Your chicken sitting story reminds me of a fun time in my family. My children who were raised on two acres on the edge of a small town never had the advantage of feeding chickens and gathering eggs as we had growing up. When visiting my aunt and uncle, my children were given the opportunity of visiting the livestock, picking beans and watermelons and tromping in the woods. When my uncle took them out to collect the eggs, they returned to tell us that they had been "picking eggs". Of course, from then on we never gathered eggs anymore. We "picked" them too. I love your stories, A lot of them make me remember my happy childhood on a small farm. Thanks and good to "see" you again.

I think the post above eludes to this but a vertical conifer would be a nice choice for winter interest...choices are limited with shade though (think Taxus). Only other design suggestion I'd suggest is to make one repeat planting frome one side to the other. I'm not familar with the dogwood you mentioned above but I really do like Ivory Halo. They can quickly attain 6' width in 3 years of planting a #5 plant. As for Oakleaf Hydrangeas, they struggle around here. Snow Queen may get 8' in the PNW but it sure won't get that size around here! The largest Oakleafs I've seen (now I'm only one person) is a 5' one at an M&I bank in Menmonee Falls and another 5' one at Johnsons Nursery display garden (I was told this plant was 12 years old and was kept in check because of dieback). They are also one of the most expensive shrubs around here because of the failure rate. I'd still plant one though, lol. My point is that the dwarfs really are dwarfs around here. Is there any protection from the west and north? If so consider adding a dwarf Japanese Maple. Davidsans in IL offers a very nice selection with decent shipping rates (unless you want to drive to the middle of the state).

I'm just now seeing this post. The orginal poster may not be around anymore, but maybe someone else may be interested. I also have done Trompe L'Oeil. I've done windows with scenes beyond, shutters, a bookcase and a variety of other scenes. I did not take a class, but I've been painting for over 20 years. If you know the basics of shading and highlighting it shouldn't be too hard. I use oils but you can use charcoals, graphite, acrylics. I've never used stencils with my work, but they can come in handy if you are having to paint a lot of repeated patterns or if you want to save time and make sure that your edges are perfectly straight. They can save you a lot of time. A couple of interesting facts about Trompe L'Oeil is that the method has been around since 400 BC. Also, Rembrandt's students used to paint coins on the floor of his studio so that they could have fun watching him bend over to try to pick them up from the floor. I hope others who may see this will try it and have fun! Lu

What a memory you have mercurygirl! “Break out the sherbet dishes and fill them with custard” Oh, if only, bragu... if I only I had a kitchen! This will be the first year I’ve not made DH’s beloved cheesecake. In the interest of ‘adding’… I see above that I abhorred chocolate pot de crème due to the grainy texture, but since then I’ve acquired a sous vide, and as Islay wisely said, no better (or easier) way to make the perfect pots de crème, even non-grainy chocolate. Here’s my recipe: Sous Vide Chocolate Pots De Crème Ingredients: 4 cups of heavy cream 1, 9.7-ounce bar of Schaeffer bittersweet chocolate (or your favorite brand) 3 t espresso powder, divided 6 T sugar plus 1 t sugar, divided 2 pinches kosher salt 8 egg yolks Directions: Heat the cream in a pan over medium-high heat until the cream around the edges of the pan just starts to bubble. Do not let the cream come to a full boil. Remove from heat. While the cream is heating, coarsely chop the chocolate. While the cream is hot, whisk in the chopped chocolate, espresso powder, sugar, kosher salt. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in egg yolks one or two at a time, whisking completely after each addition. Pour the mixture into a large measuring cup suitable for pouring. Pour 6 ounces of the cream and chocolate mixture into 8, 8-ounce mason jars, leaving about 3/4" of air space in each jar. Do not fill to the top. Screw the lids on using your fingers only until the lids are finger tight. Do not overly tighten as air needs to escape from the jars during the cooking process. Fill a large pot or a 12-quart storage container with room temperature water and secure your sous vide circulator onto the vessel. Place the jars in the pot or container. Turn the sous vide circulator on and set it to 176 degrees Fahrenheit. When the water reaches 176 degrees set the timer for one hour. The water should cover the lidded jars. When the timer goes off, turn off the circulator and remove the mason jars from the circulator with a pair of tongs. Set the jars on a dry kitchen towel and allow to cool for a few minutes and then store in the fridge for at least two hours and up to several days. Top with sweetened crème fraiche, fresh raspberries, shaved chocolate, chopped toasted almonds, or best of all, serve plain : ) I hope others will chime in and add some of their recipes to this!