My friend who lives in the woods told me today that she has a box turtle who keeps coming back to her trailer to eat dog food and ask for a drink of water. Her chihuahua seems to enjoy his company! Tammy, one time I backed over one with my car on the driveway. I am "marked" for life by that event, it was so traumatic. I just wish the powers that be in Washington would have as much kinship for Iraqui children and Lousiana families as we do for turtles and frogs. Maybe someday, when we are no longer on this earth plane, we will understand the intricacies of the human heart. I love this quotation: "What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?" At some point, a leader must emerge in the western world who echoes the humanity of Gandhi. peace, claire in sanford Wonderful meeting you and your family too!

Dee, DH said your box arrived, He opened it for me, and my goodness woman, you went way over and beyond. I wrote down all the contents as he was telling me so here goes A Homemade/handpainted bird house!I can't wait to see it, I'm so excited, and DH stated in your card that your DH made it and Missy painted it. Please, Please thank them for me. 2 Suet cakes for my goldfinches :O) :O) Green tea and cucumber Fragrant Sashet Osmocote pot shots/plant food nuggets. Oriental lily Mona Lisa; I'm thrilled. 2 Asiatic liliums liberation, just beautiful T-Label garden markers Note cards sticky notes garden gloves 8 piece set of kitchen towels, potholders and dishcloth If that wasn't enough, you sent the following seeds. I love sunflowers, and feed the birds, so all of these will be put to good use. Velvet Queen Peach Passion Autumn Beauty Moonshine Mammoth Iris Eyes. Dee, again, you went above and beyond, and I thank you! Oh yes, here are the confirmation numbers for your other package, and little something for Missy. I don't know what number goes with which one, but here they are, and I'm sorry for the lateness. 0308 3390 0000 5642 0401 0308 3390 0000 5642 0425 If I have missed something please let me know! Time for Bed, LIFE IS GOOD, Annie

I'm currently reading "Game of Thrones", and really enjoying it. Terriks, I know exactly what you mean about the "porn" in the first episode--we got the 1st season on DVD (no HBO at our house...) and I was sort of appalled. However I liked the overall story so we stuck with it. Interestingly the later episodes did not have nearly as much--perhaps they felt like they needed to reel in a certain kind of viewer at the beginning. Eew! I also enjoy mysteries. Recently I enjoyed the "Lincoln Lawyer" series of books by Michael Connelly. There are five that follow that character. Some of my favorite "special" books I've read from over the past year: "City of Thieves" a great coming of age novel by David Benioff set during the siege of Leningrad. "The Whistling Season" by Ivan Doig. I LOVED this book, but I have to confess some of my book club buds were just okay with it, since it it not super plot-driven. If you like books about interesting people you just want to spend time with, and beautifully crafted language, this is great. Funny and sweet and wistful, narrated by a man looking back at a special year in his childhood in rural Montana. Especially good to read if you are a teacher. "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrandt. Pretty harrowing non-fiction, but really fascinating, too. "Any Bitter Thing" by Monica Wood. Our book club read this and every person loved it. I've also recommend it to several people, and they all loved it as well. It can be a little hard to find unless you order online, and none of us can figure why it didn't become a huge bestseller. It has some mystery elements to it, but it's more than that. Happy reading to you all, and thanks for the suggstions

Wow, what a wonderful thread. I've enjoyed reading all the posts. Brings back a lot of memories. Until I was 10yo, we lived on a city block with mostly elderly next door neighbors on our block. Two years before I was born, my parents bought a condemned house and remodeled. It became known as the white house with double (navy) blue front doors. Mrs Perry lived in the big house on the corner with tall ceilings and neat staircase. I never got to go upstairs. I would love to go back inside the house today for a look around. She had Mrs Smith take care of her and I would often go visit with her. Mrs Perry was a frail lady in her 90s. Mrs Smith would brush her waist long grey hair and put in a bun. Mrs Perry had a small house in her backyard where her housekeeper/cook lived. I remember going to see her when she was dying. I wouldn't see her much when I was inside the house, but her little house was next to our alley driveway and backyard, so I would talk to her over the fence when she was hanging out laundry. One day the house on the far corner had a fire and we walked down to see the firemen. When my dad got home from work, I ran down the alley to see him, fell and got rocks/gravel in my knee. Still have the scars to prove it. LOL On the other side of us was Mr and Mrs Brooks. They didn't have any children and were heavily involved with their church's orphanage (wasn't in our town). Every Christmas and Easter they would buy book or inexpensive dolls for the children. They would hide plastic Easter eggs in our shrubs with nickels and dimes inside, and/or give us book with coins taped to pages. I would go visit them too. Mrs Brooks had glass shelves filled with vases and glass pieces in front of a pair of windows. She would get down the vase that was filled with small green glass marbles (really filler) and I would play with them. I still have one of the green marbles. Their living room was filled with pretty, but uncomfortable, Victorian furniture. They had a lovely backyard, and Mom often took our photos there. I remember when Mr Brooks was dying we went to say goodbye. We had moved by then. When Mrs Brooks died, their house was given to their church for the minister to live in. When I was in HS, I got to go to a sleepover at the house. Mrs Sullinger lived next door to the Brooks. She was a nice lady with what I now know to be Parkinson's. Her voice shook and her hand trembled a bit. One day she called for me to come over, she had a surprise for me. She had bought several ducklings and a small kiddie pool. Once they grew, she gave to someone with a pond. There were children close by, and at one point my younger cousins lived two blocks away, and my paternal grandparents just past them. So three from same side of the family on one street. Our grandparents picked us up each Sunday for Sunday school, then my parents would come to church. We always had Sunday dinner at my grandparents house. I had lots of first cousins, but most lived out of town. They came sporadically during the year, but always for Mother's Day and Thanksgiving. For K-2nd I went to a small private school (Mrs Carol's). It was in a house in a neighborhood, near an elementary school. When I was in 3rd grade, we were driven to school each morning by my father on his way to the family's furniture store downtown. We often walked home from school. One of my sister's classmates was hit and killed by a train when he was crossing in front on his bike. Later on, the BIL of our gym teacher was killed. I was working in the office and she brought her much younger BIL into the office to tell him his brother had been killed. We later dated for 3yrs during HS. During my HS years, two other students were killed crossing the tracks. These accidents still scare me, and I always always stop, look and listen when crossing. Even if no lights blinking. We moved to a large English Tudor on 3 acres and I went to public school in the 4th grade. I hated that school and cried almost every day. I was extremely shy. Our neighborhood had one way in/out and at Christmas a "tree" was installed on the raft (barrels with wood decking), floated to the center of lake and secured. The strings of lights were beautiful and reflected in the water. I would sit in the front window upstairs and watch cars as they came to see the neighborhood lights. Nights closer to Christmas by the hundreds. A local gardener that developed the Snowflake Hydrangea had greenhouses across the road from our neighborhood. I always wanted to see inside! I could hear, then run upstairs to see the old train blowing smoke when it came to town each year. My maternal grandmother got all her grandchildren tickets one year and I rode most of the trip with my head hanging out of one car. My face and hair were covered in soot. LOL Lots of kids in the neighborhood. We would play tackle football in our "football field" at our house. We had moss battles at the lake. I loved fishing in the lake with my maternal grandfather. They had a house on the river, then at the beach. He was always fishing. I often went roller skating in the driveway or at the rink. Later ice skating each weekend when one was built about 30 minutes away. My mother's brother was in the Navy, and his wife/four children lived with my grandmother when he was in Vietnam. He was Commander of a ship during that time, and a b/w photo of it and him in his uniform always hung in their back hallway. From 5th thru 12th, I went to a small private school my parents helped open. It was small and everyone knew everyone. It was great. My parents grew up with horses, and we bought one that first year. Shortly thereafter, we found out she was expecting. Best BOGO ever! We kept her at a local barn, but after she gave birth there was trouble with a few other horses, so we moved her to the pasture of a lady that worked at the furniture store. I was (mostly) glad when the bull went to slaughter. I joined band in 7th grade when they hired the cutest band director. Played flute and piccolo, and twirled rifle. So lots of HS football games in my past. I missed band so much after HS that I joined the Army Reserve unit and was in the Army Band there for 2yrs before transferring to the MAC (same location). My dad was in the MAC for almost 40yrs. In JH, my girl friends and I would walk or bike miles a day, camped outside without tents, went swimming in the lake or at a club they belonged to. My sister and I wanted a pool, but our dad built an apartment complex near our house and it had a pool, so we went swimming there. I also enjoyed playing tennis at the park and was on the tennis team one year in JH. I spent many hours at the family furniture store, and later another store my dad opened when I was 16yo. Everyone that worked there was family to us. Miss Mary started working for my grandfather at 16yo, and she worked for my uncle until she retired. DH and I went to her funeral with my parents. It was lovely to see her family members we had not seen in decades. She never married or had children, but she loved her nieces and nephews. My grandfather was already a senior when I was born. He would drive to the store each day, sit at his desk reading his Bible. Then go home for lunch, and take his afternoon nap. He died just shy of 99yo. I have two of his hats, and two of my maternal grandfather's hanging in our house. I was close to all of my grandparents and miss them all. Gosh, that was long, but I sure enjoyed revisiting my past I am going to copy/paste, add to it, and email to our children. Thank you for sharing your memories. I truly enjoyed reading them.