I too love birches and would love a little wood of them. I would plant Scottish bluebells under them en mass. A seed trading friend of mine in California sent me three bags of birch seeds (besides the ones I got myself from the little tree at Lowe's). They are European Birch, White American Paper Birch and one other that I cannot recall off hand. I read that they had to be fresh or they wouldn't grow, so I didn't planted them. But now, I think I will go ahead and try sprouting them. What have I got to lose? I think if I put them in very soggy paper towels and stick them in plastic bags, they should sprout, as that is where they sprout best in their natural environment - on the banks of brooks and rivers where it is very wet. Worth a try. Eduarda, I appreciate your input. Muito Obrigada! ~Annie

Thanks Bestyears! Really!! I haven't read it but of my list, Poisonwood Bible is the most incongruous. However, I will read it although it seems realistically "gritty" from Amazon reviews. I read fast and have a hard time finding books I Iove ..so I'll read a bunch of books I dislike then give up...again and not read new books again until the feeling passes. We don't all have the same tastes in reading, The Kitchen House is beloved but I didn't like it at all ( sorry Sue!) and I really disliked the "letter" aspect of the Guernsey Potato book. It was unsatisfying and annoying. I thought I would like Game of Thrones saga, yet, again, I hated it. Love McCalls #1 Ladies Detective Series.

Can't remember either, but I started reading when I was 4 and never stopped! I read tons of books including all the older kids classics.... Horse stories were my favorites. I read all the Black Stallion (and related books), Misty of Chincoteague, Seabiscuit, and many others. And dog books, Call of the Wild, Old Yeller, and so on. I read the Nancy Drew books, the Hardy boys books, the Trixie Beldon books, Little Women, Litle Men, Eight Cousins, the Little house books... and then I read a lot of books too old for me. Books that belonged to my grandmother (who had been a teacher) and books that my mom had bought from some book club long before (not sure why as she was NOT a reader). I love reading. It's just a shame it gets harder to read as the eyes get older... even with my trifocal lenses.

AnnPann - I did a little digging for you, and although I didn't find any specific sites referring to that situation, I found some books that might address it: Australia-focused home front books: S.J. Butlin and C.B. Schedvin, War Economy 1942Â1945, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1997 Darian-Smith, Kate. On the Home Front: Melbourne in Wartime, 1939-1945. Australia: Oxford UP, 1990. Saunders, Kay. War on the Homefront: State Intervention in Queensland, 1938-1948 (1993) The Home Front Volume I by Nancy M. Taylor NZ official history (1986) The Home Front Volume II by Nancy M. Taylor NZ official history (1986) Political and External Affairs by Frederick Lloyd Whitfeld (1958) NZ official history Britain: Calder, Angus . The People's War: Britain 1939-45 (1969) Harris, Carol (2000). Women at War 1939-1945: The Home Front. Thrupp: Sutton Publishing Limited. ISBN 0-7509-2536-1. Marwick, Arthur (1976). The Home Front: The British and the Second World War. Rose, Sonya O. (2003) Which People's War?: National Identity and Citizenship in Wartime Britain 1939-1945 Misc: Costello, John. Love, Sex, and War: Changing Values, 1939-1945 1985. US title: Virtue under Fire: How World War II Changed Our Social and Sexual Attitudes Noakes, Jeremy ed., The Civilian in War: The Home Front in Europe, Japan and the U.S.A. in World War II Exeter, UK: University of Exeter, 1992. Then below is a link to an interesting site about a community in London with oral histories etc (won't hurt your eyes).... Might be relevant... Here is a link that might be useful: Hidden Histories: East Community Heritage (London)