All this bug talk, Anne-Marie! You've got me inspecting everything now! I went out to look at my HH carefully after reading your post. I do see some leaves chomped so I bet it's the JB's! You can see the leaves to the right have holes. I wonder if my toads eat the JB's? (Lots of toad this year)! I'll have to relocate some around them to see what happens. Can't say that I can stomach picking off bettles (especially before breakfast)! The plants are budding now. They are so pretty - looking forward to seeing them bloom. My sweet pea climber didn't make it from the swap :(. I'll have to move the arbor over so it will look like the HH's are climbing up it. I'm having a heck of a time getting something to climb up that thing. My Clem on the other side hasn't done much in the last 4-5 years. Anyway, back to BUGS. My Goat's Beard is in bloom and you would not BELIEVE the bugs all over the flower. They are little tiny black things - they seem to hop but not fly around. I'll see if I can get an up close shot of them for you tomorrow. Here it is in bloom. Very airy - reminds me of an astilbe. Do you have any of these in your garden? I also noticed a ladybug today sitting on a perennial sunflower waiting to bloom. The aphids always move in a day or two before my Rudbeckia starts to bloom. As soon as I see them move it - I know I'll be getting flowers shortly. You have turned me into a bug lady!

I was spellbound, just as with the older version. I had a phone call from a friend at about 7:15. She and I can spend an hour or more on the phone sometimes. I very quickly told her I just got out of the shower, all I had on was a robe, my hair was wet and I was waiting for the movie and for her to watch it, "Talk to you later. Bye." Nothing was going to keep me from seeing the movie. Because of my age I can so relate to that era. I think I was a little thrown off by John Stamos. Just didn't quite fit. (He can't help being so cute!) Yes, it was GREAT, and I hope we will be seeing more quality programming on TV in the future. Sue

Oh- that kind of cruise!!! I guess I read your post a little too literally. I should have remembered your fondness for vintage vehicles. Tom's car is a beauty, what is it? The oldest car my parents owned that I can remember was a 1950 Ford. We had parked it at a supermarket in suburban Pittsburgh and when we finished shopping and came back to the car were quite surprised to see that a retaining wall had collapsed and buried our car and 10 others. When they finally cleared the debris away our Ford was the only one that could be driven- not very far of course since it didn't have a windshield. They don't build them like that any more. My husband and I had a 1964 1/2 Mustang convertible about 10 years ago but sold it when our boys started driving. We just didn't have room for 5 cars.

Snidely, thanks for sharing that. I didn't know and that's very interesting. Georgysmom, I totally agree. In the over 35 yrs. that I live in the US, race discrimination has been the most puzzled to me. From a foreigner borned point of view, I see it differently. US is a country that is composed of immigrants from many many other countries. There are no real Americans except for the Native Americans which has a small population in this country at the moment. Different people from different countries migrate here to look for a better life. Thus, it made more sense to me that this country would have the least discrimination. After all, everyone must have had learned to live together in order to have a hand in building this country as one of the most powerful and influential country in the world. Ah yes. Then, there's the black Americans which reminded me of a true and sort of funny incident that happened at a friend's working place. At a break room, there was some debating and a bit of rivalry about discrimination between some white and black workers/employees. One of my Asian friend stepped in and firmly told the black workers to stop being bittered and complaining about the past. She further said that if not for slavery brought to the US, they would have still be living in Africa and probably died of hunger or poor health condition. Instead, they should forget about what no longer exist (slavery) and be blessed that they live here where one can enjoy the benefit & freedom this country provides. The rivalry stopped; everyone laughed & agreed.