Most of my books are older, but some I haven't seen surpassed in good solid information by the newer full-color oversized books, so I'll list my favorites. Perhaps someone might like to seek one on the used-book sites. Penny Black's books are great! I have "A Passion for Flowers", "Dried Flowers", "Book of Cards & Collages" and "Scented Flowers". The first listed is a great read as well as inspiration toward imaginative use of all sorts of botanical treasure. Very well illustrated. My best illustrated (mostly in b/w drawings) and most wide-ranging book is by Maureen Foster, entitled "The Flower Arranger's Encyclopedia of Preserving and Drying". She shows a few finished arrangements but it's primarily a fine resource for how to prepare the material. An older book is Arno & Irene Nehrling's "Garden for Flower Arrangement". My copy is of a Dover reprint in 1976 but I'd urge that if you could locate a copy, it would be invaluable. Back cover states it covers methods for drying 371 different plants. Also covers fresh arrangements, and forcing 53 different types flowers/branches. Only a few b/w illustrations. Somewhat later book (1987) is Malcolm Hillier & Colin Hilton's 'The Book of Dried Flowers". Nice color illustrations and fairly wide selection of plants covered. A very useful book is the RD Handbook "Flower Arranging", also edited by Malcolm Hillier, which is about half-devoted to fresh, half to dried flowers. Very well illustrated. Mine is dated 1990 but may still be in print. I have even more, but these are the most thorough and wide-ranging. I haven't bought any in recent years...possibly there's a great new one that covers even more material. jo

Thanks everyone. The more I learn the more uncertain I am. The Asus' sound good - and I know Raven loves hers - but when I look at the negative reviews (on varous sites), there seems to be significant quality control issues. Lots of lemons - and defects - and terrible cusotmer service. There's enough of that type of review that I hesitate to buy an Asus tablet. I saw a google nexus 10. I prefer it to have a microsd card slot - not have fixed storage like an ipad. It also just did not feel or look good to me. Genes - you may be right about not finding that kind of battery life for video play. I thought that ipads were (at least older generations) got 9-10 hours of video play. On the one hand, i would expect video to be one of the biggest battery drains. But perhaps surfing the web - downloading content, etc also consumes battery life. Urlee - I interpreted that quote about really killing the tablet - and what battery life it gets - to suggest that even using it to the max - he gets 6 hours - and thinks "regular?" use could get 10 hours. Of course, we don't know what "regular is". That kind of leaves the Samsung tablets - either galaxy tab 10.1 - or Note. The actual pen aspect of the note doesn't do anything for me (maybe I'd wind up loving it - but it's not on my list of desireable features). I just saw a refurbished note at Best Buy for about $330 (something like that - I had a small credit - and there was tax). 500-600. They're often closer to $So I decided to order it and give it a try. It's supposed to be fast - 2GB ram - with ICS. I have not seen one in person. This has just 16GB on board storage - but with a micro sd slot, that doesn't matter since I can add 64GB more. For some reason, this Note doesn't excite me in theory the way the Asus tablets did. But the relatively large number of complaints (and consistent complaints) on Asus have made me pause. Mike - I am aware that many international flights have power ports. But we have not been that lucky in our last international flights. These flights have been booked through an educational tour group - and therefore the airline has been very reluctant to give us any information. I know we're in a Boeing 777. But from Seat Guru it looks like there are 5 different versions. And the one that looks closest to the seating chart on Delta's website - does not have power ports in economy. One seating chart looked like it might. Another suggested just ipod/iphone charging in economy - no tablets or laptops. But none of the charts on seat guru quite match what's on Delta. If there were power ports, that would make this easy. But my experience is, don't count on power ports. First - they may not be in economy. And if they are, they may not be at every seat. And even if they're there, doesn't mean they're working. (Heck - 2 of the last 4 domestic flights I took - the readling light for my seat was not working - and the flights were full - no reading for me (this was before i had the Nook). If I could really count on power ports that work - I'd just bring my nook tablet for now. But it's been acting up in terms of battery drain lately - and I don't want to risk this as my only entertainment. I'll keep everyone posted. Thanks. Lynn.

What a fun project that must have been.... I've purchased recipe collections for years when I find them at yard sales and thrift stores - purchased mostly for the boxes and 3-ring book covers that held them. I was going to use the decorative recipe boxes and books for the art on a cover for a cookbook, but the REAL fun was comparing recipes. Watergate Salad sounds so benign until you compare 10 recipes for it. All those "secret" ingredients in Chili are revealed before your very eyes. I often wonder is it inspiration, desperation, or something in between, with some of the more "interesting" recipes, like those Linda shared. Why DID someone add a can of sauerkraut or a 4-oz. bottle of red food coloring to chocolate cake? Were you desperate to use that box of Shredded Wheat your family hated (waste not, want not) when you crushed a biscuit and added it to your meatloaf - or were you out of what you normally use? I checked a cookbook out from the library years ago - "Beyond the Bowl" by Debby Maugans using breakfast cereal in the recipes - it included snacks, appetizers, main courses, breads, desserts and more. What a great idea for people who love cereal. I checked the book out because it had a recipe where you use York Peppermint Patties in Rice Krispie Treats - two of my son-in-laws favorites - and it was something our young granddaughter could make him for his birthday, having just learned the art of making Rice Krispie Treats - which is yet one more example in and of itself. And when you think about it, Sandra Lee - with her semi-homemade recipes - has made a living with short-cuts. There used to be more recipe contests for name-brand foods and free recipe booklets were the result, which helped people incorporate the product in their cooking/baking. Those booklets often include some interesting adaptations... -Grainlady

PWM, I'm assuming you'd like the amounts converted to something other than metric? There are many conversion tools on line, one gave me these conversions. Islay, please feel free to correct me if I am wrong: 450g (2 cups) dark brown sugar 175g (3/4 cup) ml evaporated milk 30g ( 2 tbls) butter 1 tsp vanilla extract 55g (1/4 cup) chopped walnuts. Butter a 20 or 30 cm (8 or 9 inch square) tin. In a saucepan, stir together the sugar and milk. Boil until temp. reaches 112 to 116°C. (232-240F, soft ball stage) Or, until a small amount dropped into cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface. Remove from the heat, stir in the butter, vanilla and nuts. Continue to beat until the mixture loses its gloss. pour into prepared tin, score with knife and set aside for about 5 minutes. Cut into squares. I hope this helps. Annie