My first thought was that it was an unbrella stand if the hole is large enough. I also think it would go on top of something like an obelisk, or a rooftop with a weathervane inserted. I would be tempted to try adding round glass on top with bolt and make tables. Very interesting base. Could have some inside and outside. Oh the wheels are turning today. At the local thrift shop today, friend arrived with a sale notice for tomorrow about 20 minute drive away, everything selling for .25 dishes glasses the works. You folks came to mind. I always have seen different uses for things now with this forum it has gone into overdrive. Betty

You are both half right - or maybe all Right and no Left. The fig on the right is Sals - but remember this is a trick question. The fig on the left is Herman's "Black" Marseilles (or Marseilles VS). They have been similar all summer long, but I had not made the connection till yesterday, that they might actually be the same fig, or very, very related. The only difference is that the Sals tends to have some green at times, and the Marseilles VS is always fully purple. Both are nearly seedless, or very small seeded. The Sals has grown slower than the Marseilles.

Leaf prints. People love them. Perfect time of year. Buy cardstock, cut in half from 11 x 8 1/2 to 11 x 4 1/4. Double each sheet over and crease. That gives you a card 5 1/2 by 4 1/4; fits a standard greeting card envelope that you can buy by the 50's or 100's at an office supply. To make the prints, applying ink or paint with a brayer is nice, but you don't have to buy one if you don't have one. Buy the small RAISED inkpads at a hobbycraft store like Michael's. Dye ink dries faster but pigment ink is lightproof. Choose your leaves, and ideally put them in telephone books under weights for a few hours to flatten them, but you CAN skip this step. Next, put a leaf on scrap paper back side up (so the veins are up and will take the ink). Pat the ink on the leaf. Use complementary colors, or one color. Some people prefer just black. After the ink is applied amply, take tweezers or the petiole of the leaf and place it inked side down on a prefolded card front. DON'T LET IT SHIFT AROUND. Put wax paper or Saran Wrap on top (so you can see through it) and press the leaf to transer the ink. Do not let the leaf move. A clean brayer is good for this if you have one. Be sure you have pressed all areas of the leaf. CAREFULLY remove the cover paper, and lift the leaf off STRAIGHT UP. With a little practice, you can make beautiful prints. A "shadow" print can be made without reinking. Do about 3 on the card, overlapping them. A heavy image and two light ones looks nice. If anyone is remotely interested and I haven't been clear, reply or look up leaf prints on a search engine. Poison oak/ivy leaves are lovely, but I would pass those by. The more veinage the leaf has, the more impact the print has. Grape leaves work extremely well. Catamount

Shaddy, if you can get a faster computer and have the tech put XP on it, I think you'd be very happy. Since I don't have or intend to go to Vista anytime soon, I can't say anything about that. I find XP to be so much more stable than Windows 98 was, and all my old programs that I used with 98 work on XP. If your computer activities are just those things you mention, then XP is fine. I doubt it would cost you any more to have XP than to have 98, and since MS no longer supports 98 with security updates, I would NEVER buy a new machine with 98 on it. As far as the monitor, I have no idea what the problem is, but you would definitely enjoy a nice large LCD monitor, and it would be light weight and not take up all that space that a CRT does (I'm assuming a monitor circa 1999 is a CRT).