There was another thread with the same topic on the perennial board not long ago with some good ones I watched from there. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/peren/msg0317470615820.html Here's a you-tube channel with a bunch of good ones. The series are sorted nicely in the playlist section, but there are lots of individual videos too. The hummingbird one is really good too if you are interested in them. http://www.youtube.com/user/MrGrizzerBear/videos?view=0amp;flow=grid Also if you do a you-tube search for "Alan Titchmarsh's Garden Secrets" it should bring up that series. It is four one hour shows each covering a century 17th-20th. He talks about the trends of that century, tours historic and new gardens that represent that style, then has little how-to project sections with something of that style. I have enjoyed all of Alan's shows that I have seen so far as they seem to be of a much higher quality than the American ones, and he is quite like-able. I only wish we had some better shows here.

I'm so excited about this link! Instructional cooking videos--on page 8 they have several videos on turkeys. They have wedding cake assembly videos, too. Happy Thanksgiving! http://www.youtube.com/user/epicuriousdotcom Here is a link that might be useful: Epicurious

Thanks, everybody. I feel real good about the swimming lessons. Last summer, we (sprites and I) were sitting outside chatting about everything on their minds, and she asked me to measure how tall she was. She finally told me that she had been invited to a friend's swim party and the shallow end was so many inches deep. So we compared her height to the depth of the pool. She also wanted a description of what it felt like to be under water, did it hurt to upen your eyes....could you see? As much as I tried to make it sound like fun, I could tell that she was troubled and anxious. Turns out that she faked the proverbial stomach ache so that ahe didn't have to go. Poor thing, she's so athletic and physically fearless in everything I've seen her do. I think that will love learning how to swim and overcoming her fear. About the cake......SHE will decide what she wants to make. We've done layer cakes, buttercream frosting, she's enamoured with pastry tips, etc. I'll pin her down tomorrow so that I can be sure that I have everything.

Perhaps all this points out is there is a reason ACTORS get paid big bucks for commercials and infomercials. You Tube is an amateur show!!! It is designed to give non professionals a platform. YOU CHOSE it if you are bothering to watch these people!!! Speaking "off the cuff";as most You Tubers are, will almost always get one using a lot of pauses and ums as well as off topic straying. I was taught in speech 101 in high school and college words are money. When broadcast or in-front of an audience short, simple, clear is required if you want to come across educated, intelligent and competent. Again not so sure that is the goal of most You Tubers. As far as the use of language and new words emerging..well that has always been the unique thing about English. It isn't a dead language. It is still growing and evolving. Even Websters began updating and each year there are more and more words included. Blatant grammar mistakes do grate on my ears like the old school finger nails on a chalk board example but for me the bottom line is COMMUNICATION. Did the point of the speaker get across and was it understood. Innovation with word usage bothers me not. And I think it is a battle lost YEARS AGO.