<< I had ears pierced by one of those accessory shops, and by a
 physician.  My daughters were done by Merle Norman, I think. >>

My dear mother, age 82, told me she's planning to get her ears pierced when
she visits my sister over C'mas.  "I can't get any nice dangly earrings in
clips."  I offered to do it the way mine were done -- "sterilized" needle
(flame & alcohol), ice to numb ears, and college roomie doing the "piercing."

She declined graciously.

Jan