Carrie, I just moved some daffodils that I forgot to mark last spring. I wanted them in a more naturalized state. HUGE clumps of bulbs that were planted eons ago by someone who lived here until the early 80s. I also divided a coreopsis. Since our ground never really freezes, I was told I could do that. I did Shastas in early January and they've put out tons of new babies already. I also moved some irises, some hyacinths, and sprayed the front hill with Roundup getting it ready to plant my periwinkle. I'm going to be planting out on Sunday. Cabbage, lettuce, carrots, etc. Tonight will drop below freezing again so I want to wait one more day. After that, we have 9 days with no freezing temps and highs in the 60s and 70s. It's 55 right now with an expected high of 70. I just can't contain my giddiness. Glad to hear other parts of the country are warming up too. I love the south.

Greybird, unfortunately, it doesn't rain all the time. It's just humid all the time (which I like). This summer we had a lot more rain than in the recent past - often 2 or 3 times a week. I would water so that they'd be watered every other day, one way or the other. Apparently, that was not enough by the looks of my plants now. There's really no comparison. The rain pretty much stopped in mid-October, and we'll get maybe 2 - 3 inches per month on average until late June. Sometimes we get a few months worth in one month, and then it's real dry for long stretches. When I got home from work, I stuck my fingers in the ground in a couple of places. The top 3" weren't even damp but not quite dry, so I watered again. It is becoming very apparent that the roses need it. It is making a huge difference. Jean Bach Sisley is no longer a see-thru bush, and they're all leafing out like I haven't seen except for early spring. I'm just amazed. I water each plant by counting one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two up to 15 or 20. That should be putting at least a gallon (maybe more; I need to measure it in a bucket) daily. Even the potted roses are doing better (they were leafless sticks for the last several months watered every other day). Roses growing in my garden definitely need daily watering - and it's only in the mid-80s during the day and down in the 50s at night. And still they dry out too much to keep the roses satisfied. I have read many times that water, water, water is the main thing with roses, especially in Florida, but I had no idea they required it daily. You folks with clay need to count your blessings, because you are definitely blessed. Which is not to say that we here are not blessed. We have other blessings that need to be counted, too, but moisture-holding clay is not one of them. I guess all that sunshine accounts for a lot of our blessings :)) Sherry

Hey guys... just reading that poem makes me cry again. I still cry every day. It's really hard when you're by yourself at night. I miss Danny. I made a shrine to him in my room. It's been a few months now and though the pain isn't... as consuming, it's still with me all the time. The time we had together, his youthful eyes and laughter, they haunt me, you know. It's still not right that we are here "enjoying" life and it is over for him, so young, so full of potential. I keep wondering why it has to be this way. And why he couldn't have been pulled out of the water, why those boys who were with him don't care about us, because they never call. I keep wishing I was old enough to start a family, that my ex boyfriend was a good man so I could give into his pressure to go home. But my path is set.... it's so strange but in the aftermath I see clear evidence that we (mom and I) are doing as God intends, that he has plans for us and taking my brothers away are part of the plan. For my mother at least, no clearer evidence could have been presented that God is here and He does care. My mom was devastated to be here, after her head cleared. She quit her well paying corporate job to slave away for my vengeful, tyrannical father. Things were not looking good - on top of the grief she had to suffer his abuse to pay the bills. She was depressed and felt she made a huge mistake in the wake of the grief. I felt bad b/c I insisted that God wanted us here, to help my Dad (before he betrayed us) to be where Dan was, to be in this small town away from the city, away from my ex bf. I prayed and I really thought we were doing the right thing. Even at the worst I encouraged her that somehow, God would come through - I could feel it. And He did. Out of a pool of 462 applicants in a town of 50,000, *my mother* was chosen to be the business manager/instructor for the only scuba diving school in the entire area. Her new job is about as awesome as they come. She not only gets paid to learn a new career, scuba instruction, but will be taking 10 paid vacations a year to take clients to places like Australia, the South Pacific, Hawaii and Florida. That we moved here after Dan drowned, and now she has a new career in *underwater life support* is not lost on me. Praise God - if that isn't direct evidence of his Love than I don't know what is. My beautiful mother has suffered so - this bit of security, adventure and hope for quality of life was exactly what she needed. The owner is so nice he won't ever make her dive in the huge brown river that took my brother, though it is the local attraction for his business. We also got to meet the diver who pulled my brother out of the water (bless him, if his body hadn't been recovered or recovered quickly it would have been even more tormenting) and my mom will get to be a volunteer search and rescue diver herself. I don't know what I'm doing. I was supposed to go back to school to finish 8 credits but I blew it off - until January. For some reason I lost my motivation to go to law school. I want to do something else. I don't know what. I will keep praying and maybe God will show me the path. I'd endure just about anything if I could have him back. Death is so unforgiving. A few minutes of being underwater, unconscious, and you can't come back. I've been re-reading "The Lovely Bones" and I really like the way that novel describes Heaven. The little murdered girl wonders why her dearly beloved grandparents aren't in her heaven. It's because she can't let go of watching people on Earth - her family, the investigation, her school. I like to think that Dan is here sometimes, I can almost feel him. But when he is not, he must be enjoying hot rods, powdered mountains and babes in bikinis. There must be babes in his heaven. I am waiting to find the perfect landscape tattoo artist, and then I will get a memorial tattoo in Dan's honor. It will be a silhouette of a snowboarder popping off an impossible cliff, with a burning, brilliant variegated sunset in the background. Dan Krueger, 1986 - 2004, it will say. He was such a good brother. I'm so grateful God has shown himself to me in the blessings and messages, so I know Dan continues on and I will see him again. I just wish he could "enjoy" life. Maybe heaven has all the good parts of life and none of the bad. But you can still feel things. I mourn the loss of his feeling - he loved to feel. We all do. That Dan's opportunity was taken away makes me feel like I should make the most out of life - but I don't know what to do. I'm just saving all the money I'm earning, and being here for mom. Thanks for caring, Lu, and I hope you all are holding up okay. Oh man, now I'm looking at the pictures to post the link. Pictures hurt so bad. These basic ones I've seen, I can hardly bear to look at them, and trying to look at the hundreds of family photos we have in the closet is like trying to breathe underwater. I just can't do it yet. CRY CRY CRY CRY CRY Man, it hurts.

It looks great! In fact, picture perfect....keep going. And send your DD over here! I wish I had an artsy craftsy daughter! I have two sportsy girls (not a scrapbooking/painting/decorating bone in their bodies). It used to make me madly crazy when it was book report time--they would throw some pics on a cardboard piece and proclaim they were done. I would have spent 10 hours on something like that as a kid LOL. It probably drove MY mom crazy (she was doctor and couldn't care less about art!) The Quiet Moments color looks really nice--just a teaser I know, but can't wait to see the finished product...then are you done?