Good Friday and Happy Easter! Am still cleaning house! I am the worst procrastinator. Suzanne, I agree with you - I'd much rather be outside than inside! Yesterday, I had best intentions on finishing the housecleaning, but instead I worked in the yard, planting crinum lily bulbs for the first time - hope they live. If they do, they will be beautiful AND perennial - the best kind of flowers! Husband did me a favor doing the grocery shopping, but you should see some of the stuff he brought home - delicious looking cookies from the deli, Miss Debbie brownies, Hershey's miniatures and M&M's! He says it's for my sister and her family, but I know better. And I even gave him a list! He's off to go buy the shrimp, which we'll boil with the corn, red potatoes, onions, and sausage! Hope whatever I've learned from WW stays somewhat in my head! Also hope the weather stays decent, so we can sit outside - 30% chance of bad weather, but we'll just have to take our chances..... Speaking of weather, I was amazed by the wildfires in Oklahoma and Texas and feel so for the people who lost their homes and those who were killed by the fires and the tornadoes. I hope none of you or your families were/are affected by this. Take care - I'm off to find the mop! Jan

IÂve just finished to read The prince of Tides, which I read more or less twenty years ago for the first time. Of course I remebred very well what the book was about, but rerading it I was able to get back a lot of details that I had lost. In particular I remebered the strongest passages of WingoÂs family, and I had lost the "poetic" pages. An other thing, IÂm now able to compared the book and the film, because I saw it many times lately, in order to improve my listening-skills. In my opinion the book and the film are complementary to each other , the book tells Tom Wingo memories for 80% of the story and 20% is about Tom in New York, the movie is just the other way around. I think Barbra Streisand did a great job, and always in my humble opinion, she has improved a few naiveties of the author of the book, Pat Conroy. For instance doctor Lowenstein is far much believeble as psychiatrist, in the film than in the book. now I cut and past a little of the plot , for whom havenÂt read the book nor seen the film Things come to a head when Tom learns that his beautiful and talented twin, Savannah, has tried to commit suicide again. As she lays comatose in a New York City mental hospital, Savannah's psychiatrist, Susan Lowenstein, urges Tom to travel to New York. Doctor Lowenstein realizes that the only thing that can help save Savannah is to unlock the secrets of her terrible childhood (something that all the Wingo children have long suppressed and refuse to talk about). Tom flies to New York reluctantly, and at first, presents Dr. Lowenstein with a façade made up of humor, sarcasm and even rudeness. But Dr. Lowenstein eventually is able to break down Tom's protective shell to discover the horrors that took place during the Wingo's childhood. She also realizes that in trying to save Savannah, that this might also be Tom's last chance to save himself. But it turns out that Lowenstein has erected her own protective mask to hide her own unhappiness. With a remote husband and a spoiled son, Tom is able to turn the tables and help the good doctor in promoting a little self-healing as well. Now IÂm nearly through with "The Confessions of Max Tivoli" and IÂve got conflicting feelings about it. I hope , with the beginning of the discussion I will be able to clear up my mind grelobe

Even though it has been less than 2 weeks without rain with temps in the 80's and a few 90's, it is hard to believe how dry my sandy loam soil can get with sunny windy conditions. My one 7 ft. Paper Birch that is recovering nicely from being planted too deep a few years ago, and raised this spring, had leaves turning yellow even though I was giving it water regularly. Apparently, it wasn't enough to keep the soil moist deep enough to prevent this from happening. A long soaking watering stopped the yellow leaves from increasing in number. My 3 ft. Eastern Hemlock had it's first branch turning brown. I thought being it's second year in the ground, I could cut back on the every 3rd day watering when it doesn't rain, guess not. When you read that Tsuga Canadensis will not tolerate drought at all, believe it. My Black Ash in the front yard, had individual leaf clusters in several spots, shriveling up with no change in color, like it was adjusting to lack of water. So, to prevent further crisis, I'm back to every other day soakings of the new trees planted this spring and the trees that were raised this spring, plus every day soakings of any water loving trees like Red maples as they quit putting out new growth until the watering resumed. And this is all on soil that is a real upgrade (Sandy loam) to the Loamy sand where I used to live. The single biggest factor I attribute this problem too is the lack of shade in my area (due to the lack of any mature trees at all). The mulch makes sure that only the tree gets the water which is a plus but it doesn't prevent the soil from getting sucked dry by the tree in short order. Finally tonight were are getting a nice soaking rain that is supposed to last all night and most of tomorrow, hopefully giving us a couple of inches to penetrate down past the dry layer. Otherwise an inch will help but it won't totally alleviate the dryness. Either way, irrigation will start again in either a few days or a week at the most, depending on conditions of temps, sun and wind.

If time-travel would be a possibility, Tocquille might have been here! Already the first quote had me captivated. Thanks, Don.