Okay, I'm a little late posting my thanks, but that's because I've been BUSY! And to add insult to injury, I haven't planted a single thing that I brought home from the swap... Anyone want to come and have a planting party at my house sometime? ;-) We're getting ready to sell our house, and since I do an all-container garden anyway, we'll be able to bring our garden with us... but I still have to get it planted. I can't believe how late it's getting, and I am still spending all my time trying to track down contractors to work on the house and getting things packed to go into storage so we can stage the house for viewing. Work has blown up, too, so it's literally been "no rest for the weary" since before the swap for this kid. Anyway, back to the thanks! Bonnie and Terry, ALWAYS a lovely time, and a lovely setting, too! Chris wanted to send a special thanks and let you guys in on what we did with the rhubarb that Terry gave him. We chopped it into small bits, and then I put it in a pan and sprinkled a little sugar on it to sweat out some of the juice. Then I put it on low, added a little water to keep the sugar from burning, and cooked it to a pulp, then added some chopped strawberries, then cooked a bit more. About 1 1/2-2 cups of chopped rhubarb, 1 quart of strawberries, and only a few tablespoons (maybe? didn't measure, but it really wasn't that much) of sugar, and man-oh-man, was that the hit when we served it over french toast casserole with lightly sweetened creme fraiche for Mother's Day brunch. So, again, THANK YOU! We have a new favorite!

wow these all sound like awesome baskets! i got my basket from Vina and wow! i am floored and don't quite know where to start. there were ladyfinger cookies, chocolate marshmallow eggs, chocolate truffles, and adorable chicken statue for the garden wearing red galoshes lol, a really cute test tube vase for the window, a chili pepper (which i am going to convert to a christmas ornament for the veggie patch section of the tree ), soap shape dlike a garden fairy that is too cute to use, a picture book of here comes peter cottontail, eggs filled with candy, all nestled in gold ribbon and wrapped in pictures her kids colored!!!! so cute and what a great idea. there were also bleeding heart plats, an adorable bunny shaped tin filled with seeds and a cool blue and green shell bracelet (and i have the perfect hippie skirt to go with it), and a red peony!!! i think the easter bunny probably got a hernia carrying this to my house LOL. ooo and a flower notebook and a cute card signed by all. thank you so much and tell billy and taylor i loved their coloring. i am smoothing one of them out and hanging it on my office door :) little dog came home safe and sound-- exhausted and extra dirty, but better than she usually is after one of these excursions. thank you all for your support! and now, for bingo! bonnet lamb quack tulip Bonus word 'cause it's friday: columbine* Bonus word becasue little dog came home :): polliwog for those of you who missed it, the person who gets the most bonus words gets a prize too :) how are the bingo boards? anyone close? i need to go through and mark all the lists i have. hope everyone has a great weekend :)

I don't really think we'll be swamped; gardening events don't really generate the kind of response that, say, a rock star concert would... & even if we do get swamped, we'll have the signs up about sharing & bringing a dish & so forth; Let's have tickets for the meal same as for the drawing: bring a dish, get a lunch ticket. bring Brenda a plant, get a lunch ticket. contribute supplies, etc, get a lunch ticket. We've always tried to set up near the gazebo (can't set up inside because it always seems to be reserved), since it's far off the street. I'll check with the parks people tomorrow & find out if there's anything going on that will make it impossible to get back inside the park. If there is, we'll just set up where we did last autumn. & I'll prepare some bright yellow signs to point the way! .

Hi Everyone! Stella here! I was looking over what Bump posted and wanted to clarify something just to avoid any problems. If you are going to send seeds, whether you send one packet or ten packets, we should consider that to be just one item, okay? Just like sending a pair of gloves would be only one item. Would you believe Grumpy asked me if two gloves would count as two of his items??? I've really got my paws full with that boy! Have a purrfect day! -Stella