I decided that I really did not want to see the tall eye sticking up all summer long, and there is no time like the present - so I decided to go ahead and separate it. Here is what I found... 1. Two Mole tunnels beneath the root ball (not voles, thank goodness!) 2. The NUMEROUS dense roots, while fairly fine in size and intermingled completely, were not as bad as I expected and I was able to pretty well "comb" out most of the roots with some effort. 3. There was still quite a bit of the original nursery mix still in the deepest part of the root ball, but once I rinsed it - most of that quickly washed away. Note: The soil directly beneath the root ball in the planting hole was moist, but not nearly as much as the area outside the root zone - hostas must be pretty efficient at pulling the water out of the soil! 4. The eye I wanted to separate, being on the outermost part of the clump was relatively easy to see where to cut it at the crown, which I did and it came away easily. I got a LOT of roots with this division, so it should do very well. 5. There was no difference in the roots for the tall eye and the rest of the plant - so I guess the explanation for why it was so much taller is still open. I put the original hosta back in the same spot, after amending the soil somewhat with some vermicompost and a bit of perlite (the soil seemed a little heavy and the vermicompost is pretty dense by itself). I potted up the division using the same soil, but I will probably place it in the garden very soon - I just ran out of daylight tonight. Do you think I should leave the division in a pot or put it in the ground? Any other suggestions? Thanks! BettyLu

CLOSE-UP - "Pouty Lips! You're fired!" Now, I have to cut the backside of the Eiffel tower, starting an inch below the top, and removing some the sides and all of the back - all the way down the Tower. This way, the Tower will lay flat on the MDF board, and will be easy to mosaic the night sky background, and the trees and Seine River in front of it. I think that the Tower is made of aluminum; it's very lightweight. I bought a mini hacksaw from Harbor Freight Tool to use. Hope it works! Any hacksaw experts in this mosaic forum with some helpful hints? This is my final post on... HELP! Questions about tempered (crash) glass for mosaics... . I'll start a new forum called PARIS MOSAIC in a week or so. Thank you all for your input re: tempered glass, and your compliments. Susan

You are in a great location and won't waste time getting to the attractions on your list. The metro is very safe and easy to navigate. 3 days in Paris has some excellent suggestions. You will see a few highlights and can plan another trip to see more in the future. Here's what I would want to see with my children: Eiffel Tower-yes, climb to the top. The view is spectacular Museum D'Orsay (used to be a train station) Notre Dame (stand on the star, which is the city center) Louxembourg Gardens (spectacular place for a picnic lunch). We stayed in that district once (I think it's the 5th.) We enjoyed Sacre Coeur. Loved the Montmartre area. Full of street artists and lovely cafe's. Many people have written about how to hit the highlights of Paris. Do you watch the travel channel? Rick Steve's has an excellent show and also has books. On our first trip I took his Paris book out of the library to help plan our 5 days. https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/paris-itinerary One bit of advice: when entering a store or restaurant greet the staff with "Bon Jour" and smile. Almost everyone there speaks English, so if you struggle with your French they will most likely speak English. The French get a bad rap as being unfriendly. I did not find that to be true. As long as you show them respect, acknowledge them and ask for help, you will get along just fine. I love to plan vacations and then sit back and enjoy as it plays out. Plan on doing LOTS of walking and eating! Enjoy!

Nicole, it was on my bucket list, so glad I got a chance to go. Wasn't overly thrilled with Paris, it was a bit of a letdown, but I loved the Eiffel Tower. We went to the top in the day and again at night. Go if you can!