Way off-topic: For some time now, I've been regretting not having bought a button I saw that said "Where am I going & why am I in this handbasket?" Thinking again of this in the past day or so (gee, I wonder why?) it occurred to me that I only ever hear "handbasket" used in the phrase "going to hell in a handbasket", never in any other context. Which is what makes the saying on the button work; anyone reading it knows the reference. A search in the American Dialect Society list archives turns up some interesting discussion about "hell in a handbasket", including the related "heaven in a handbasket" which I'd never heard of before.

Anyway, I wonder if moving to Canada is a good alternative to this handbasket we call California. I can feel some singeing around the edges already....