If this does become a forum where any ol' cyber Troll has the right to come and criticize and make fun of my art postings I probably will no longer post my pictures. When did we start cloaking every inflamatory, rude, Kook with the "Freedom of Speech card"? What happened to disturbing the Peace? What happened to our right to post art projects in a safe environment without humiliation and mockery???? Maybe everyone would feel more "free" if there was bickering, criticism, and the distruction of the Forums. What happened to common manners and polite treatment of others? Again I say, there are other forums available for attacking others. It was the poorest of common decentcy to post that diatribe here on Garden Junk. Sorry Kathyprimrose. By diverse, I meant that we are here for a common goal- To share a "love" for Garden Junk. If I misunderstood the reason for the formulation of this Forum, I stand corrected. I'm thinking that our "Vickireed" may be someone we know. Time will tell. For now I will say again that I will keep posting my pictures as long as it is a safe environment with protection from humiliation and embarrassment.

To top it all off... When we blow the leaves, we blow them across the road because there is a big field right across the road. Well, yesterday I decided to go grab some more leaves before they got taken up by the park manager or waste management. I would suck the leaves back up with my blower, dump them back out when it was full, suck them back up again (which shreds them even finer) and then fill the leaf bags. My neighbors all must have thought I was crazy! A lot of people around here don't understand the value of their fall leaves. They just blow them all out on the road and forget about them. I must have looked like a crazy woman yesterday as I stood there sucking back up the leaves from across the street that were just blown across the street, dumping them back out again and sucking them back up! lol I don't really care what they think, because next year when my garden is flourishing with the help of some leaves, they'll all wonder how I did it! lol

Looking at RR's bottle tree, loving it and thinking that perhaps it's all in the artistic talent and eye of the maker.....and of course placement and lack of resin gnomes and frogs that make is pretty. When he retired, my uncle started "making things" He had seen a wind chime made from various cut off bottles, with a hole drilled and carefully arranged so they all didn't clang together at once. So he took to glomming on to every empty bottle he could find, cutting it and stringing it up and giving it away. His next project was wind chimes made from forks and spoons strung on a bent coat hanger. They clanked in a breeze. Then there was another man who took up rug hooking when he retired. He bought kits and tied knots like mad. Their house was covered with furry rugs, hanging on benches, on the back of the sofa, on floors and piled in a corner. Another person took up needle point and in 5 or 6 years all available space was covered with needle point renditions of someone else's art. We had Pinky, Blue Boy, The Mona Lisa and even Van Gogh's sunflowers. A beautiful home was turned into a display of kitsch....but it kept them off the streets! LOL! I have seen some very lovely "art" made from broken pottery....but I have also seen some stuff that is pretty much broken dishes glued to something. The line between art and craft is fine.....and the line between craft and junk perhaps even finer....and some don't seem to see it. As an example, I made a trip to New York several years ago to see Christo's Gates. I found it moving, exilerating and endlessly fascinating. I posted on another forum what I had done and how wonderful I thought it was.....and was booed and hooted at ridiculed for bothering to view something quite as silly as that. Art doesn't need the approval of others to be "art". Van Gogh died penniless with a stash of things like whirling suns and swirling clouds and flowers beneath his bed. Pollock also died broke. Frieda Kahlo's work never sold until after her death when Madonna started collecting. I have seen several gardens that were full of "repurposed" items, the toilet planter, the shoe planter, the frog under the hosta and the elf sitting on a rock. Some were lovely and charming, while a few others were a collection of junk. What makes the difference? I guess it's the skill of the person putting it all together. Scuse the ramble, I guess it always boils down to "To each his own" or "chacon a son gout", but I never understand why someone feels the need to defend their own taste, or feel insulted if someone else doesn't like what you like. Why would anyone feel threatened because I don't like plastic gnomes in my yard, nor Robert Kincade (however he spells his name) on my walls nor canned soup in my casseroles? It's your house, do what you like. Linda C

Hi shefsf, I have two KT things bookmarked. The first in the link below has 14 links to various older funny threads. The second on I have is also on the Funny thread keeper. It is called dogs in elk & is one of the most hilarious things I've ever read. It's old, from Sept '99, & was posted by a woman whose husband brought back an elk carcass from hunting. It's at: Dogs in elk, http://www.webtree.ca/tree/keeper/dogs_in_elk.htm Here is a link that might be useful: Funny KT thread keeper