Sure... no problem. I took a basic zuccini bread recipe and used summer squash. I don't see why winter squash would not work if you peel it and it is moist enough. Had to tweak it to my taste... 3 eggs 3 cups flour (I use the cheap general pupose) 2 cups sugar 2-4 cups of squash (grated in the cheese grater worked well but some I put in the blender until it is liquid) 1 cup of oil (canola works good) 1 teaspoon of baking soda 1 teaspoon of salt (I use less) 1 teaspoon of honey (squirt from the bear works) 1-3 teaspoons of cinnamon (penzey's vietnamese) 1-3 teaspoons of real vanilla extract 1/2 - 1 teaspoon cardamon (ground) some sliced almonds Best to put all the dry stuff in the mixing bowl first and stir it around to mix it up good. Make real certain the baking soda is not in lumps... nothing worse then finding a chunk of soda when eating bread. Add the eggs, oil, squirt of honey, and squash and stir into a batter. Original recipe I started with called for 2 cups of grated squash but I've double that amount when trying to use up a batch of squash. I butter my bread pans by putting a gob of butter on a paper towel and smearing it all over the inside. Divide batter into two equal portions when pouring into the pans. Sprinkle the sliced almonds on top. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Let set on a bread rack in the pan for at least ten minutes before popping it out of the pan... to early and it breaks into chunks... delicious chunks but not pretty. When all works well it yeilds an attractive brown loaf with lightly toasted almonds decorating the top. The grater will pick most of the seed out of the squash... I add them back in if I get the squash young and tender. Older squash I peel if the hide is tough... young stuff it goes in. While the first batch is baking is a good time to mix up a second. It freezes very well... hack a frozen chunk off with a big chef's knife and nuke it to thaw for almost instant treat. Might as well make some loaves as once you have all the stuff out it is pretty easy. It is very addictive so pretend not to notice when people eat the whole loaf in one sitting... slice by little slice. Very high in fiber. For freezing ease I ran a bunch of squash in the blender until it was liquid... make fine bread. I found I like a little less spice. Original recipe called for 3 teaspoons each of cinnamon and vanilla. I cut that in half without any ill affect. Honey, almonds, and cardamon were my "tweaks"... a heavenly combination to me. Only screw up I've had was trying to hurry a loaf out of the pan so I could get another batch in the oven... it broke and I HAD to eat it myself. I was very pleased with the appearance the almonds gave... a fancy looking bread. I've forgot the almonds and the bread is still okay. I've mixed the sliced almonds in the batter where they hide the seeds well... they taste best toasted on top. I might try sprinkling squash seeds on top sometime... Hope I didn't forget anything. It has been a very forgiving bread if I don't get quantities exact. At first I measured everything exact but later just get it close... no problems with that yet. Sort of gotta watch it towards the end of the bake... I look for a golden brown color... more or less. : ) lyra

I live in an area that makes my hour-long commute pure delight for a month in the fall. Folks come from all over the world to see northern New England in autumn. That said, there are plants that you can add to your yard that will give you riotous fall color in your area. Right now there is a poster over on the shrubs forum from the Bay Area who has posted some of the same shrubs and small trees that show color here such as Fothergilla, Japanese maples, Itea, blueberries, and Enkianthus among others. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/4983162/wonderful-fall-color-shrubs?n=15 http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/4983152/my-wonderful-disanthus-cercidifolius?n=10 if she can grow them, there is a reasonable chance that you can, though Northern California covers a quite broad swath. I would check out plantings at relatively local arboretums, colleges, and wealthier neighborhoods that have particularly nice plantings to see what might work for you. Plants you don't know may be IDed on the Name that Plant Forum if you can take good photos. You may also find some good info on this blog, Form and Foliage, whose author is perhaps Sonoma County, but in the northern half of CA regardless. I know I have seen some lovely foliage posted by its author, so it might be worth looking around there. Here are my Fothergilla from earlier this month.

From FindMyHosta.com There are 10 listings for ‘Kaleidochrome’ for 2019 Kaleidochrome $14.00 2019 The Perennial Plant Peddler Kaleidochrome €15.00 2019 Friesland Staudengarten Kaleidochrome $30.00 2019 Busse Gardens Kaleidochrome $35.00 2019 Uniquely Hostas Kaleidochrome $35.00 2019 Hornbaker Gardens Kaleidochrome $50.00 2019 Hollywood Bob’s Hosta Farm Kaleidochrome 2019 Land of the Giants Hosta Farm Kaleidochrome 2019 Crooked Creek Garden Centre Kaleidochrome 2019 Riverbend Gardens and Nursery Kaleidochrome 2019 Hosta Stop

Nope, we were in a coastal town and within a 5 minute drive to the beach. Lots of ocean breeze, but still its hot all year round. Yes, Michigan has humidity and heat too, and yes it can be miserable to be in but it’s not in the 90’s or 100’s year round and we do reap benefits from that humidity like lots of rain (as opposed to droughts). Lawns are lush and healthy, plants and trees alike thrive here. It also never gets so hot that you can fry an egg on the hood of your car. Then there are the thunderstorms. When the humidity peaks, they come in for a quick shower to cool things down. Open the windows and that breeze with it’s smell of the rain is heaven. Say what you will Elmer, but as far as I’m concerned there is really no comparison. I’ll take Michigan’s summer of months of humidity along with it’s snow and ice in the winter over that dry relentless heat any day. I don’t miss it at all. LOL Forgot to add, I’m in one of those suburbs too, about 45 miles north of Detroit. When it comes to snow, it’s the perfect spot because we’re too low for the northern squalls and far enough north to miss the Ohio Valley Blizzards. We usually don’t get more than 6 inches at a time during the season. We live on a hill and the AWD on our SUV’s has no problem driving threw it, but the views are beautiful.