There are no 'big' Lawn and Garden Shows near here, but there will be some sort of a local gardening show here sometime in April that I'd like to attend, if there is no scheduling conflict. I do however plan to attend 2 or maybe more Daffodil Shows, as that is my addiction. I plan to have exhibits in the 2 Indiana shows and possibly others too. Is anyone planning to attend a Daffodil Show or Festival? The first event was in CA February 25th-27th so it is already over. Daffodil Shows and Festivals will continue across the US until the last one is held May 14-15, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. If anyone is planning to attend the shows in IN, maybe I will see you there. Any daffodil lovers? chemocurl...aka Sue Here is a link that might be useful: 2011 Daffodil Calender of Festivals and Shows

Well, the party line answer is clearly both, and obviously for me too, there is enjoyment of the process and the results. I think that must be true for any gardener who is involved in the making of their own garden space and who isn't getting paid for doing it. But I find that as I get older and farther down the garden path, I would like to enjoy the results more, and I find that the process itself can sometimes be tedious, expensive, require too much patience, and overwhelming. So I am going to be brutally honest here -- while I enjoy the work of gardening to some extent, if I could hire more people to do more things for me and just enjoy the results myself, I would do it. The problem is that, for the most part, if you are a real plant geek like I am (and a whole lot of others who responded above), you can't really hire people to arrange plants for you in the way you want them. So there is a certain amount that you have to be involved with yourself. Being involved again in the creation of a new garden, and having left a mature one, I have to say that so far, I enjoyed the mature one more. The last few years I spent there I did work a lot in the garden still, of course, but the proportion of time spent just enjoying the garden was greater. That doesn't mean that I was sitting when I enjoyed it. It doesn't mean that I didn't pull a weed or two when I walked with a glass of wine in the evening. But after 20 years working on that space, the garden felt "finished" to a great extent. That doesn't mean that there would never be anything new. But the garden had a certain cohesiveness that is certainly lacking in my new garden. It also had as much seasonal interest as I could pack into 2/3 acre in my rotten climate. So, weather permitting, the garden always had moments of great beauty and enjoyment for me. But then again, I know that one of the reasons the garden meant so much to me is that I had spent 20 years making it. I had watched the trees, shrubs, perennials that I had planted get moved from one place to anohter (NAY he says, "I MOVED them from one place to another"...) until they finally found a place that they (and I) liked. Still garden making takes patience, and it is hard in the early stages not to want more results, with less work at garden making. I think that's one reason why, relatively speaking, I did not take many pictures of the new garden this year -- in the last year I was at my old place I took over a thousand, this year less than 100. A reflection that the garden was more about process than results, so far. One of the greatest times of garden enjoyment I ever remember in my old garden was after a big garden tour. The weeds were all pulled, the plants all relatively pristine (it was mid-June), the crowds were gone, my family and the dog were gone, the walks and drives all neat and clean, no cars or other distractions to be seen. Then I walked through and enjoyed my own garden, for a couple of hours, nobody but me and the hummingbirds and butterflies. One of the best times of garden enjoyment I ever had, along with very early foggy mornings and late summer evenings. Give me more of those, and less back-breaking work, any day....

All the industry and activity here make me ashamed. I'm researching which Medicare Part D plan will be best for DH. I think I'll stick with my current insurer rather than hassle with changing; wouldn't save much. That insurer's premiums went up a third, but their charges for my meds went down. Our experience with changing insurers has been terrible. We're also staying with our BC/BS Medigap policies after talking it over with the insurance exchange rep. We must go through the exchange to get HRA funding from DH's former employer. Those funds should take care of the Medigap premiums and a good part of our Part B premiums. There will still be a big chunk going to the Part D insurers and for DH's two expensive meds. (I feel fortunate to have *any* help from a former employer in this day and age.) We're to have a low of 6F tonight, then a couple 'normal' days before plunging back into this 20 degrees below normal cold. I wish we could see a little video of the 'chicken chase' back to the hen house! Marilyn Sue -- Amber and Alyssa are fortunate to have loving family around them during this hard time. I can't forgive my father for *choosing* another life, leaving us when I was a toddler. My DH lost his father as a child, too, but his father died of a coronary; it wasn't a deliberate choice. Amber isn't the first woman to think her love would/could change a man!

Mindhunters...I thought this show was really good and wondering how many people were able to pick up what they were hinting at for next season. At the beginning of every episode they would do a quick shot of some scene from our local serial killer, BTK. It gave me the creeps on the first scene, but after that I was prepared.