Hello Idylls! After being without the computer for a few days, I hardly know where to start! It was filled with dust and dirt (I am not surprised), and, in spite of our virus prtoectors, there were 400+ active viruses. No wonder the thing wouldn't work! While it was gone I cleaned and tidied up the office, and made an especially good area for TCS to do his work. We refer to it as his office, and as there are not t.v. or toys there to distract him, he is doing a little better at getting the homework done. Garden chores are finished here now, with yesterday emptying water barrels, turning off the taps and covering the air conditioner. Time to turn my attention to the inside of the house. The guest room will be completed today, finally, and DH will do necessary repairs to the antique furniture that is going back in there. Gee Chelone, our very own Biddy Suite! Next week he has agreed to help me do a real big clean up and decluttering of the storage. Finally. I too hate the idea of one kid causing trouble for all. I haven't run into this yet with TCS but I recall this with my own two in elementary school. I think the poor teachers often just give in to frustration - and I don't blame them either. A big first here this morning: Tucker and I had a leisurely stroll around the block with a neighbour and her pup. Tucker was not socialized in his original home, and so is very excitable with other dogs, and sometimes aggressive. He has come a long long way. It must be the beatings.... Mary I am glad the leaf sweeper worked so well. I remember all too well the huge Norway Maple and the extra-huge oak at our previous house...Working on the gardens is so much more enjoyable. And with your chickie friends. Sounds like a peaceful, pleasant experience. If I just say the word "squash" here everyone runs for cover. You are one busy lady, V. It's amazing how much you manage to fit in to your life! My Gingko doesn't turn at all = it just drops the leaves, all at once, still completely green. I kind of wanted the yellow in the fall, but I guess it just gets too cold too fast here. Cyn, retirement is certainly a less stressful way to live, but things aren't always the way you think they would be. I sent this to my ex-co-workers a month after retirement: When I retired I thought: I would sleep later. My house would be cleaner. My money would go farther. My DH would drive me nuts. I would have lots of free time. I would miss working. My gardens would be meticulous. I didn't think: That jeans wear out a lot faster when you wear them everyday. That everybody else in the neighbourhood would still be working. That the words "week-end" would lose all meaning. That staying home all day with a little kid would be fun (TCS was a baby then). That there are least 40 kids under the age of five in Merrickville (where we lived then). That COSTCO shopping would fill up a whole day That I would read a book a week just because I feel like it. I'll leave you all nw with those thoughts! Waving to the many that I have missed! Don't forget your Juliejobs! Gives one a sense of progress, no matter how small! Cheers, Julie

It's not as steep as it looks. I do the crab walk to get to the pitch though. Then I throw one leg over, then the other. I hate heights, but the gutters have to be cleaned twice a year or else the basement floods. The huge oak is in the backyard. We've cut some of it for firewood, but the trunk is still there. It's about 4' in diameter at the base. Still sitting on the edge of the stump, it's way above my head right at the base. Here's a picture of the one that fell last winter during a snow storm. It's on the left, the twisted one. All that canopy is now blue sky for the backyard.

Speaking of hawks.... Hannibal is back. I give up....I stopped feeding the birds for two weeks. As soon as I added seed to the feeder, Hannibal was back within minutes. I think his/her nest is somewhere nearby. Yesterday, I was grilling my dinner and viewing the doves scratching around for the dropped seed under the feeder. I walked into the house to get a clean plate for the steak -- maybe all of 3.5 minutes -- came back outside to see nothing but a pile of feathers of a 'former' mornning dove on the ground. Amazing!

florantha- we touched on this on another thread. I think it is so important to look at the home, the style of the home inside and out, and the setting of that home; or at least how one integrates all of that. We are in a wooded setting, and the house is a colonial with a gorgeous brick fireplace. Things are in good shape, but definitely worn- not bad, just have more of rustic vs shiny and newly built look. As I had mentioned, golden oak is not my first choice for cabinets, however, they really seem to fit the house, the setting and the design. It's hard to actually imagine them different and I have some concerns about changing them, color or stain, that they will not blend so seamlessly with the rest of the house! I even think those darn arched doors seem to fit in! As for the sink- it was my first choice. I love the look of white cast iron sinks (so freakin heavy to get home by myself!!). In some ways, I regret it practically as it is marred by my anodized pots, and the bottom needs bleach once a week to look white. It's only 4 years old! Although the house was built in the 50's, it has the feel of a house from the 20-30's (I previously had a dutch colonial that age, and it really had the same feel to it). I hope whatever I end up with when I am all finished will be timeless. I know, high hopes. Thanks for the positive thoughts!! Also, BillV? or someone had posted a link on wall color that I thought was so interesting (on another thread). Basically trying to make a dark space light did not happen with white or light paint necessarily! It was reassuring that my instinct to embrace the dark room with a deep color vs trying to lighten it with a white was not so crazy!