Paul, Buddy is so beautiful. I'm so sorry for your loss. Maybe this story will make you chuckle... Years ago when I was little, we lost our beloved German Shepherd, and my father, whom she adored and who adored her, insisted on digging her grave alone. Although he was crying so hard he almost couldn't see, turns out he didn't have enough breath to dig through Maryland clay and cry at the same time. Down through six feet of clay and stone he went, but in his grief he overlooked one thing...how to get himself out of the hole he'd dug! There he was on a 100-acre farm, deep in a hole over his head. After yelling for help (no-one heard him as he'd told us all to leave him alone) and thinking it over awhile, he carved himself footholds and climbed out...then realized he'd left all the tools in the hole! So he jumped back in, threw the tools out of the hole, and climbed out a second time. Then he laid her to rest himself, wrapped in her blankets with all her toys. Only then did he have us bring her all the fragrant red roses from the bush she used to lie under. I'm so sad to hear about your mother, too. I'm sure she'll be comforted to think of her wonderful faithful Buddy waiting for her.

b/c of the problems GardenWeb has been having, I'm hardly able to log in, and when I do it seems the server is selling my email to spammers. I'm going to stick to GardenGuides... they have a trading section. feel free to come join, they are wonderful there, nice people, no ads, and no popups!!!

Hi I am not in Austin but if you scroll down to Have plantswap in Austin you will find sveral people responding to the swap and I believe most are from around your area. Welcome to this site Marcie

I love the tureen too - especially since it has a lid. Too bad you didn't get the accompanying note. Was the tureen local or handmade? I'm thinking it is probably both. I love making soup, and the soup bases will be a great help. I haven't tried Penzey's (only Minor's) soup bases, but I imagine that are very flavorful. I frequently use soup base when making jambalaya or dirty rice, in addition to soups. I'm looking forward to finding out what soup recipes you will use from your new book! Sounds delightful. Lars