Tlbean, now I know the tree you are talking about. I've seen them at biltmore estate and thought about planting one, but I would rather buy locally than mail order. I guess top on my list of redbuds would be Cercis Canadensis 'Floating Clouds', it's a really nice variegated cultivar. I'm also on look out for 'rising sun', 'merlot', and 'ruby falls'.

Thank you all for your nice compliments. Ana, we prefer to make the tatsoi salad for parties because the greens keep their shape, they are also called spoon, even with the dressing look fresh after a few hours, lettuce would not do that. It also tastes mild which is a plus for many dishes. If you don't already have is a good idea to buy a salad spinner to keep greens fresh anytime you need it. Like today, after we went shopping and came back tired, Cheryl had a dish with leftovers roasted veggies and tatsoi, everything warm from the microwave in 5 minutes. We bought some nice colorful containers like the chinese take out for everybody to take cookies home after they baked them. Tom, we should all grow greens like I said before, all you need is a container. I made Willy today a salad of tatsoi, tomatoes, red onions, calamata olives, tuna, with a little bit of olive oil and lime juice. And I mixed it with hot pasta, he said it was delicious! It took 10 minutes. Cheryl was saying, I wonder why more people don't grow this green? It is better than spinach. Fresh from the garden or cooked. Silvia

Nicholas, do you have an ID for the green plant in your top pic? It looks like a crassula ovata type but maybe a monadenium. If you don't have an ID, please post a side-view pic. On your two miniature aloes, there are so many on the market now and many are very similar from different hybridizers. I think I have the one in your bottom pic, I'll see if I have a label for it. You might Google 'miniature aloes' in Images and see if you can find some with names that looks like your two plants. Hybridizers of minis are Kelly Griffin, Dick Wright, Karen Zimmerman, Tim Harvey, Ed Hummel and Robert Grimm. If you Google some of these names you can see some of their hybrids, you'll marvel at the brilliant colors in some of their crosses. Check out this Karen Zimmerman hybrid, I've gotta find one of these.... http://huntingtonblogs.org/2015/03/fantasy-hybrid-aloes/ Russ

I am so glad, Sue, I know everyone will enjoy it! Funny you mention the cost. When I first embarked on this, I was thinking it will be a big impact present where the gift is our time not the cost. Yikes, even with the 50% off, each book was $200 OMG. I didn't really expect that, but after all the work putting it together, I wasn't going to go back and trim. I may regret making them so large, 11x14, but I know i usually like photos to be bigger. I also fell for that very pricey for that "lay flat" upgrade that allow you to do those "centerfold" shots. Heck, i actually fell for every type of upgrade they offered, including a storage box. And then I have the engraved USBs and those boxes. But oh they will be so pretty. I actually went with this one because I liked the idea of putting a photo with it. They also have them in navy, grey, and Tiffany blue. I was upset that I had to switch my product to Shutterfly, but I have to give them a big shout out. They have added so many features to their books, and so many options for designing them. Plus, they still had my photos on there from 2005, though I had not done business w them in years. In some cases, they were photos i did not find anywhere else in my files. Whew. One of the best parts of making the book was doing the captions, and adding in things like scans of their footprints, their baby announcements, etc. I also commissioned DH to write a letter to each of them talking about the day they were born and their first few years. He did a wonderful job, brought tears to my eyes and made me laugh, too. We finished yesterday. Finally. Annie - love that tree! we do have a few photo ornaments, but a whole tree! Fab Running - Even from book 1 to book 3 i got better at it and fancier. There are soooooo many options and embellishments and features. And if you have the right dates on your photos, the autofill feature is a great start. Enjoy!