How could I have forgotten! A more suitable choice for that climate may well be some of the new hybrids released by briansbotanicals! Noble gigante Dragon heart And... Future releases! I don't know how these handle the lower humidity, I do know these 2 can handle much more sun than the Thai giant, and can still achieve massive size! As one parent is Thai giant, under differnt light the leaves may be green purple black in varies shades and hues, some bright, others dusty, usually combinations of all those, and the future releases he's got under trial look great! There's also jacks giant, it's a super sized regular colocasia esculenta, it still wants some shade but may do very well for you I'd order directly from his site. I'm sure he can help answer how to best grow them there too Best of luck, whatever you chose u can't go wrong, amazing plants!

L2Read - funny I read this thread today. It was on our local news that the guy who played James Bond (can't remember his name and I'm awful about movies/stars) is the lead in the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (american version). The lead role (Lizbeth)- who plays that role - will make or break the movie, IMHO. I'm not sure who I could see playing that role. I enjoy reading, but don't have/make alot of time for it. This time of year there are so many outdoor activities. I do so enjoy taking a book when we are out on the boat and in spring/fall when we camp, I always have something on hand to read then. Too many activities and not enough hours in the day most of the time! In the last year, I have made time to read all 3 of the Dragon series. I will agree the first one, the sexual brutality kept me from ordering the second book for a while. It stuck with me and I wasn't sure I wanted to continue the series. Thankfully, books 2 and 3 had much less sexual violence. I don't know that I could watch a movie with that scene. The local newscaster (female) was talking about the swedish version after announcing who would play the male lead in the US version and she also said the swedish version was great and very true to the book. I hate subtitles, etc. so I won't be watching that one, but maybe the american version. I did just recently read Janet Evonovich's latest. I love her books - very light fiction, they always make me LOL. It will probably be fall before I read anything else, but I'm making a list of some of the suggestions here! tina

"Rosie" was the heroine for me and my co-worker too. *Spoiler alert* I read the book first and told my co-worker she would enjoy it. As she read it we couldn't wait to talk to each other about it but were both afraid I might accidentally announce some "spoilers". Finally she came in one day and I knew she had finally finished the book when she said "Good old Rosie!" I love elephants and collect figurines; I don't think I could watch the movie because of the mistreatment scenes that I recall from the book. I have a hard time with any mistreatment scenes of animals and people generally - if I don't know too much about it ahead of time, I seem to handle it OK but if I know that a story contains those types of things and have some detailed forewarning, I cannot bring myself to read it.

I just finished this book and I guess I'm in the minority because I loved it. And yes, Rosie was my favorite character too. I remember vividly two times when I have been able to actually touch elephants (or rather, they touched me). Once was at the Honolulu Zoo, where they are brought out into the open and visitors can feed them carrots. The other time was at the National Zoo in Washington D.C., during a horrendous blizzard when I was probably the only visitor at the entire zoo, and the all-female elephant keepers welcomed me into their midst. They let me into the enclosure and gave me some oranges to feed the elephants. I probably liked the book so much because my job involves caring for many elderly folks. I work in a medical rehab hospital, and I am often struck by the will to live and drive to recover from serious illness, even by those in their 90's. My younger co-workers are often puzzled by this; they seem to think that at a certain age, one just rolls over and dies. At their tender ages, they can't conceive of being so advanced in years and still finding life precious. I enjoyed the stories of working in a circus during the depression even though the brutality was difficult. I did find it quite realistic. All-in-all, a satisfying book, and one that I probably would not have read if not for RP.