Good morning to all! Lucy, I love that color of cosmos. When I sowed some poppy seeds in a long rectangular pot, I put a piece of lattice on top because I knew the birds would be having a field day eating up the seeds! Of course you can't cover up the ground when you scatter wildflower seeds so don't know what the solution would be. Hope more flowers are just slow starting for you.

This is the warmest spell I can remember for St. Patricks Day - its 64*F so far! I am Irish and St. Patrick wanted to be remembered for sharing his faith that Jesus died for our sins with his homeland, Ireland. Some imprisioned him for speaking against their witchcraft and others welcomed the message of the resurrection from the dead. Eventually, many years later the seeds St. Patirck spread grew into a new Ireland of faith in Christ. PS. Sabal Palms grow in Ireland due to the gulf stream.

Don, thank you for the beautiful song and pictures, too. Danny Boy always makes my throat tighten and brings tears to my eyes. And Robb, thank you for the lovely poem; may it hold true for all of us--Irish or not. As the Irish saying says, (I think), "May you be in Heaven a half an hour, before the Devil even knows you're dead". Something like that, anyway. :-)

Happy St. Pat's Day to all who celebrate. Sometimes I pretend the day doesn't exist and I'm mostly Irish with a touch of Scotland and Wales thrown in - all immigrant coal miners in the mid 1800's. DD is half. As a child growing up in Castle Shannon (a suburb of Pittsburgh) March 17th was the feast day of St. Patrick, not really the huge drinking event as it is now. The day began with a Mass in the Cathedral and then we'd march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade. I took step dancing lessons before someone decided that garish costumes and curly wigs were mandatory, sang all the old Irish songs with my dear Da, drank Brewley's or Lyon's tea with cream and sugar, and baked soda bread with currants with my Grandmother. We will have a special meal to celebrate this weekend when the kids come over for a birthday celebration. They always ask for corned beef and colcannon rather than the Irish stew or shepherd's pie we often had as kids. I took my son to Ireland for 10 days and we had great craic as they say - which means fun. He gallantly put up with me when I joined in the singing in the pubs at night but I spared both of us the embarrassment of dancing any jigs or reels. I hired a driver so that we could both sit back and relax and enjoy the scenery and not deal with the roundabouts and driving on the wrong side. DD's boyfriend is from London so we're trying to plan a trip to visit his family and then go on to Scotland or Northern Ireland. Maire