Ruby Star is a beauty I acquired it on saturday, along with several others. I keep adding to my collection knowing full well some will probably not do well but, what grows well in one garden doesn't in another so it's going to be an ongoing experiment as to what will grow for me. The Tikki Torch I picked up were young plants so don't know if I will see blooms this year. Even though my soil is well draining our winters and springs have been so wet in the last few years I've been concocting a plan to keep the crowns dry through the winter without covering them with mulch, kind of a crazy idea but it just might work, if it doesn't, back to the drawing board LOL. Have you got Razzmatazz? I love this one mine looks like bright pink pom poms. Pink Double Delight is similar but slightly different shape and a lighter pink. I would buy Pink Double Delight in bloom so you can see the difference, up here some of the PDD's being sold are really Razzmatazz. Coconut Lime is another fav. I didn't realize that some of these had such a nice sweet scent, bonus. Below a pic of my Razzmatazz. Annette

I started putting seed out for the birds in the winter only. But they hung around expectantly in the spring, so I've continued feeding year-round, adding a couple bird baths. The entire area behind our tall, wooden fence has grown tall and wild - it's an unmaintained strip of "public utilities" land, and has become a natural habitat for birds (and other critters). So we have our backyard and gardens and the birds come and go from behind the fenced area. I bought an Audubon bird field book and enjoy looking up new visitors. There's always a new bird to id. Over the years I've added many suet feeders that attract all kinds of woodpeckers, nuthatches, and sapsuckers. All of the other "regulars" enjoy the suet occasionally, too, and all of them eat from the suet feeders year-round, not just in the winter. The biggest attraction, though, comes by way of everyone's favorite food that I now put out regularly on the deck rail - at least all the insect eaters: I buy inexpensive jars of dry-roasted, UNSALTED, peanuts. I run them through my food processor until they are crumbly. I have yet to see a bird that doesn't come and gobble them up, including the woodpeckers and especially the cardinals. We have hundreds of cardinals. The best part is in the spring, when the mother birds cram as much crumbled up peanuts as they can into their beaks and fly off to feed their babies, then come right back for more. This goes on all day and it makes me feel good that so many babies are being well fed. We've had several bluebird and mockingbird families come to our deck, as the young'uns grow and learn to fly. Later in summer, the visits pare way down, so I know they're on their own now as far as feeding themselves with insects or whatever they'd eat naturally. They don't come around much at all during the summer. It's really fun and interesting - I didn't start this expecting to be a "birder", but I guess that's what's happened. During the early winter, we have many birds stop by that aren't usually seen in NC, on their winter migrations to someplace warmer. Sorry for the long post!

It's 'wordy' for sure, and the preface had me wondering how much I could care for the wasted-sounding protagonist. I'm glad I persisted, but think the author probably lost some readers with exhaustive description. There's tragedy, sorrow, heartbreak, and disturbed families. There's little happiness. I didn't know people could survive the drug and alcohol abuse described, although several of the major offenders had the sweetest souls. I always enjoy not being able to predict twists of plot, and there are 'revelations' throughout. I think the author wants to steep the reader in this murky tea before proposing a rational 'why'. New York society is illustrated as quite unchanged since "Catcher in the Rye". The protagonist is attending a private school in the city and is 13 when the story begins -- as flashback after a gloomy preface. The story IS the painting.

I read about 2 or 3 books a week depending on the length of them. The only two I read on your list were The Girl on the Train and Orphan Train. I don't keep a list. I do want to read All the Light We Cannot See but don't want to pay that much for it on my Kindle. Our Library is 12 miles away and my eyes have trouble reading a regular book so the Kindle is perfect for me. Rosamunde Pilcher is my favorite author and some of her books were on special for the Kindle last week. I may break down and buy All the Light anyway. lol