Tried disconnecting and reconnecting several times over - to see if the connection problem has been eliminated.

Seems like it has! Joy Oh Joy!! LimeWire establishes a connection everytime I start it. In a few seconds!!!
This could also be a temporary burst in performance of my ISP. Only days of testing will tell perhaps, if the uninstallation, reinstallations and updating did the trick!

Now if only we could solve the download/upload issue. Off to the Download/Upload forums for now!!! See ya there!

Regards, AG