Mandy, I've always used panty hose as supports for growing melons because they stretch endlessly as the melons grow. I've heard of people using cheesecloth or even old t-shirts as 'slings' or 'hammocks' to support the melons but I like having them fully enclosed in the hose because it keeps doodle bugs from climbing the plants and chewing on the melons....a common occurrence in my garden some years. Tigerdawn, That was a common way of growing up for many people. My mom didn't like to cook so my sister never learned how to cook from hour mom and then my sister's kids didn't learn to cook from my sister either. For them, a meal was something like Taco Bell or Hamburger Helper and a can of green beans or frozen broccoli. You can't teach your kids something you never learned yourself. In very recent years, my sis has finally developed an interest in really preparing a meal and cooking from scratch and she loves to have a big crowd over to eat....and her daughter is learning right beside her, so I guess there is always hope. I'd like to think we're getting smarter now and realizing that there are better ways to nourish our bodies, and not just to buy what's cheapest or not to reply on canned veggies all the time. Also, people are beginning to understand (I hope) that the quality of the food they eat does matter, because fresh, quality food tastes beter. Isn't that one place where we went wrong? We started treating meals/food as entertainment or choosing fast foods/convenience foods for 'easiness' and completely forgot that food is mainly one thing....fuel for our bodies and we need to feed our bodies right to help maintain good health. I do think it is cyclical. The last wave I remember like this was in the 1960s/70s when the so-called hippie generation wanted to get back to the land and live a peaceful, harmonius life with nature and raising their own foods, etc. Of course, there's always been a sort of "under-the-radar" population of homesteading types who have chosen to live off the land to the extent that they can, often raising some/most/all of their own fruits and veggies and often meat and fish crops as well, and I've always admired them for marching to the beat of their own drummer. There's just more average folks now who want to take more responsibility for their food choices, even if they never intend to move to the country, build a solar home and raise all their own food. It's all good. Dorothy, Yum, yum. I'm glad she's learning that from you. I remember when my dad taught me how to can salsa when I was about that age, except we didn't call it salsa back in the 70s, we just called it "hot sauce". Later on, when my grandmother was in her 90s and was too old and frail to do much baking, I made my brother a simple batch of peanut butter cookies. I suppose we were in our 30s at the time. He was simply amazed that I had "mamaw's recipe" and made "mamaw's cookies" and they tasted just like hers. That made me realize we needed to write down all those precious recipes while Mamaw was still with us because none of us had collected them. I have such wonderful memories of time spent with my grandmother, who also taught me how to sew, crocket and tat lace, among many other things. It is terrific you're building great memories with your granddaughter. Dawn

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Hey everyone! Yes, Lisa did so very right by me. I spent about two hours on Sunday with Google translator going through the recipe book. I quite enjoyed trying to read the recipes on my own and then plugging them into the translator to see what was what. Some great recipes in this book most definitely. Lisa thank you for the translation for the text on the bag. I love my swap goodies:) Again the timing on when I received it was no problem. Ann kindly emailed me to let me know I would probably receive my package last and gave me a rough time frame. Worked out perfectly. Lars on the candies I have not yet made it through the wonderful pile to Happy Cola yet. I've tried the lemon ones that kind of taffy like and really scrumptious and yesterday had the little licorice bear guys. My husband has been helping himself to the gummy bears. All good. Riverrat I'm excited about using the condiments also. Such beautiful little bottles, I'm sure the contents are just as great. Thank you bizzo on the photos. I wanted to really show how wonderful my swap loot was. Lars if you want me to take pictures of a few more of the recipes I would be glad to. There are some wonderful ones in this book. Excellent pictures and a nice diverse selection of types of salad. Just to give you a hint about my salad addiction I grow my own lettuce and all summer long that's what I have for lunch every day. Since we had friends over this weekend yesterday I had leftover spinach salad with chevre, mandarin oranges, toasted almonds, craisins and a light balsamic dressing with leftoever Meditteranean Quinoa Salad and whole wheat toast. What's not to like right?:) Thanks all. Kate

What drive me nuts is when reading real estate listings (I am an agent) someone will invariably write "parkay" floors. I always think of how awfully slippery they must be! They also misspell other commonly used words in our field and I am afraid that the new versions will somehow take hold. Think of good old duct tape. It is now duck tape and commonly labeled that way. I typo all the time and even had to go back to the word "typo" to correct it, lol. However, I do try to catch mine. I see people on FB all the time who seem to make no attempt at spelling or grammar. Frequently they are in college or recently graduated, so you would think they'd have learned by now (my peers' children). I think by the time I was 10 or so, I had a pretty decent grip on the English language. I hate to sound crotchety, but kids these days...... I do my best with our sons (7.5 & 9), but it is an uphill battle with all the errors I catch while watching tv, surfing the web, reading professionally made signs, etc... The younger generation is bombarded with poor examples everywhere they look!