It is a solid 2 hrs. to Boothbay Harbor from here, which means about 4 hrs. spent on the road. How much time would be required to have the sort of visit we would like, Monique? should we look for another fun activity in the same general vicinity to round out the day before a leisurely drive back to camp? I am definitely in for this one and may even be able to persuade the helpmeet to join us. Traffic will be heavier on the weekends and mid-morning, so this is a trip I'd start by 7:30-8AM.

maire cate, I'm sorry that I missed your question, as I was writing my reply when you asked. I think have most of it out. After the primal scream, I got water and towels right away and scrubbed as hard as I could quickly. That craft paint dries so quickly that I thought I was going to lose three great rugs. There may be a bit left in them, as it's still streaked on the wooden floors, but I hope that 99% of it is gone. Today I caught him chewing something in here and opened his mouth. It was the cap from the paint that he chewed up Sunday. I don't know where he had stashed it, but he can't get it any more.

I will probably have more to say on this later, but briefly: right now I feel that when it comes to interior design we are in a stasis, and it will be so until there is a new technology that is applicable to furniture design and construction. The last cognitive leap, so to speak, in furniture design was in the mid-century period, when new technologies allowed designers to create wholly new designs--e.g. the Eameses and George Nelson and others who applied steam formed plywood splint technology and plastic embedded fiberglass (from aeronautical sources?) to create now Iconic plywood and fiberglass chairs, etc. Expanded foam technologies lead to the gigantic foam furniture, such as the Ligne Roset Togo. And then people got experimental with blow-up furniture and bean bags. AND --this is key-- they were all processes that allowed Inexpensive Mass Production. The next major furniture movements, the Post-Modernist and Memphis Movements (see "Ruthless People") were cartoonish riffs on existing styles...a sure sign that there was nothing essentially new. Crooked shelves, slanted tables, and chairs made out of glass are interesting expressions, but they don't really add much to the vocabulary of good approachable pieces. There are some high tech applications and materials used to make furniture currently (Graphite Fibers and such) but they are expensive and not accessible for mass production. So, while we are surrounded by technological advances in the "envelope" of our houses (mostly artificial intelligence stuff), I think the interiors are going to be reiterations of what has come before, until an innovative material comes along.

Hi prairiemoon2, yes these are seedlings. I did the crosses, marked them, collected the seeds and then grew them out over the Winter. There are many hybridizers doing wonderful things. Check out the Face Book hosta hybridizing groups to see people that are better at it than me. I did it for close to ten years but now am so short on space in my garden that I’m done (truth is my wife cut me off ;) :) ) Now I’m focused on an all seedling garden, saving the best seedlings from my years of effort. Its been a fun journey and it makes my garden extra special to me that all the hostas in my garden are ones I’ve grown from seed from crosses that I have done.