I've noticed them too, but have not been polite enough to wish them welcome. Hello to all the newcomers!

Chocolate, isn't there something about newcomers and chocolate. Dark chocolate for all long time posters?

Welcome to all.

I'm a new oldtimer and i welome you too. Hope you enjoy being here as much as i do.
vickie

I am such a nincompoop sometimes. I really hadn't noticed so many newbies, and now that you have brought them to our attention, Marda, I also welcome them.

To echo Marda's OP....."Am I the only one" who sometimes reads posts without even looking at who wrote them? Maybe that's a function of being a teacher and having to listen to so many opinions all the time and also having to resist prejudging a comment because of my opinion of the commentator.

I do know there are some posters I never want to read and wish I had ignored.

I don't get much of a chance to read everything any more.
I do check in daily. I always liked reading all the posts,
it helps me to understand where everyone is coming from.

While I never have anything to contribute that has any substance, I do try to keep a sense of humor.
I have to say that every day that I come here, I learn
something new. I like to think of this place as my
continuing education.

Welcome to each and every one.

Now about that chocolate.

Chocolate?

Did someone say CHOCOLATE??

I also noticed the new posters but wondered if they were old friends with new names.

Welcome to all the new GPers.

Marda,
Of all your visuals I have enjoyed immensely in the past, I have to say that there is something about this one creaps me out!! :)

me too,but I couldn't find anything else. LOL Do you think because it looks like hands coming out of the ground????

I think that's probably what it is. LOL

Just coming up from nowhere.

I thought it was Lurch multiplied.

"I do know there are some posters I never want to read and wish I had ignored."

Just out of curiosity Pidge, why do you make it a point so often to make sure that we know that there are people here you don't like? Is it really necessary? Does it make you feel superior?

I don't think I do that, Plantphreak, and if you could point to places where I have said that I will stand corrected. That said, I was not clear about what I meant in my OP. I actually wasn't talking about this forum but about another one and should have stated that clearly instead of so obliquely.

I knew right away you meant the HT forum. You've mentioned here several times how down and dirty it can get over there.That's why I left a long time ago.

I'm not sure anyone has said it, but it'd be nice for a word or two from the new folks, or just recently un-lurking folk, to tell us a bit about what you like, more specifically, dark or light chocolate, or it can be about gardening, like how many flamingoes you have... Yes, welcome!

P.S. I think Pidge meant, "I do know there are some posters I never want to read and wish I had ignored [other places on GardenWeb]... (and I add, but here, on GardenParty, it's a nice place to talk).

You got it right, Rob, that's exactly what I meant. After "that other place," GP is a relief and a breath of fresh air and I am always glad to stop by here.

I, too, am glad to hear from newbies or former-lurkers-now-posters. Besides chocolate, we also like kittens and Cosmopolitans, not necessarily in that order. But then you may already know that!

How about a word or two from someone who use to hang out here a lot? ;-) Hiya!! I have been missing you all and thought I'd stop in for a bit & chat. Life has been interesting to say the least & DP & I are still going strong (it's been 5 years now). The gardens are really start to show their colors & some of the plants I have received from previous GT's are still going strong & made me think of you all.

Hope all is well with everyone....

Howdy, maryb, nice to see you back if only to drop in. Marda always seems to time threads like this just as someone is ready to jump in.
Anyway, all is certainly well with me. My gardens are weedy, but otherwise fine. How nice that you and GP are together--sounds like this will last even longer, maybe really, really long.

I'm one of the newcomers to this forum. Actually I've been at the home forums but didn't know you were here. Now I get to enjoy both. Thank you for the welcome.

Mary,

Glad to see you here.

Has it been 5 years since the Chicago GTG??!!

Glad to hear you and DP are doing well.
Tell Dawn hello for me.

Wanda

You mean that there are a lot of new people here? Great! I won't feel so out of place.

Just call me-
Pard

I'm a long-time--VERY long--lurker, but rare poster. However, it's also rare that a day goes by that I don't check the GP. The posts are polite, instructive, entertaining, and interesting. As someone has already said, I've learned a lot by reading them. I find it wonderful that so many different folks from everywhere can come together and get along-most of the time, anyway. (LOL)

I LOVE dark chocolate, especially now that it's good for you, am not much of a gardener, 'cause I hate hot weather and sweating, so am not outside much in the summertime, have been married for almost 56 years to the same man, and will be a great-grandmother--twice--before the year is out. As perhaps you can tell, I also have a tendency to be long-winded, once I get started.

I don't like Cosmopolitans...thank you very much. G&Ts are much better. Hi Mary..glad things are well with you guys and a special hello to Pard and MWheel whom I do remember.I don't want to scare Wanda so......

No problemo, Marda, we have a full-service bar.

Tomorrow is a grandson's 6th birthday and I've promised Rataouille for Friday. I wanted to see this anyway so GS is a great excuse.

Hello!! I'd noticed that too, Marda, and I wish I'd said hello individually to more of our new friends.

New members - welcome:-)

And some of the old ones have stepped back in too - how nice to see you!

Pidge, I didn't take what you said amiss at all and you shouldn't give it another thought.

I've had a lousy day and reading this thread picked me up.

Hi Mary B! It's good to see your name on a thread. I'm glad all is going well for you.

And Pidge, I knew you were talking about the HT forum. I drop in there to lurk occasionally, but don't post anymore. That place is a loving example of "the more things change, the more they stay the same."

Hi back, Mz. Pidge, Marda, Sheila, Wanda & Andie!! It's good to be recognized by my old (and I really don't mean age here, lol) friends. Wanda - I'm not sure if it's actually been 5 years since the last Chicago GT - yet. But get this - it was 5 years in May since I had my breast cancer surgery & I've been cancer free since!!woohooeeeeee. And the only reason I'm mentioning it is because all of you & more were the reason I made it through that time so well. And for all those virtual sunflowers, I will always be truly grateful.

I couldn't resist stopping by since chocolate was being discussed. ;-)

And I'll have a Pinot Grigio, thank you very much. Did any of you ever have a key lime martini? We had a place here that was serving some of the best martini's around, but unfortunately, they just closed up. darn it.

Warm muggy morning here and I'm delaying going outside to take still more cuttings so I was checking the GP to be sure I'd read all posts. Appalled to discover I'd not added my welcome to the newcomers...welcome! And sure hope you jump right in here...it's getting too darn hot to spend more than an hour or so outside and I need new reading material...lol Plus it's such fun to see old posters check back in.

I think Marda pointed out a while back that the GP is about ten years old now..what a lot of folks have wandered in and out over the years, including myself. I really hope you all stay around and join in. josh

I also offer a late welcome. No excuse except I thought I had already!

Temp here is 98, "feels like" 107.... going outside is like trying to breathe through a steaming, wet washcloth.

Hey, hi, hello and thank you! I am not really a newbie... I just sit in my corner and don't say much. I have been here since about 1995 or so... remember the kid who went missing for several months ... was he from Oregon? I have forgotten all the details but I remember how worried you all were and how excited when he showed up safe and sound and had not been missing at all... just not posting. Just so you know I have really been here... maybe another name? Maybe Ruby?

I remember Ruthanne and the Stinkin' Euphorbia or whatever it was, but I think it must have been pink. And the first great scandal I remember was the Louisiana person who got booted for trying to run a business through here.

We lived at Fairfield Glade, TN, back then. Ten years ago, we cane "home" to Tupelo, MS. My husband passed away three years ago, so I am here with two cats , two old knees, one broken toe, a computer and weeds in the yard. Thank you, Lord, for funny, friendly people in the Garden and for daylilies, knockout roses, purple coneflowers, Mexican Petunias that were a gift from the birds, for a knee-high raised bed by the patio full of wonders that take care of themselves and look pretty good with weeds.

Be careful out there... you never know what you'll unleash when you welcome folks from the corner!

P.S. We have had rain. Maybe it went to my head.

Rose

Hi Rose (Ruby)...I remember all that too ...glad to see your post...welcome "home". Sounds like you've kept a quirky sense of humor even with a broken toe...ouch! A little rain here too would be so welcome...Andie has been hogging it all in TX...lol josh

Geez, thanks Marda.

Now I also see teenie tiny creapy little hands when I close my eyes.

LOL

Oh, Gee, Wanda, that brings up another memory of Ruthanne's garden with a hand sticking out of the soil...Am I the only one who bought an old glove manufacturer's ceramic glove form with intentions to copy that off-the-wall garden accoutrement? Never got around to burying mine...wonder whatever happpened to it? Or was it only in my "mind's eye" all the time...LOL josh

Good morning all - oldies, newbies, lurkers and talkers!
Have I forgotten my manners? Of course, I have excuses - the menagerie and the new kittens require my attention a lot, so I lurk more than I post, although I had to start that chocolate thread, a subject dear to me heart.
Don't want to play favorites, but a special "Hi" to Mary B, I have missed your presence here.
I, too, have a weedy garden, but this time of summer the blooms are so wonderful, the weeds are hardly evident.
Pidge and Marda, lurking on the "other place" makes one feel so appreciative of the Garden Party Community, doesn't it?

It really does Lilo. I have to admit,I wish we could talk about controversial issues here sometimes but it would evolve into just another unpleasant forum so I guess when all is said and done,I like this quiet community just the way it is.

This is a very cheerful and friendly thread. A key lime martini sounds so good and refreshing...later.
Hi to everyone!!

Hi everyone - don't recognize a lot of names here. I
used to post here several years ago - 5 or 6 I believe.
I don't have as many flower beds as I did then (moved
to another house, another State), so kind of left the
boards over here.

I'm amazed that most of the same forums are still going
strong.

Good to meet you.

I joined here not so long before the Louisiana woman got booted....her name was something alcoholic I think...Brandy perhaps. I used to go by "Bedale" ~ Iwas new to the internet and thought it best to be anonymous:-)

Let of fun times. I'm glad you spoke up!

Hi Rose/Ruby! I'm glad you've posted after all this time. And the pink flower that RA talked about was physotegia (sp?). She said it was such a nice pink that she shared! This led to our re-naming is "psychostegia" or that psycho stuff. I finally rid my garden of it last year.

And Shelia, the woman from Louisiana was Burgundy.

All these years! It's hard to believe that I've been hanging out here since 1996. And BTW, Josh, I'm really & truly trying to blow this rain anywhere but here. We've had enough!

One day many years ago I went to the local nursery to get some pink physotegia. I walked up to the clerk and without even thinking I asked her where the Physo Stuff was located.THAT'S how much the GP can influence one's vocabulary. She looked at me as if I were nuts. It was all RA's fault.

And does anyone want some?? That pyso stuff has decided it likes my gardens & has begun to grow all over - yeesh. Want me to send some to you Marda? ;-)

Hi Lilo!!!

Andie, really feel bad re teasing about TX rain after seeing news accts. about the deaths and destruction...I've just been glancing at weather channel and not watching much news the past few days. Hope it eases up out there.

This has been a great thread...now we've got your names, you'll all have to post...we know who you are....LOL josh

Wasn't teasing about the rain at all. It needs to go away. The areas around Austin have been especially hit hard, which is what you're seeing on the news Josh. Marble Falls a little town about 40 miles NW of Austin got 19" of rain in one night this week. The soil around there is caliche & so all any kind of downpour does is to run off & it ran off with a vengeance.

Luckily the two stationary highs that have held all of the rain over Texas are now weakening, so we're hoping we can snd it off to all of you.