You can look at mini gardens in two ways: First, what I feel is a miniature of a LARGE garden, like the bonsai, make a small garden structure, get a small tree=like shrub, and have the hosta stand in for the bigger plantings if it was normal size. Like get a bird house shaped like a real house for the garden structure. Make a tiny hammock, hang it from appropriately sized arbor for viewing only. Even looking at my real hammock gives me a peaceful feeling--highly recommend looking at a hammock to relax. :) The other approach is to simply feature them as a collection of small plants, exquisitely displayed, have a nice Zen style background. I'm thinking miniaturize Babkas Barcalounger arrangement. I fyou have a child with an angel garden, this could also be a fantasy place, a secret garden, like that of The Happy Hunter I so thoroughly put foot in mouth mentioning.

cyn427, One year I called the Sheriff's Dept & asked to send someone out to take away one of the coons that I had trapped. What a waste of time that was. The Depty came out and told me that they can't do that. I aruged that it was already in a trap, just take it away for me. Nope. I asked what is a person supposed to do than with all these coons that we trap. No solution was given. As I said before, I had a pet coon for 17.5 yrs (we had a permit to have him, along with the many other exotic animals that we had at that time) Shooting a raccoon to me is as painful to think about as shooting a pet dog. They make awesome pets, at least mine did, along with my pet skunk, llama, fox, etc. etc. Raccoons are a problem, I know that better than most people, but shooting one isn't an option here. And yes, relocating them is NOT right. I feel terrible about it and do know that I'm just transferring my problem to someone else, who hopefully doesn't have a problem with humanely shooting them. I guess you'd have to have owned and loved a raccoon as much as I loved my "Rambo" to know how impossible it is to have one of these guys shot and know about it. My hubby doesn't have a problem shooting them, but he has to live with me afterwards, if you know what I mean. I blame PETA for all of this. There were many coon hunters around here keeping the population down before coon hides became worthless. I'm not against hunting, far from it....I just can't see these coons shot. I know I must sound rather anal...I have a soft spot for animals I guess....Gee, I have 7 dogs and a cat in the house!!! I'm what is known as a "Foster Failure" I adopt every dog I try to foster. Now I just transport them from dog pounds to rescue and don't bring them home. LOL I'm going to look into getting something to rid the place of grubs. That is an excellent idea. Thanks

OA, Thanks. It was such a simple thing to make. When I saw it I said to myself, "Even I could do this!" DS had it whipped out in a minute. I will be making more for other occasions since I found how easy it is. Lee, Thanks for the compliments. This was one of my favorites. I love it when my "kids" (DS & Gkids) come in and their faces light up and they start noticing stuff and saying, "Hey! Cool! Check this out! Mom (Nanny), where did you get that?" Life is hard and will be even harder for their generation. I love to make them smile and give them fun memories of their Mom (Nanny). It really makes it special when DS gets interested and creates something and then says, "Make sure you tell them that I did this!" Hopefully, he will carry the tradition on with his kids and Gkids. I had bought a lot of Halloween related things after Halloween last year and was trying to find places to display it all and stuck that little string of skeletons up in the den in front of the patio door. I LOVE the rain and when I saw the raindrops on the outside of the door, I had to share. 'Singing in the Rain' must have been written for me! Yes, that is a beaded placemat you see! I usually just buy the stuff for 4 placesettings. If the Gkids are here, DH and I aren't able to sit at their table. I had picked up the orange and black plates, so I decided to try to throw a couple of placesettings at the ends for us so we could all sit together. I think it turned out ok. Complete setting Next layer I had found DD a set of 4 of these purple plates and she had told me to keep them at my house, so I use them when I need them. :o) The B/W plates are Dollar Tree plates The beaded placemats Wish I had found more than 2 of these. They look really nice IRL I found 2 of the boas at the Dollar Tree and one at Big Lots. I need to get one more purple and 2 more black to make it really nice and full all over next year. Aunt B seems to enjoy my tablescapes. She says several times a day, "I've never seen anyone with as many dishes as you have!" She had quite a few dishes and bought several more sets to pass down to our kids since we've been married. She has no children and DH has been the son she never had and our Kids have been her Gkids. She has given me many of her dishes and lots of her accent pieces. Sadly, her dementia has gotten much worse in the 5 months she has been with us. When both DH and I got hit with the swine flu at the same time and were both in bed unable to care for her, the DR found her a bed in an assisted living home here in town. She wasn't happy at first, but they do a lot of activities and she has really blossomed being with others her age and loves it now. We can still take her out for family times, so it is the best of both worlds in an impossible situation. It has been a heart rending time for us. I am so thankful that we could at least give her that window of time and spoil her a while. I did a tea tablesetting last year using the china she gave me. DS has always loved the tea parties, so he will get the set with the tea pot. It is fun to see a big 6'2" man/boy who works on cars and deer hunts loving a tea party with all of the 'frills'. He is the Baby and we married when he was still in diapers, so you know I ruined him. Thanks Syble, I am always behind everyone else here! I usually start early, but finish late. Then I have to find time for taking the pictures and getting them to Flickr and writing the post. As you can see, I am long winded, so it takes forever to post!! I tried to do 2 fall settings in 2 days so I could share all of my new buys and I forgot stuff (DS didn't even have time to add the mini-cooper... DRATS!) and my feet are killing me. That is my last time to try that. BTW.. I loved your kitchen pics so much that I put them in my favorites so I can look at them when I need a 'Pick Me Up'. What a Happy place! Yacht, It makes me the happiest when DS and Gkids are 'up under my feet' laughing and doing dumb but cute stuff to make me laugh. Life is going faster and faster as I age and I treasure each moment with them. I hope they look back at this time with me and consider it special. Your's are really getting into it too, aren't they? I really loved all of their Jack-o-Lanterns and the decorating they did that you shared with us. They 'Caught the Bug' from you. Good Job!! Hi Dominique! So good to hear from you. I miss you when you're not here. My DD loves purple, so it was fun when I found the purple accent pieces and it came together. Jane, DS laughed when he read about your 'Waldo' comment! Thanks for the compliments. I had a marathon shopping day after Halloween last year and only added a few items that I found this year. It was hard to wait a whole year before I could share it with the kids. I was so excited!! I can do creepy anytime. But I don't do spiders. The napkin rings were a set in a box and I almost didn't buy it because of the 1 spider. I HATE SPIDERS!!! I finally trained myself to not kill them outside because they are our friends in the garden, eating the bad bugs. But, I still jump and scream when I meet one while working in the yard! I'm glad you liked the 'wet skeleton' picture. The 'raindrops' shot is my favorite of all! He is on the inside and the raindrops are outside, but it was sooo great with the cloudy sky in the background. Thanks Luckygal, He is such a fun son. I tell him all of the time that he can never leave home. He is our entertainment! He has such a funny personality and is ALWAYS making us laugh. The black cats on the plates are plastic cutouts that came in a pack with some ghost cutouts. The plates just have the spiderwabs with the cartoonish spiders. I just laid the cat cutouts in the plates to 'spook it up' a bit until we sat down to eat. Thanks Luvs, I am trying to follow Judith's instructions about the layers and details. It really helps. If I don't have any height, it doesn't feel right, so I doctor it! I REALLY miss her. Such talent she has. I'm happy that she has started dropping back in. Thanks Kathleen, Even though all of the kids' settings were plastic, it is one of my favorite because they enjoyed it so much. Karen, I knew you would like this! My DD loves purple, too. I don't usually 'do the house', but I had found such great buys and DS really got into it, so I stood back and enjoyed watching him do the work! Sorry this is so long, but y'all know that once I get started I can't shut up! Betty

Hmmmm, I didn't think at this time of year, that bucks would be running together. I thought they only did that way b4 and way after the mating season. Right? I hunt from the ground, and don't think I could stand 5 hours on a stand. I do have a bucket though, that is left there year round. I went out again for the last 1 1/2 hours of the eve. Discovered b4 I left that a shell had not ejected when I emptied it last, and it was lodged in the underneath part where you load them. I quick trip across the road and the neighbor had me good to go. I saw one doe. It came out of the woods and was heading cautiously across the field. Some vines were blocking my view, and after going so far, she turned and went back where she came from. Maybe tomorrow AM I will face the cold and go again, otherwise it will have to wait until Friday...sigh.