In recent years, my parents health (esp. my mother) has deteriorated. I recently moved 600 miles closer just to be with them. I fear this may be the last Christmas for one or both of them. They really LOVE Christmas cards! As I was rummaging through the attic to retrieve their Christmas decorations, I found Christmas cards they had received from 30 years ago. They throw NONE away. I was trying to think of something really special to do for them for Christmas and I came up with this idea. If you have the Christmas spirit, and want to do something nice for someone (who doesn't?) - please take the time to send my parent's a Christmas card. Christmas was always a magical time of year for our family and I truly want to make this magical for the both of them. Please! God Bless You and I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas. Address is as follows: Donald and Betty Coleman 704 Seattle Drive Lexington Kentucky 40503 Please forward this to all your family/friends/coworkers. God Bless!!!

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to thank my Secret swap buddy. I loved my package! First off let me say I have no Hoya's at all, so the cuttings were a surprise. I will be potting them up for the patio. Hmmmm, I see another addiction brewing???? Then there was a wall vase, rooting pots(very interesting)beautiful soap(no one will ever be allowed to use) a flower candle (for hurricanes) a wind chime, note cards and the cutest bug to hang off a pot. Oh and the purple slippers I will have to hide from my daughter. But best of all was the Chicken soup for the Gardener's soul. Friday nite I was with my daughter in Emergency. She's in Color guard and was dizzy. By the time they called me it had morphed into "collapsed and fainted." They gave her fluids and did tests and she's fine, but we didn't leaved until 1am which is way past this old lady's bed time. Of course I had to go to work and by Sat nite I was a lump, so I curled up in bed with my new book and read,laughed, cried and fell asleep. It was just what I needed. So Life is like a secret swap box. You'll never know what you're going to get. But if you try sometimes...you just might find...you get what you need. THANK-YOU THANK-YOU XOXOXO Kristi (be thankful you can't hear me sing)

An amazingly stuffed full priority mail bubble envelope arrived yesterday, so after dinner I sat down to dig in & giggled with delight as I pulled out so many fun things that Vina had creatively packed up & sent. She must know my mind or something because everything was perfect! _Butterfly card lavishly decorated in gold, 3 dimensions, & colorful along with friendly sentiments and a happy face! _2 recent Garden Gate magazines that make flower gardening looks so lovely & easy. I flipped through & will definitely use that tip to scarify seeds by putting them in a jar with sandpaper & shake, shake, shake! Perfect for those Sweet Peas. _an entire package of Godiva dark chocolates in an assortment of flavors. I won't tell how many I've eaten already. There's still some left. He, he. _Grow Ums Herb Garden that contained 8 coco pellets & labels along with 4 types of seeds (basil, cilantro, oregano, & parsley). Looks like fun to start them this way & I have lots of pots to make a nice display. There are 20 seeds in each packet, so there will have plenty for several pots and I can share with my daughter because she also loves the fresh herbs. _12 packets of seeds from her garden all labeled & sealed in tiny ziplocks. Not one stray seed! She sent me just what we'd love to try here. My hubby loves all the daisy type flowers like blanket flower or especially coneflowers that are big, bright or bicolored. The generous 12 she sent me were: 1. bee balm Marshall's Delight 2. Clematis Jackmani (I have several empty trellis here & just received two cedar ones from a friend who is moving in 3 weeks.) 3. Clematis Arctic Queen 4. Coreopsis Jethro Tull 5. Coneflower Ruby Giant 6. Coneflower Milkshake 7. Dianthus Siberian Blues 8. Nigella Love in a Mist all blue (I want to plant these along the row of raspberries provided they survived the storm as the trellis is down & there are tree tops & limbs on them.) 9. Gaillardia Fanfare 10. Rudbeckia Indian summer 11. Sweet Pea, everlasting (by the way someone told me these are great for improving the soil like other legumes, so plant away in new garden spaces to make way for vegetables or other perennials) 12. Yarrow Cerise Queen If all of this germinates & grows I'll have lots of plants to fill in the holes left by the storm! Thank YOU Vina for welcoming me in to the group & sending such a generous package that definitely brought me some winter cheer! Here's one of my favorite shasta daisy pics from a few years ago. Grandma gave this chicken on a stick to our daughter when she was young & she liked to surprise me with it by moving it around. She had said she tried to make the chicken look like it was standing on the daisy flower. Corrine

I am a beginning scapper so sign me up! It'll be a great excuse (ahem- I mean opportunity) for me to go to the stores and check out the supplies that are available, too. Might I suggest you send the swapping partners the email as well as snailmail address so we who haven't purchased our things can find out what the other is interested in receiving? That might make it more beneficial and fun for both parties! Let me know the details. I'm looking forward to this! -Sarah