Mehitabel & Brooke, Your descriptions of dogwood and redbud make me homesick for Little Rock and the nearby lake where people had rustic cabins. There were wild dogwoods in the woods there - even some with pink flowers - and cornflowers & honeysuckle all around. In town, there were redbuds (also in the woods), mimosa trees, and cultivated azaleas that stayed in the ground all year and got huge. Japonica, forsythia (sp?), wisteria, magnolia trees, hydrangeas, honeysuckle. And yes, the beautiful Japanese maple. Other places in Arkansas, there were fields of wild azaleas. Both my grandmothers and one grandfather had green thumbs and grew plants in the house and outside. Growing up, I was more into fish, birds, hamsters, frogs, lizards, snakes, and dogs than plants but in my early 20s, became fascinated with bonsai. In Mississippi, where I lived for several years, the squirrels got my treasures. Moved back to Arkansas and raised lots of interesting houseplants, using bonsai methods to keep them from taking over the place. No outside plants interested me much except pansies. In Minnesota, more houseplants. Always, orchids were the magical and the impossible - I'd never have the greenhouse it took to grow them, although I pored over greenhouse plans a lot. When DH and I moved into the house in the 'burbs about 4 years ago, somehow I picked up the book "Orchids Simplified: An indoor gardening guide," by Henry Jaworski. My mom, an excellent cook, always said if you could read, you could cook. I believed her and became a gourmet cook. Jaworski said if you can grow houseplants, you can grow orchids. I believed him and bought a Phal from a garden/craft chain. Sure enough, the Phal thrived and rebloomed as I followed Jaworski's instructions. One day, I was ga-ga over the orchids at a local garden center. One of the staff and I started talking. She said if I could grow Phals, there were lots of other orchids I could grow in the house, and she told me about Orchids Limited and AOS. I got chills and raced home. It was winter and pitch dark, but I checked MapQuest and headed straight to Orchids Limited, knowing they wouldn't be open that late. Have you ever seen a commercial orchid grower's greenhouses at night during a cold winter? A fairyland. In the middle of frozen Minnesota, there was a glowing oasis of light and life. The insides of the greenhouse windows were dripping with humidity, so the plants inside were out of focus, just like a dream. The next day, I left work early to get there before closing. Walking into that tropical paradise was indescribable - the warm, humid air, the fragrance of blossoms, the brilliant colors, all those lush green plants, the burble of a fountain. Outside, the air was so dry it hurt my nostrils. Inside, my eyes and lungs and nose and heart gave a big sigh of thanks. I went home and started reading about cultural conditions possible in the house. That was about 2.5 years ago. Over time, the houseplants went to other homes. The other day, I ran across 2 brand new books on houseplants that had never been taken out of the bag. Orchids must have taken over right about then. Every year, I think - gotta get some native plant gardens going outside, esp. because we have ducks, geese, herons, etc. in the pond just beyond the fence. So far, it hasn't happened. Maybe now that the lathe house for the orchids is finished... Calvin, thanks for asking. This brought back lovely memories. Whitecat8

Greetings again, all, As I said in the earlier post, my (I like that "my"!) librarian said that they have that book in that small rural library, and I don't know whether she meant in the system as a whole - that involves over 15 libraries, I think, in our county. I remember that an older sister of a girl that I used to go with in high school told me after she'd left home and I'd written her that she liked getting a letter from me - that it was like talking to me. I think that you'll find that, once you start the memory tap flowing ... that other memories will come crowding in, and it'll rather surprise you: I guess that memory banks produce some interest. Jannie ... don't sell yourself short, please ... see, even a short message from you piqued the interest of a couple of other readers among the rather small number who have posted. jodi ... and others ... how about a tape recorder? gayle marie ... don't bother with a shrink - come here. And ... we're free! Kidding aside, many have found that ideas that they've brought foward have produced some interesting and useful responses, including things that they hadn't thought of, and on occasion a different slant on a subject about which they'd done some thinking. When we get our books written ... ... they all get passed around here, via email, right? As they'd be too thick to post here. (Or would some of us be too thick to understand 'em?). ole joyful

Thanks, alisande. I keep plugging away on some of my childhood memories. Ex: Bird sh*t & Idiots on FB. I'm subbing in a computerr lab again the next two days so I may be able to post another soon. Thanks for the reminder. Ron

As a southerner we have a history of telling stories and it was very much a part of my upbringing though trying to fit all those tales into some sort of coherent history is another matter. We practiced our own history with my mother starting "remember whens" My mother was a spoiled only child and most of her stories were about how special she was to her doting father. My father did not talk much about his childhood though I know they moved frequently as my grandfather was a mason and builder. I spent a good deal of time with my mothers step-mother-my Grannie- and learned as much about her life as I could. She was a child of the depression-something that for her on a prosperous farm in the south was just something they heard about happening elsewhere. Grow your own food and make your own clothes and you only need money for taxes and coffee and salt. I loved hearing about her life. she was one of a big family of girls and they had to work like boys. Their father did not want them to leave home so for each of them it was an adventure to leave. I don't have children and have always lived all the way across the country from my kin so I have had no one to pass on what I know nor about my own life but there you are. I love social history and yet historians will use the lives of the rich and famous thinking they are telling you how people lived in the past-the one tenth of the one percent.