Welcome back Karen! I'll be looking foward to seeing your GJ creations. (What other forum is Countrygrl talking about? - Can we check out your stuff now?) I found this place last summer and must say it has brought some very much need peace and serentity to me, along with some of the nicest folks you'll ever meet. I just love this forum. Sal

Good to hear that I am remembered. Stop by my new web properties and help me get them rolling. Memberships are free and the features are great. I'll stop by from time to time. Brian

Thanks everyone for your insight and input. Your comments fit right in with what friends tell me but I kind of wanted to get an unbiased opinion from people who don't know me. I have to agree that the whole thing is creepy and fishy. I cannot imagine not seeing or contacting my children for such a long time in the first place, but of course he says that is all my fault. I can't imagine not wanting to spend every second with them if I hadn't seen them in such a long time. He is such a creep. I have heard over and over again that I had no right to "take his children" away from him and that because of ME he has no relationship with them. Ummm...not buying that one buddy. When I was growing up I had one Grandma in the UK, one across the country and both of them managed to create and maintain a relationship with me back in the days when there was no email, no free/cheap long distance, and certainly little face-to-face contact. I seldom saw them but when I did we were comfortable with each other because we had a long-standing relationship. Why were my Grandmothers able to do that and my ex is not able to do so with his own children?? Because it was a priority to my Grandmas to nurture a bond and it obviously isn't a priority for him. He takes the easy way out by blaming it on someone else. Unfortunately what this entire situation has taught me is that the legal system is really, really messed up. Even though he has abused and stalked me, I CANNOT keep him away from his children because he has never "harmed" his children. I was warned of that in court by the judge who oversaw our case...my God, how could his behavior have NOT harmed our children? So the option of not allowing unsupervised visits is really not an option. As many of you already know, the court will not back me up until AFTER something happens. That really sucks. Anyway, I've decided that I will email him and tell him that his plans are not acceptable. I will drop the boys off and pick them up...haven't decided if it will be at the hotel or at the police station. I'm going to stop by the station this week and find out what the police would be willing to do...actually I had already planned on explaining the situation to them in advance of his arrival but I need to check if I can do the drop off/pick up there. My boyfriend has already insisted that he be with me no matter where the exchange occurs, even if it is the police station.

It is possible to find hostas that are neither tissue culture or Originator Stock. Many of us have been raising hostas since well before the advent of tissue culturing, and have long established plants that can be divided. It used to be that the only way to buy a hosta was to find a grower who would divide a clump, or who had divided a clump, lined out the divisions, and grown these out to sell. Montana Aureomarginata is a sport that was discovered in Japan around 1940. It remained extremely rare and was highly sought after. I was in Japan in 1973, and was fortunate to be allowed to see MA in a private temple garden. It was not possible to buy MA in Japan for many years, only to receive one as a gift, and even that was very uncommon. When this one finally was available for public purchase there, it commanded a price of $1500-$3000 for a single division, and there was a waiting list that was years long. MA found it's way to the US I believe around the mid to late 70s, was registered in the late 1980s, and gradually became more reasonable in price. Initially it was in the $250 range, but came down to $150, then $75, then $50, then finally $30, which is when I bought my first one. That was, of course, for a small single division. Purchasers were told to plant it in a lot of shade, which was how it was grown in Japan. Needless to say, it took many years to get a mature clump. Nowadays you can find a nice large single division from a seller for $10-15, and a decent sized plant with multiple divisions for $25-45.