Carol, Well you know I noticed that last night for the first time and was going to try it, but I'm so adept (now) at posting pictures that I decided not to try..so I am going to try right now..lets see what I come up with..hold on, I'm going to peruse through my 7000 pictures... Ok, it only let me post one and when I tried another it removed the first picture and substituted the second one..so here is the first picture anyway... Oh No, it removed the other picture..only letting me send one regardless of which way I sent it.. Hey Guys!! You're on the right track, but there is room for improvement..good for some folks though... Donna

Lori, I think we talked about this before but boy-oh-boy do I love your firespike. I purchased one off of eBay several years ago that is supposed to be purple. It was too small to bloom the first year and it froze back before blooming the second year. This year I made sure to make plenty of cuttings and have it all around the yard, so one of them is bound to bloom this time around. I know Tom and Susie have some, too, and probably a lot of other folks in this forum. I'm hoping that when mine finally blooms, and I know for certain what color I have (purple?), someone will swap me some pink cuttings. I love that pink. Carol in Jax

Jean/dirtpig, here is a pic of my MY Ways taken this season. This is it's first time to bloom for me so it may get better but I liked it. I love all the pics you are showing. That Linda Daniels is magnificient! Anita, your garden looks terrific. I wish I had the talent to mix things together like the rest of you do. I'd also like to recommend EarthlyDelights. I just finished a trade with her and she sent some very nice, healthy plants and she's a nice person to boot. ;-) Mary s your baby bird is so cute. I just love them. We usually have a nest in my clothes pin bag every year. Melissa your unknown is really pretty. Dawn, have fun on your trip! Angie, don't forget the noisemakers at that birthday party! That will be the most fun part. *evil grin* I hope everyone has a great weekend! We finally got a 2" rain yesterday. Everything was just about burnt up and today it was 103 with 80% humidity so you know where I am and tomorrow and Sunday will be more of the same. You'd think it would cook the grass and weeds in the beds but no, only the grass in the lawn dies! lol Nancy

Outliers is an interesting book. The notion that "luck, coincidence and effort/hard work are generally all required to successful" at least looks at the mix that fate, destiny and the sweat of the brow play in most lives. But I would go a little further & still broaden the concept of "success" to include so much more than career or financial achievement. I think it is a big mistake (that our culture at large makes all the time) to automatically assume that a well-to-do person, or someone with a lofty title, is "successful" at life. They may be, of course, but they may also be full of anger, selfishness, & greed. They may have struggled & strived the joy out of their lives. They may never be satisfied. That is not success in my view. I do believe that life has plans for all of us. As I stated in another post, if we are attached to an image of our lives looking a certain way, we will suffer if life doesn't comply. That can happen at any income level. or..."Life is what's happening when we're making other plans," as John Lennon reminded us. I don't think being wealthy is in the cards for us all, no matter how hard we work. That's not the life every person is meant to lead. But that's not such sad or bad news either! People who have given energy & attention to what is real & capable of providing true happiness (connections, creativity, learning, growth, service, loving) are the most successful, in my view! Money may or may not stem from their endeavors. Either way, what could be more wonderful or more a marker of success, than when people truly enjoy what they are doing, find meaning through it, and are loving & at peace?