Well, the party was a lot of fun, and although the freeways were empty, Kevin wanted to take La Brea, which was also almost empty. We only had traffic near Hollywood & Highland. Kevin got confused on Cahuenga because he didn't realize that we were supposed to be on E. Cahuenga, but I finally convinced him. He's only been to the John Anson Ford Theater once (I've been quite a few times), and he's never been to the Hollywood Bowl OR Universal, and so he's not as familiar with the streets and neighborhood as I am. It took us 20 minutes on city streets, and so that wasn't bad. Paul is kind of between gigs right now, but he was able to buy his condo last year. His last job was video editing for a new reality dating show, which will premier on Bravo the first week of December. Here's his imdb profile, which oddly does not mention that he did the video editing for Blind Date, even though I have seen his name on the credits at the end of some of the early episodes. That's where he met my friend Secha and subsequently how I met him. Also in attendance, doing most of the cooking, was a friend of his named Sean, who books talent for several talk show - I don't remember which ones, but he was interesting to talk with. There was also a friend of Paul's from Boston and his wife (from Seattle), who were pleasant but live in Orange County and were a bit dull. They thought Venice was full of crazy people and didn't like. Also, Vince Ly was there, whom I met when we were making Attention Span, As for the food - Paul admits to not knowing how to cook anything (He has a copy of the book How To Boil Water, but he was in charge of starting the turkey before everyone else arrived. For some reason, the turkey was cooked with a rum glaze that contained nutmeg, and I found the nutmeg to give the turkey a very off flavor, and so I only ate a small portion of the thigh, which, however, was very moist. The breast was dry. Paul loved the mushroom gravy that I made, and the entire quart that I took got consumed, even though there was also some plain gravy that someone else made. Vincent brought a ham and a cake, and Paul gave me some of the ham to take home and Kevin took some of the turkey, which I was not interested in eating. Most of my stuffing was left over because there was another stuffing that was on the table (Mine was left on the pass-through and therefore not easily accessible) made using a boxed stuffing mix. I didn't eat any of that, but I did have mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. Paul made the mistake of buying Ralphs' brand instead of Ocean Spray, and the other Paul was not letting him live that down, telling him that Cape Cod economy depended on everyone buying O.S.! My friend Paul lived in Boston before moving to L.A., although he lived in Poland until he was ten (speaking only Polish and German) and then in Austria with his grandmother for two years after that. Paul was cracking jokes constantly during the party, and he has a very dry, quick wit. His accent is more like The Bronx than Boston, and so he comes off like a NY personality. At one point he found an abandoned half consumed bottle of beer and demanded to know whose it was. Then he exclaimed, "This is alcohol abuse! Don't you know that there are sober children in India?" Toward the end of the party we started talking about the next party, and I told Paul that I would like to host it, since we live about half way between the two Pauls. Paul's birthday is exactly one week before mine, and so we decided to have a joint birthday party - or two parties one week apart. There's no telling what his schedule will be like by then, however, since his work is very sporadic. I hope it will work out because he's great at parties! BTW, I didn't make the ice cream because I forgot that the recipe calls for milk, which is something I never have on hand (except after guest leave and leave it in my fridge), and so I just took some strawberry ice cream that I had made a month or so ago. It was still good, but no one at the party was interested in ice cream, since we had cake and pecan pie. If it has been chocolate ice cream, however, it would have been good on the cake (which was chocolate), but then I guess strawberry would have been good on the cake as well, although I didn't think of it at the time. Oh, I had the idea of making Caesar Salad, but I had forgotten to ask Kevin to buy the lettuce. I should have made the salad dressing and croûtons anyway because Paul had bought the Romaine lettuce and forgot to get the dressing. I wish he had told me because there was not a single green vegetable at the meal! In fact, it was rather sparse, but still enough food and lots left over. Kevin and I were very happy that we didn't have to go to a restaurant, and I was especially happy to renew contact with Paul and hope we will see more of each other in the near future. Lars

While I fully understand the between the hours time frames, what is the defense for not showing up then? Secondly, for the between 9am and 5pm is a bit ridiculous. With the advent of radios and cell phones, one can certainly give a better time estimate and give updates if need be. When we had the store and would be doing service calls, naturally we couldn't give a definite time but if we committed to being there that day, we would be there that day. And when we finished on one job, we'd automatically call the next two and tell the next one we're on the way and the following one that they will be next and give approximate times. This was just our policy since we didn't like the I'll show up when I get there philosophy of so many. Our customer base was very appreciative and loyal because of this, well and many other things. And a related note, I think I should share. I had a plumber come to replace my water heater a while back. We had our first contact via email and he followed up on it which impressed me. I called him and received a prompt callback, which scored points. As we were arranging it he kept in constant contact and even called the night before the install to confirm that he'd be here at 7am. Now at 7:02 he called and said he was delayed and asked if it could be 8am. Fine with me. 7:50, he called and said he'd be here by 8. 7:58am he arrived. The early time was to check the unit and see that the new one would fit right and make sure it needed replacement. Well of course it needed replacement but he and I talked and he suggested a low-rise rather than a standard height unit since it would fit better. Same price. Fine. That meant changing the order which he did, said he'd be back at 10. 9:30 he called again! (Say what you want, he stays in contact!) They couldn't deliver the heater that morning and asked if we could reschedule another day or even that afternoon. I preferred to get it done so we set it for 2 pm. 1:30 he called and said he was on his way and the heater would be delivered before long. He arrived within minutes. This guy impressed me. I realize things go wrong, get delayed or whatever. But what impressed me was his concern for MY time and to keep me informed of what's going on. I like to know what's going on. It's not difficult to do. Now he was calling more than he needed to and more than most anyone else would, but with cells, there's NO excuse for tardiness and no excuse for no-show. BTW, my cousin needed a water heater replaced too and asked if I was satisfied. I told him about it. He hired him to do it and was treated with the same courtesy. It's apparently the way he does business. I wish him well. He'll get referrals from me and my cousin and that's good advertisement. I think I'd mention to that handyman that he should get docked for costing you time. If you weren't there, he'd probably charge you!

I'm attaching a link to a post I put up in the New England gardening forum about a year ago to give you some ideas. What I like about this garden is the range of foliage texture and color along with just a few pops of flowering color. I also like the there are tall plants along with the shorter ones. Plants in this bed are mostly non-natives and include Hydrangea paniculata (don't know cultivar) in one of the semi bright spots; Climbing hydrangea; ferns, including ostrich and painted ferns; several types of hosta; astilbe; and usually some annuals for a bit of color such as coleus, begonias, or impatiens. You may have a tough time creating a pleasing garden in that small a space if it isn't an illusion of the photo since it needs room for some repetition or massing. Or you could just use a groundcover with a few other plants standing above it. The combination of native, all season bloom in succession, and shade makes it a bit difficult to get a great-looking garden since many of our native shade plants bloom early and then don't even retain their foliage all summer. There are some alternatives that are native and retain nice foliage, however. Look at what is often listed as Cimicifuga (but is now officially Actea racemosa) which has varieties with purple/deep red or green leaves that are similar to Astilbe and bottle brush fall flowers. Iris cristata is a native that will spread and blooms white or lavender in spring. Phlox is another spring bloomer. Heuchera, Tiarella, and their cross, Heucherella, are native or cultivars derived from native plants, with flowers the hummingbirds like in my garden and often colorful foliage. There are quite a number of native ferns that are available commercially, but you will need to check if they are clumpers or spreaders. Pachysandra procumbens is another native groundcover. Hydrangea arborescens (Annabelle is one of the more common cultivars) is native and should bloom at least some with 2 hours of sun along with indirect light. Offhand I can't think of any native bulbs that bloom in shade. There are some shade-tolerant sedges that are native. Other than the Heuchera and Tiarella and the burgandy-leafed Actea, I can't think of many plants with colorful or variegated foliage to fill in for the relative dearth of blooms. I like the native solomon's seal, but it's plain green. I don't know if any of the native trilliums with variegated foliage retain the foliage all summer. Here's a list of MO natives and their cultivars for part shade. (the MO Botanical Garden doesn't offer the option of US natives in their search function, so there are others that may be native to your area but not to MO.) And a list for part to full shade from MOBOT also. Their plant finder database is really useful, I think. However, some of these may not be suitable since they aren't readily available commercially, or they spread too enthusiastically, or they disappear for most of the year after flowering. Here is a list of shade-tolerant perennials from Plant Delights Nursery. You will need to look at the origin of each plant to see if it's native, but he lists it right up front on the index page, so it's easy to see. He carries some nice, unusual plants, including native trilliums and native gingers, but is a zone warmer than you are, so check hardiness as well. You could also check places like the Mt. Cuba Center, the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower center, Garden in the Woods of the New England Wildflower Society, or the Chicago Botanic Garden to see what lists they have.

Well, we have finally had some decent rain the last 3 nights . That being said it has been so hot and dry for so long that the garden bed I am weeding right now was dry 1/2 inch down so I have been supplementing with the hose as I weed. Don't want to think what my hydro bill will be like with the pump running for hours and hours as I weed . We are supposed to get more rain tonight ( fingers crossed ) and then we are in for about a week of dry weather they say. . Interesting observation about Allegheny Skyline . I grow a lot of Hanson daylilies and most do really well . But the odd one struggles and again the odd one will just up and die . I have had First Officer's Log for 2 years and it is doing nothing still a double fan after all that time .......and Erogenous Zone didn't even last one whole year , it died over winter .......but others like Cobraskin Necktie and Enola Gay are rock solid . I wonder why.