

While I cannot abide the crowds and traffic the Balloon Festival brings, I do have fond memories of when I lived in an apartment in Lewiston and drank my tea on the porch at 5 a.m., before going to bed, and watched the balloons ride over the city.

— Anonymous

I'm so excited because before I even had a chance to gripe about the new, smaller numbers in the Sun's Sudoku puzzle, it had been corrected and is back to normal. Life is good . . . thanks! :)

— The Friendly Neighborhood Gusher

Gripes

Doesn't anyone remember back to when the turnpikes were meant to be free and tolls were just temporary to pay for the building of them? How many officials are rolling in their graves now?

— Anonymous

The mischievous little imp who tangles cords that you only use once yearly and roll up neatly whenever you put it away.

— Anonymous

Jewlery? Jewelry. It's JEW-el-ry, not JEW-ler-y.

Nucular? Nuclear. It's NU-clee-ar, not NU-cu-lar.

Affaghan? Afghan. AF-ghan (2 syllables), not AF-fa-ghan (3)

Relator/relaty? Realtor/realty. It's RE-al-tor and RE-al-ty.

You're welcome. (And sounding brilliant! :)

Signed,

— Your Friendly Neighborhood Griper

Gripes and Gushes offers readers a chance to chide and to cheer. Bring it on! But references to specific people, businesses, agencies, etc. will not be used, in order to keep us all out of legal trouble and to make the column general enough to appeal to all. Send your Gripes and Gushes to bmail@sunjournal.com or snail mail to Gripes and Gushes, b section, Sun Journal, 104 Park St., Lewiston ME 04243.