If you have not yet visited Tranquil Lake Nursery, you owe it to yourself as a reward for all your hard work gardening this year. In Rehoboth Ma., just outside of Providence R.I., 1 hr. from Boston. I attended their annual July open house and heard these presentations- that are being repeated the next 2 Saturdays. Terrifically helpful talks. And the display gardens there are just simply the best in any New England public garden or nursery. They also sell alot of unusual perennials and woodies(and in great condition). Here's the notice of their upcoming programs: Greetings The many garden at Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth are always beautiful in the late summer and fall and the latest blooming varieties of our daylilies will blossom until frost. The nursery is offered three Garden Talks on Saturdays in September at 11:00 a.m. Bring a lawn chair. We will move indoors in case of rain. Our Fall Garden Festival is scheduled for Saturday, October 3. The workshops and festival are free and open to the public. Spread the word. Saturday, September 12 Daylilies for the Late Season Garden and Their Companions (Garden Talk) 11 a.m Philip Boucher, horticulturist and co-owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery will show off some of his favorite "Daylilies for the Late Season " from the collection of 3,600 or more daylily varieties in the fields at Tranquil lake Nursery. Learn what characteristics to look for, how to use daylilies in the garden and then ramble through the fields to see the September blooming beauties up close. He will also recommend a diverse selection of perennials for the late season garden and will suggest plant combinations that will complement these plants through the garden season. Early fall is an excellent time to plant perennials for beauty this year and continued appeal in years to come. Saturday, September 19 Plant Combinations for the Late Season Garden and Early Spring (Garden Talk) 11 a.m. Take a look at some plant combinations that will accent the late season and add color and interest to the early spring with horticulturist and garden designer, Warren Leach. Early fall is an excellent time to plant and establish plants for the spring garden. Explore planting combinations of spring bulbs, perennials, and shrubs that will add color to your garden next spring while also offering interest in the late season. Try some of our suggestions for perennial and spring bulb combinations or put together some new combinations of your own Saturday, September 26 Plants for Late Fall and Winter Interest (Garden Talk) 11 a.m. Garden color and interest need not fade with the first fall frost and frost and may even persist through winter snows. Enhance this often overlooked garden season by adding perennials, grasses, shrubs and small trees that will add color, texture and structure in your borders throughout the fall and into the winter. Warren Leach, garden designer and co-owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery will highlight a variety of uncommon and lesser known late season beauties that will spice up your borders adding late-season blooms, fall foliage effect, colorful twigs and attractive fruit to brighten the fall and winter landscape. He will also offer design suggestions for combining these plants into your borders and protecting them for the winter ahead. Saturday, October 3 Fall Gardening Festival (Full day of garden talks and demonstrations) 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Spend an educational and fun filled day at Tranquil Lake Nursery in Rehoboth, Massachusetts on Saturday, October 3rd from 10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Learn new techniques that will help you to hone your gardening skills and improve the look and care of your own garden. We have invited a variety of speakers and exhibitors to share their knowledge and tools of the trade with you through workshops, hands-on activities, garden talks and demonstrations. Learn how and when to divide perennials, prune shrubs, propagate tender perennials, harvest and dry herbs and put the garden to bed for the winter. Experience the fine art of stone wall construction, add a water feature, or make hypertufas and more. There will also be workshops on perennials and shrubs for fall and winter interest, planting for spring color and spring bulbs. Plan to spend the whole day and learn how to improve the look of your garden this autumn, while you also get ready for the winter ahead and the spring to follow. You will also have the opportunity to wander among the gardens at Tranquil Lake Nursery, where you will see a diverse variety of perennials, grasses, shrubs and vines with late season interest. The gardens include a number of perennial borders, mixed perennial and shrub gardens, an ornamental vegetable garden, a thyme bench, container herb garden, an entry garden, an ornamental grass garden, a pond-side water garden, a bog garden, a dry-scree garden and more. The nursery also has more than 10 acres of daylilies and Siberian and Japanese Iris in the field. Some of the late blooming daylilies will still be in bloom at the end of September. Tranquil Lake Nursery offers a diverse selection of perennials, herbs, shrubs, grasses and tender perennials. Bring a picnic lunch; we'll provide the drinks. For more information, directions or a schedule, call the nursery visit our Web Site at www.tranquil-lake.com Warren Leach and Philip Boucher tranquil-lake@earthlink.net

The vestibule seemed to be jumping off the screen so I had to draw it. I'm glad it worked out. When I look at a design I automatically reach for a pen and tracing paper. People make fun of the fact that I always have a half dozen different colored felt tipped pens in my pocket and don't know how they got there. My former boss would hold his hand out palm up and I would put a pen in it. I recently left my pocket scale at a client's home and have been so miserable I ordered a half dozen of them. Sometimes it helps to draw the plan by hand with furniture, people, feature highlights and circulation arrows. Plan weaknesses will quickly become evident and solutions will sometimes seem to jump out at you when you are free of hard straight lines, dimensions and the burden of keeping what has already been drawn. It also helps to turn the sheet around and imagine walking through spaces from another direction. It doesn't have to be pretty; it's only for you. Few of these sketches are kept more than an hour and often I don't look at them when drawing the final on the computer; it's just an exercise. IMO unless you're using up a lot of tracing paper you're limited to reorganizing other people's ideas and those ideas can easily get out of proportion and not fit together as well as they originally did.

OHHHH you guy's are soooo funny!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You all know that I love you too. Let me start off with Amy. Haha, I did what DeeMarie did and opened my package up in bed - nice way to start the day. Amy gave me notecards with her artwork on them - so you already know how beautiful they are. My birthday card was a beautiful underwater scene with a birthday cake LOL. It is so cute. Amy also gave me a gift certificate to shop at her site - can't wait to go there and check it out again. Amy - thank you, you will never know how much your gift means to me - you should've kept the envelopes, I don't think I will be able to ever part with the cards LOL. I sat there trying to pick a favorite and couldn't (leaning towards the pink roses and orchids) - they are all so great. You are so talented. Marci - thanks for the 50 confetti, I decorated a table this morning with it LOL. Love the GIF, of course it is coordinated with my confetti - you are one of a kind. Several months ago I told each of my immediate family NOT to give me any surprise party - you don't know how embarrassed and uncomfortable I am with that. I begged my DH to squash anyone's attempt to do so LOL. I think I'm safe. I celebrated Saturday night with close friends, Sunday with some girlfriends and last night DH took me to our favorite italian restaurant in Saratoga Springs. I wanted to go out last night as we are going to a slide show tonight - friends went hiking in Nepal/Mt. Everest. DH gave me tickets to see my favorite performer BETTE MIDLER on 3/17, we are only 3 rows from the stage (on the floor) YIPPPPPEEEEEEE. Kathy - very funny - you have my kind of sense of humor. Thanks. NH Suzanne - I'm waiting for the AARP envelope any day now LOL, thanks so much for the great e-card. Love you too. Maddie - I knew you and Dee would be serenading me this morning LOL. I am also honored to have you as my friend. DeeMarie - I was right, you really are a brat (old person comment) LOL. Thanks so much for the song - I have to say your singing voice is really improving LOL. Okay this isn't funny, but my lower back hurts me and I usually have no pains - this is just a coincidence, RIGHT???

I'm here, but I am mired in taxes!! I spent the day yesterday researching and buying a new printer and today I am doing my taxes. State is done, local is done and I am taking a break from Federal. It is beautiful here today. I DON'T want to be indoors doing paper work all day, but I needed a break. If I can get done before lunch, I will have the rest of the day to play. (After I finish laundry, pay bills and straighten up! LOL) I bought a Winsor Pilates tape and mat yesterday. I have been having back aches lately and someone at Curves suggested Pilates. I know my aches are from bending over little ones all day. Some days I feel like I just can't straighten up. I am hoping that Pilates helps. My new printer is a MFP - a scanner, a copier and a printer all in one. I printed out some pictures I had taken on my digital camera and they came out great. I needed to make a copy of a receipt for a rebate and voila - I had a copy. I have to play around with scanning photos now and see how that works. I think I got a great deal for my $$$. (((HUGS))) for all those that need them. I know I missed some important events last week, but I just don't know where the time went. I was never so glad to see Friday come. The kids were wound up, we had a sub all week for Beth and I just didn't feel up to par. I am hoping that this week gets off to a better start. I think we all should have gone with Raeanne to Cancun!!! I could use some R&R. Now I have to hang up a load of laundry and locate some papers for taxes. Later, Marci