What fascinating stories, natesgram! What a wonderful thing to reconnect with your pen-pal from Micronesia after so many years. That's quite a gift! And what a sweet, sweet story about your father-in-law and how he met the love of his life. :-) My mother really inspired my interest in pen-pals. She had a pen-pal when she was a young girl in the 40s - a girl her own age who lived in Scotland. Mom saved several things that the girl had sent her, and over the years as I was growing up, I used to love to dig out those items and dream about a little girl from long ago and far away. I had my first pen-pal when I was a pre-teen. Her name was Barbara and she was an Italian beauty who lived in New Jersey. She was extremely boy crazy, and quite precocious for an 11 or 12-year old, and I remember being somewhat "scandalized" by her letters in which she told me of kissing (and petting with) boys. Shocking! ;-) When I was an older teenager I briefly had a young man as a pen-pal. His name was Christopher and he lived in England, and was very handsome. I definitely had a crush, but I also had a boyfriend who was jealous of my long-distance letter writing, so I stopped communicating with Christopher. I've wondered a few times over the years whatever happened to him. Thanks to magazines such as Country Decorating Ideas and Country Almanac, I've had quite a few pen-pals, several that I grew very close to throughout the years, even meeting in person and developing a relationship with their families as well. I reconnected with several of them on Facebook (but I no longer have an account there, so have kinda lost track of them again). Back in the early 90s, I probably had 5 or 6 very active pen-pal relationships with women who, like me, had a passion for decorating, collecting, and homemaking. We regularly sent each other "swap boxes" of goodies that we either handcrafted or picked up for one another in various antique shops or even at yard sales, and that was so much fun. Looking back to that time in my life, I wasn't working - I was a full-time homemaker - and the letter writing definitely filled a void and made my days at home more interesting. I still can't quite believe all of those pages and pages that I hand wrote! I just wrote a brief thank-you note to a work contact, and my handwriting has become just atrocious throughout the years. I know it wasn't this bad when I was regularly writing to my pen-pals! Fun topic! It made me stop and remember some really neat people from my past.

Understood, and at least with my current home which I will be selling, the garage is on the side, so folks with your preferences might be at home here. The home I am building has but one garage door of normal size. I'd rather have that door in the front than have the driveway trash into some wonderful woodlands that are on the side. I still don't see any problem aesthetically with a two-car garage in front -- some of the above homes I described had them -- if done with a consideration to the lines of the house, and not being of a conflicting color. (Three garage doors might be pushing it!!!) (edited for a word change.)

The thing is that you can't use ink or dye on dark colors and have it show. It might not even be absorbed by natural fibers because they've bonded with so many other color molecules. Your best bet is paint. There are some white paint markers, I think even Sharpie makes one), or you can use a fine brush with acrylic fabric paint, or acrylic art paint mixed with fabric medium. Because it's on the surface of the fibers, check regularly and touch up to make sure it doesn't all wear off. It shouldn't wash out, per se, but friction can rub it off.

I guess mis-tagging happens. It is kind of a serious error. You want a certain hosta and get something else; and maybe you don't want that one! You can have one of my Plantigineas!!! I have too many. I actually planted them on the other side of my fence last year. Now that I think about it Walmart has their labels affixed to the container. It is Home depot that has their labels stuck in the soil. Old timers call them August lilies. Scary - the old timers are mostly gone now - that kind of means I am the old timer, doesn't it? Funny how that happens - first it was what happened to all the people my grandparents age? Then it was the people my parents age! I saw my first August lily bloom bud today. Resurrection lilies are blooming. First time I ever seen them come up in July. What a great time of year.