ginny, how sweet! lovely to see your typing as well. claire, you must be really fun to eat ice cream with. yeah! that's the spirit! economy, schmeconomy. if i'm going down the tubes, i'm dragging a whole mess of plants with me, dang it. here is my own personal rationalization for yesterday's profligate PDN spending spree: i allow myself around $200 a year for plants & grow everything else from seed. (ok, i admit, i never skimp on seed-buying, but there you go.) though there was over $800 worth of pure floral awesomeness brimming from the cart at one point (don't you just love playing with the PDN catalog?) i bravely(!) whittled the final order down to 2 of the least-wildly-expensive cypripedium + 2 admittedly fancy-ass hellebore ... and c'mon! extra points should be given for waiting for a sale. yep. that's my rationalization and i'm sticking to it. nope. nothing weak about it at all. ;0) i'm so excited. Here is a link that might be useful:

Happy Friday!!! TIGIF for sure. I am hoping to get my two fields and lawns mowed! That is if it doesn't rain which it may. It's a huge project and I should have been doing a little each night this week but I didn't. I also hope to get some gardening in. My tomato plants are on the porch hardening off now but I won't be able to plant them until the end of this month. I can put my lettuce, spinach, carrots, beans, etc in. Seriously, just last week we got a foot of snow in northern NH!! Casey has a major swollen eye this morning. Not completely swollen shut. It was so windy the last few days - really high winds she probably has some sand or something in there. I will go check her at lunch and if it's worse I need to call the vet. Poor girl looks like she got slugged. Tikanis, sounds like you have a nice full and fun weekend ahead. Maddie, I know you aced your finals. It's s done deal you got A's across the board! Maddie, I used to ride a bike with Mark until I got horses! Mark has a Harley of course and my bike is an old Kawasaki that starts every time....unlike the Harley which I call flipper because of the cute little noise it makes when it doesn't want to start. For this trip we are renting a full dresser so we will be riding in comfort. I am getting excited about this trip. Donna, thanks for the info on Philly. We are going to stay at Penn's Landing. Seems like we will be able to see a bit there. We are only there for the night so a nice room and a good meal are going to be our main priority. I am sure we will see enough but during my research it sure seems like a really nice city to visit and spend some time. But if I can't bring Sweet Pea I don't want to go usually! LOL Marci is going to Florida to spend mother's day with her kids! Next??

Hey all! Just got back from my gal pal's house. We totally bushwhacked her entryway landscaping and cleaned it up a lot! Her DH and she were loving all the light and energy that was flowing through there. The overgrowth had blocked the light to her front door and she couldn't see her driveway from her front door! The ferns had bolted through the evergreens and were stalky, 8-9 feet spindles of stem! So, we filled lawn bag after lawn bag of ivy, brush, branches, and tree needles. We worked for a full, non-stop 5 hours on cutting and bagging. Her DH powerwashed their deck and my teens babysat all the little ones. It was so much fun and so cool to see the result...not too mention the exercise we got! I may be sore tomorrow, but I'm jazzed tonight. Sunday, my 14 y.o. and I are headed to Costco to buy supplies for the local tent city that moved to the local church this week. It's a homeless, well-regulated group of homeless working citizens that move their city of tents from church property to church property every 90 days. They don't cause any trouble; they're just without homes. Anyway, some communities like them and some are frightened of the image they bring... We like nice humans, and they are, so we're going to visit with some donations for them. They publish a list of needs each week on the tent city website, so people can help. They give tours of their encampment to the folks who visit, and I really want the kids to see that everyone should help and not ignore the plight of people who are just down on their luck, partly because of our lousy economy. After that, we're cleaning and DH and I are hosting dinner for 2 other couples (good friends) and their kids. The kids are eating, then watching Racing Stripes. Then the adults will eat and catch up with each other. Catch you after that! Raeanne~ I think I'll stick with coffee for now, but the gin/tonic sure brings back foggy memories of night-clubbing in the early eighties! ---- oooooohhhhh, la, la!! NHSuzanne- So cool you got to ride! Sounds so relaxing and peaceful. I'm happy you and SP got to connect again.... Besh~ A smaller dress size? I wish I could say that! Maybe sooner than later! Cheers!

Hi all, I come by and check but don't read everything. I see Marci and Dee said hi, and maybe others have, too. My family's left. I don't know if I mentioned it, but they were successful in their attempt to set up swimming with the dolphins. I couldn't go to that, but did get to swim in the ocean. That's not something I can ordinarily do because of my illness and disabilities. I tried to post a couple of days ago, but everything that came out sounded upset and I didn't want to scare anyone. :) I've been ill the last few days. I talked to my doctor and she said it sounds like viral meningitis. That's the mild kind, not the kind that can leave a person brain damaged or dead, so its nothing to worry about, just uncomfortable - who needs more pain and fatigue. I might go in to her office tomorrow. Tropical Storm Celia went by here yesterday. She was a hurricane a few days ago, but diminished. There was thunder and lightning and heavy rain and winds, but nothing too damaging. Just enough excitement but not too much. I've got into anime for reasons I won't go into. I ordered Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz. Has anyone here seen it? Does anyone know or remember the song by Don McLean, "Chain Lightning?" I've always liked that song. Very dramatic. My internet relationship, which I talked about earlier, is still going strong - seven months now. I said that he is very unhappy and troubled, which is still true, but he has turned out to be also very caring, intelligent, and sweet. I hope we can continue to be friends for a long time, and I hope his situation improves for him. I've been reading about the get together next year. Remember, I'd like a video. :) I know that it will be a blast. It's nice to come here and have this group. You are such a loving bunch where all are welcome. There have been so many ups and downs, but people are always supportive and caring. Love to you, thanks for remembering me, and I hope everyone has a good day. I'm not spending as much time here as I was, which may change (who knows) but I won't get lost. It's been so frustrating to me when others that I care about quit posting and then I never know how they are doing. Also I've asked my son to let people here know if anything happens to me so that everyone won't be wondering. He knows how important this group has been to me. Amy