Evening all, Well Ive had an incredibly busy., busy, busy three days and Im crashing at the moment. Id love to suck down a couple glasses of wine as I type this but Im not allowed the calories at the moment. (end of that whine) Anyway, Friday I got ready for my weekend seminar. I was supposed to work on it all week long but didnt get myself downstairs until Friday so a very full day crossing my fingers that all the printers and copy machines were going to cooperate so I could get the classroom handouts done. All worked fine, I finished up what needed doing by 6:00PM and was able to help my neighbors three almost adult children. The daughter asked if Id take their portrait (there are three of them)so she could get an 11 x 14 printed up to give their parents for a 25th wedding anniversary present. What great kids! Pic turned out quite nicely. Got to class on Sat and we had four new students to the group I paint with here so now Ive got a steady twelve students instead of eight. The new ladies from VT were fantastic painters and really fun to work with. The Gang has decided they can come back any time. LOL Last night eight of the students came over for a garden tour and dinner so after class I zipped home, washed up the bathrooms and passed the vacuum quickly just got it put away when they showed up. Sent them home around 8:45PM, ran down the street to wish the neighbors a happy anniversary got home, crashed. Got up at 5:30AM spent an hour and a half watering the containers, filled ten orders the students wanted, headed out to class, taught all day, got home did a bit of SALATING, had dinner and now Im fried to a crisp. So the new ladies also decided to sign up for the September three day seminar that my local students wanted scheduled and for which Ive not yet painted the piece. Yikes, worse news, they all bought the trays we are painting in August that I havent painted yet either. Ive got ten signed up for a class that they dont even know what color the piece will be. Too funny and everyone was laughing about it this weekend but Ive seriously got to get some work done in the next couple weeks. Every time I decide that Im really going to quit teaching they come up with another project idea I just have to do for them, find a weekend everyone can come, collect deposit money and say of course you can do this as they hand me the money. Im easy. Anyway Im sure I was the cause of the torrential rains that came through here this afternoon because Id spent an hour and a half watering this morning. Have you ever noticed how that happens and that if you dont water you dont get the expected rain? The tropical plants are loving the humidity and are putting on some lovely growth at the moment and the containers get more filled in every day. LOL Denise and Kathy, I actually have a cool garden apron I modified from a painting apron I had. The apron has criss cross straps that go over the shoulders so none of the weight of the tools is on your neck. I should show it to our seamstresses here as the idyllettes might want one. The pockets on the bottom are like a carpenters apron pockets and go all around the bottom of the apron which wraps around. Then there are various loops for putting trowels and cultivators through so Denises image of me with this massive tool belt isnt too far off. I also do have a very neat roll around cart that holds most tools and I get that out for my all day marathons. I prefer the apron because it has everything I need and I dont have to back track at all to find what I need. The cart is great because I can store my stakes in there too. Brenda great photograph of the crop duster. Ive got to send that one along to Doug. BTW, my watering wand leaks too! What a pain in the a -. Every time I put new washers in it and tighten it up it works for a couple days then if you knock it about it starts leaking again. One of my gardening pet peeves is leaking hose joins and watering wands and sprinklers that dont oscillate as they should. Yes indeed, I miss EP and her insights. Jerri, that solstice ceremony sounds like it was interesting. Great clematis Martie! Love the name. Happy Anniversary to Chelone and Helpmeet! Michelle, that baptisia is gorgeous and especially beautiful with the poppies. I cant get over that you dont have to stake it. ~~ Love that rainbow photo! Kathy, some of those daylilies on that site are unbelievable along with their prices. Mary, sounds like you made out big time at the plant sale. Any photographs would be much appreciated. Sue, youre such a party animal! Snoozing in the daytime, whats next geritol? Te he, giggles. Sorry Im heading off to bed myself as Im going to fall asleep with this computer in my lap if I dont put myself to bed soon. Nite all, Deanne

koidom-No-we moved to the house a little over three years ago and the majority of hosta were already here. I've added the light white/cream and green varigated hosta. I went around the yard the other day and counted 80 of the noid # 7. They also planted the ground cover in the back yard. They did a pretty nice job with the ground cover in the there seems to be something different blooming back there constantly. loisf-I smelled #2's blooms yesterday and did not detect any fragrance to them. Thanks for your input, though! I'm going to look those hosta up and read up on them.

If your child has an IEP, that will follow to the new school district. It will be with a different system and different teachers. We had to move a few years ago, I had one child entering high school, one child entering 6th grade and one entering 1st grade. The transition was the easiest for the 1st grader. He also had an IEP and it was addressed more aggressively than in our last school district, which nearly dismissed him at our last meeting, but I asked to keep him on to make sure (sometimes those IEPs are hard to come by for a kid who struggles). My high schooler had a terrible first year, but can't imagine it any other way now. My middle child is still finding his place, and was the most affected. He was double accelerated in math (two years ahead of grade) at the last school district, but they didn't have a comparable program here, or they didn't give it to him, although I offered his test scores (he consistently scores in the 99th percentile for math) and his history when registering him. They put him in a program that was one year above his grade, instead of two. He has an interest in going into engineering at MIT, so being knocked down by an entire year of math hurts him. In your case, going to a better district (whether you believe in the testing or not), it has to be better for your property values and for your kids when they apply to colleges. I would go with that in a minute and let the chips fall where they may. Keeping friends is small stuff in life. When we moved and my high schooler was so upset, I reminded him that when he goes to college, he is going to be in an environment like that.... a great big school and no friends. It is good practice.

Hello, I was working in the front yard yesterday afternoon and something hit me rather hard atop my head. It felt like an orange fell on my head. Not knowing what it was, I just proceeded to the backyard. When I again walked past the same area, I was struck once more. This time I noticed it was a Pitirre or Grey kingbird swooping down from atop an electrical line. That bird has been perched there for about two weeks. The bird stayed vigilant and was ready to attack again. I noticed it kept flying into the almond tree across the street in the school yard. Perhaps it's nesting there. I guess birds don't understand the delineation of fences & gates. The attached photo was the best I could get. The bird is silver grey on top and white underneath from beak to tail. I thought I saw black stripes along its sides but don't see that in the photo. It is smaller than a pigeon, approx the size of a raven but fatter, and about 8" long. I double-checked Wiki and it is apparently defending its territory. "Gray kingbirds wait on an exposed perch and aggressively defend their territory against intruders, including mammals and much larger birds such as hawks." However, its territory cannot include the yards of this house, nor the neighbor's where there are two little children playing. Nor the street or the schoolyard. How can I get it to stop charging people's heads like that? A lot of people walk & jog this path to the community center. Can you imagine it attacking children playing under that almond tree? Good thing school's out for the summer ... Hey, that's a song!