I'm so glad some of you remember a lot of the things I do. Some of my most cherished memories are when my playmate two doors down (Ellen) and the girl our age (Mary) across the alley would play in a little lean-to playhouse built against the north side of Ellen's garage. They had a huge wooden sandbox. People don't like the tracking and what it takes to fill and maintain sandboxes, but I've got to tell you it was heaven on earth. The sandbox was under a slightly larger pergola. Over the pergola grew Concord grapes. How beautiful it was under the shade of the leaves and when the grapes hung down as we played in that sandbox. Sadly, Ellen whose parents had the sandbox died from cancer a few years back; we had been separated for years as she taught school and moved to Michigan. The other girl, we parted ways after kindergarten, and she went to the Catholic school. We made new friends and lost touch with one another. A few years ago I found her how? The internet but somebody must have given me some clue, didn't even know what her current married name was. I met her when I was 3. She lives in NC and is such a lovely person. I cannot remember the last time I saw her, before I was 10. We correspond regularly and share these precious memories. Right now I have heard that her husband is facing a terrible ordeal with cancer and his pacemaker; her health sounds good. Tears flowed from my eyes when I read that, and I need to answer soon. I didn't have a video camera, but one beautiful fall day, I walked the old neighborhood with my wide angle lens, walked up the middle of my street and back (there were low hills on both ends of that two-block long street), walked back down then around and up the alley we shared, then around and down her street, clicking all the way. I put the photos on a cd and sent them to her. She was so grateful for them. I'd never met her sister who was older and away by the time I met her, but she sent those photos to her sister, too. I'm so glad I did that. This is the same street from about the exact same spot and one of my photos from that day. The older one I took with my brownie Kodak when I was about 8. The second one was Oct 2005. My house was the one on the right that is yellow now (hard to tell the color) with a red roof and the white rails. Ellen's house was the first one on the right you can see, a grey house with red trim and grey roof. There was a small one in between that isn't visible. I presently live about 1/2 mile from there. The oddest thing is that apart from the cars, trees and a few cosmetic changes to the houses, it has changed very little. 55 years then and now.

George, When I posted the link, I knew it might not be the exact same tool you were talking about, because Johnny's has so many terrific hand tools. But, I figured if I got the link started, everyone could go from page to page in Johnny's website and check out all his great handtools. Dorothy, I, too, have found that you get what you pay for with gardening tools. I normally will spend a lot of money for one very well-made, very heavy duty fork or spade or whatever. Then, of course, I expect it to last many years. One of my fave tool companies is Lee Valley Tools. Their prices are shocking, but their quality is outstanding. I also like to buy Sears Craftsman tools that have the lifetime guarantee. I have a shovel, a spade and a fork from Sears that have fiberglass handles and lifetime guarantees and they do replace them if they break. I have noticed, though, these last few years that Sears is also selling tools that are not Craftsman and don't have the guarantee, so you do have to be sure to get the right one. I also love my black, heavy-duty Craftsman water hoses. They, too, cost a lot but also have a lifetime guarantee. Sears cheerfully replaces them if anything happens to them. In the 10 years we've been here, we've only had to have a hose replaced once.....I think somebody's husband (and I am not pointing fingers) might have run over the hose with the lawnmower and sliced it almost in half. If that's not how it happened, then I don't even know how the hose was cut, but they replaced it. Irrigation is a killer and soaker hoses are a lifesaver. If you garden in containers, you can use a drip irrigation system with the drip line running from container to container. I even use a drip line with the hanging baskets on my wraparound porch and it eliminates the problem of having water stream from the baskets down onto the porch below since the drip is so slow that the water absorbs into the soil instead of running off. In a bad (dry) year like last summer, there generally comes a point where I have to stop watering everything except the foundation area around the house and barn/garage (to keep the soil and foundation from cracking). We've never had water rationing in the 10 years we've been here, but I have to ration it myself because it costs so much. Beth, It doesn't matter to me where garden tools come from. If your soil is soft and friable enough that you don't have to have heavy-duty tools that won't break, then the dollar store tools are fine. I always have several, because I am bad about leaving them lying around in the garden. And, that reminds me, if you spray all your garden tool handles a really bright color like fluorescent pink or orange, they'll be easier to find when you do leave them laying around. I always watch for "clearance" sales on gardening supplies, which usually start appearing in mid-summer so they can clear out the garden tools at big discount stores and start putting in school supplies in late June or early July. I also shop online for bargains. About a month ago, I found leather Wells-Lamont gloves online for less than $3.00 a pair, so I bought about 2 dozen pair. Because they were irregulars, they weren't stamped with the Wells-Lamont logo, but they are well-made and I was excited to find them. I put one pair in each firefighter's Christmas Stocking and kept the remaining pairs for myself. I love finding deals like that. Ilene, Garage sales are great and so are estate sells/auctions, and I think sometimes you find the best deals at sales like that because some of those old tools are from "back in the day" when tools were made to last. Y'all, I save all kinds of containers and this is only a partial listing.....yogurt cups, the tall white containers that premoistened kitchen wipes come in, milk jugs, coke bottles, the big jugs/buckets cat litter comes in, etc. I like to use the Fusion spray paint (especially made to paint plastic) to paint the cat litter buckets dark green and then, with holes drilled in the bottoms for drainage, I have containers in which to plant small Determinate tomato plants or pepper plants. I also use a lot of twine (purchased cheaply in the hardware area at Wal-Mart) and zip-ties to attach stakes to tomato cages, etc. There's no reason to spend more money for similar products packaged especially for gardeners. Those kinds of twist-ties or zip-ties or "garden twine" generally cost more than the regular stuff and isn't any better quality. I bet this thread is going to go on forever, and that's a good thing, because there's lots of good ideas here. Dawn

Sue----that was wonderful...great job. Hope you have tons of blooms next year. I also went on a fabulous vacation thanks to Annette. Hi Shirley and Family, Pack your bags for your vacation to Myrtle Beach, SC. You will be staying at the Myrtle Beach Resort condos (2 bedrooms, 2 baths, full kitchen, queen sleeper sofa and balcony facing the beach.) ROSE CHAMPION will be at the desk to check you in for your week vacation. AMBER MIST (coneflower) will be available for anything you need in your condo. The Resort is beautifully landscaped with lots of daylilies, HEADY WINE, SMALL GESTURE, LUCKY DRAW (which has a very big red eye) and WATCHYL LAVENDER BLUE, planted in lots of beds. One shade bed had TOAD LILIES blooming, even though they are small they make a statement. One bed was full of COLUMBINES blooming in all colors. Enclosing a Grand Strand coupons and map of Myrtle Beach. Also a magnet for your refrigerator to remind you of this trip. Also a keychain with sand from beach on inside. Myrtle Beach guide with coupons inside as there are lots to do at the beach. Many places to eat, lots of golf courses, great shopping, water sports, flea markets and theaters for entertainment. Have a great time at the beach, "Sun Fun City" Thanks so much Annettee it seemed like I was right there. I love all my plants and it's always fun to vacation at the Beach. Shirley sends to Remy - Sent - Received Melissa sends to Carol - Sent - Received Jeanne sends to Vina - Sent - Received Carol sends to Sue G - Sent - Received Annette sends to Shirley - Sent - Received Vina sends to April - Sent - Received April sends to Annette - Sent - Received Remy sends to Jeanne - Sent - Received Sue sends to Melissa - Sent - Received This swap is officially over and I do hope everyone enjoyed their wonderful vacations. Shirley

What great ideas! I particularly love the 'handmade paper with water' idea. Talk about nothing to lose -- And we do have two good craft stores nearby, so I think I may just mosey on down there to see what they have in the way of handmade paper, ModPodg, etc. I'm leery of the spray-on stuff because I have such large expanses of glass that any unevenness at all would really show. That Tatouge system is neat too. Wish I'd known about that when I was doing nurseries! The undersea scene shown on the website would have been perfect for my younger son's room. Those Gallery Glass windows are gorgeous Oceana! Are they hard to do? I'm talking about three panes that are each 23" x 66", so that's a lot of space. And given the contents of these closets, I'd need to obscure the entire glass area. Valinsv - That's a great offer and I'd love to take you up on it - Thanks! But I'm unable to get your e-mail to work from your 'MyPage'. My email is linked here, and maybe that will work?