Hi old friends, Been a long time and just lurk now and then. Lots of changes, home, state, gardens and friends, but always think of my GP friends. I had to look up my old password, and realized that my AARP, Medicare passwords are easier to find than GP! LOL Especially this time of the year I visit LindaC in my mind, Suzi, Andi, Liz and Robert. Ruth Anns, newly painted bathroom and the pergola was a story that still makes me smile. I recently shared the Dogs in Elk, with friends that they read as they went elk hunting and they laughed till they cried. Tammy was a trip and would never attend our swaps in N. CA although she was invited. I miss my old CA friends and hope that Maggie and others drop in to say hello. As you may remember, we moved after 40 years in CA to our home state of WA. Exchanged the Salvias and Cannas for Ferns and Rhodies. We love our new life and being with the hundreds of relatives has been wonderful. At the time of my son's illness your prayers were so important and he is now the founder and director of his own foundation. Middle son is now here with us in the PNW and husband is retired. I brought plants with me especially those from trades on GP and from the Get-together. That was one of the most fun events I have ever attended and Robert knocking on the motel room and saying 'Candy Gram' was one of the funniest moments of all. Linda, I use chicken wings for my soup and everyone loves it. What a lot of fun we used to have. Dicken, he is in my heart and I still cry when I reread the emails from him. It was a sweet time and life is far more busy now that we are with all our families. Have a wonderful spring, we are still in freezing nights here in Seattle but the ferns and Rhodies are happy. Here is the link to my son's website for those who remember Ron. Here is a link that might be useful: Ophoenix.org

Cathy, I got your email but was unable to reply to it, and so I sent you an email from here so that you can reply to that with an attachment. Thanks! Dcarch, I have been collecting thermal bags for some time now, and so I have quite a collection already. I saved all the ones that Kevin brought back from Seattle when he bought the salmon, lobster, and crab. I also have gel packs that are supposed to substitute for ice packs after oral surgery, and I keep those in the freezer as well. I am planning on storing stuff in the new freezer that I will not need in case of power outage, so that I will not have to open the freezer door. Although I am storing water in there, I would remove that only as a last resort, and it's always better to have more water than necessary. We have a storage container that holds several gallons of drinking water, which is way more than we will need, and we have the hot tub, which has water that can be used for cleaning, if necessary. Oh, and I will also be storing my ice cream innards, which should also help retain cold in case of power outage. I'm going to have to sort through what I already have in the two freezer compartments that I already had. I am going to be very happy to have open space in the freezer in the kitchen again - it filled up very fast, and I need the open space for chilling things from time to time, such as chocolate molds, bowls & beaters for whipped cream, butter for pie crusts, etc. I probably will buy extra butter just to store in the freezer now. I'm going to keep flours in the kitchen freezer, and I will probably put them in plastic mayo jars. I guess they would be okay in glass containers, however. One of my main plans for the freezer was to store more vegetables so that I can eat more of those, as part of a diet plan. I also will store more fruit and eat more of that. I forgot to mention earlier (in my very long post) that Kevin and I had planned to go to the Lebanese market on Venice Blvd just down the street from Best Buy after appliance shopping, but since we had the freezer on the truck, we decided to go straight home. We managed to get the freezer unloaded and installed in the garage much more quickly than I expected and had time to go back to the Lebanese market, which has very cheap produce plus Middle Eastern specialty products. I bought a large container of Za'Atar (now I won't have to make my own) plus some garbanzo flour, fresh dill in bulk, some carob molasses, falafel seasoning mix (may not need that), more Tahini (They have a huge selection of that), and some Jallab Syrup (made with date molasses and rose flavour--their spelling), which I was unsure about and still am. I does have a strong rose flavor/fragrance but I can also taste the date flavor. I think I might like it better without the roses, but I also might get used to it. We had it on pancakes this morning. I'm going to finish making the falafel this afternoon, and I want to freeze some of the dill. I was thinking I might want to store the dill in lemon juice with some garlic, since I generally add those to dill when I use it. I also need to plan what containers to use for the freezer, and I am thinking I want to get some plastic bottles for hot sauce. I have a lot of plastic containers that I'm not using, but I thought I would save those for leftovers. I like the idea of storing index cards in freezer bags!! I'm definitely going to do that! I have a feeling that the seafood section of my freezer is going to get the most use, but I will also be on the lookout for a cheap turkey. It's going to be nice to be able to shop and not worry about freezer storage space - at least for now. I'm hoping also to be able to cut down on trips to the market. Lars

I left there about 30 years ago and wouldn't go back for all the $1 houses I could buy! There is no economy in southeastern Michigan...period. I've seen alot of the US, both good and bad, and no place has as many square miles of vacant land (homes used to stand there) and abandoned houses as does Detroit. And it's a sin that it happened. But the auto industry and it's strangle-hold on state and local government have killed any chance for a return to even a little bit of prosperity in my lifetime. Then toss in a mayor like the one Detroit has now.... I still go back 3-4 times a year for family functions...all my relatives are still there. And I'm oh so glad I get to leave!!

Yard man here today and had to find something more for him to do as the leaf blower is in for it's winter servicing. So, we continued with the clean-out. Today, was a lovely antique mahogany buffet that was once in my in--law's DR. We had no room for it in ours, but thought it might make the bottom of the steps in the basement look a lot better. Our basement is semi-finished but from the top of the steps and most of the way down, it looks finished. It is a great piece for storage of things (mainly silver) used far less often, but that I'm not yet ready to part with - thinking about those 4 grandchildren (who may or may not want any of it). Well, in addition to being good for storage, it is good/bad as it's a catch-all place. It's near the door into the basement garage, and things just end up "living" on this piece of furniture. I haven't seen the top in years! Things that need to go to Goodwill, upstairs, in the trash, be returned, put somewhere other than in the basement on this buffet. We started with the top and cleaned it off. Books went upstairs (God knows how I'm going to find space for them in my already over-loaded bookshelves, but I will!), lots of stuff to Goodwill (I won't make a special trip to the paint store to return the paint roller that was the wrong size and is still unopened - someone will get it for a bargain), paper trash - you name it, it was living on this buffet. We got it all cleared off and actually DUSTED! It's really very beautiful! Now, my portable oxygen and the charger for the extra battery, is at one end plus a basket to keep extra oxygen tubing and cannula, and shoulder strap for the carrier. The cordless phone is also there, next to a wall plug I had put in many years ago. At the other end is a small pile of things to return - I'll get enough money back to make it worth my while - only 4 things. A pretty green glass bowl is in the center. If it becomes a catchall, it will go below. A picture by a Vineyard artist that my late husband and I bought at the Cincinnati Antiques Show at least 15 years ago, is now hung - it's been propped there all these years. Yikes! I know my husband is pleased. Then we went through the 3 drawers - some stuff for Goodwill, mostly trash. Now organized and I know what's in them. There are two single cabinets underneath with doors, and one double one with two doors. Went through the two single ones - didn't throw much out, but I now remember what is in them. Center one is the silver - it will stay as it is and become my daughter's problem! We spent 3 hours doing this and I also had my yardman take the HUGE, very heavy bag of clothes from the clean-out in my late husband's closet (both his and my clothes that needed to go), to Goodwill for me. Altogether a productive 4 hours and worth the money I pay him! It will be late March/early April before he does much work outside, so this is my clean-out time with him. Onward and upward!