Preparing "Frieda's Beef Stew" for Connie and Terry, on an unseasonally cold night. A good one-pot dish from my favorite cookbook. Served with oven-roasted asparagus. And a "by the book" Tom Collins, with fresh squeezed lemon juice. Tom is Terry's favorite mixed drink. There will be no scurvy among this crew after tonight. I learned from Terry, the international earthquake expert, that, YES, in fact, fracking DOES cause earthquakes. No debate among geologists; they've known that since the 1960s, when the first experiments were run. Fracking causes earthquakes both easily and predictably. I learned that Connie could not bring herself to smother her mother with a pillow, even though her mother desperately wanted to die.