We had ice.... Lots of ice. I am not a happy camper, for one my beautiful pine tree looked liked it was being forced into too tight clothing, a jerk ran over one of the middle branches that was frozen to the ground, poor tree! For another we had no electricity in teen degree weather and no way to heat the house (one of my friends heated her house with her propane grill, no way was I doing that!) then I fried my modem by not having a surge protector on my phone line (didn't even know there was such a thing!) spent my birthday in the dark, with 2 kids that were bouncing off the walls, they had the whole week off school, they had to stay inside as trees were losing branches, and whole entire trees were falling over from the weight of the ice. what a mess! we got above freezing today (finally!) but another storm is coming tomorrow, and they are warning of more power outages (alot of people still have no power in my area) hope everyone else is not getting this mess:) michelle

OMG, Sassy! I got THE most wonderful box from her today!!! She sent it UPS, so that I could see my sweet UPS man, but he came early today, while I was gone. :( BUT - I went right out to plant what she sent, and as I was out there doing so, he drove back past, and honked and waved! Such a sweet guy (and quite a hottie too!). Anyway, sorry, totally off the subject - back to the box!! OMG - I can't believe all she sent!!! Woo hoo!!! And with such a sweet note! I was going through a bit of a tough time last week, and she knew that, and told me such sweet things!!! I love you too, Sassy!! : ) Okay, here is what ALL she sent: Daylilies: 'Alaqua' 'Rose Emily' 'Understated Elegance' 'Mary Ann Weldon' 'Free Spirit' 'Brooklyn Twist' 'Fairytale Pink' Hosta 'Blue Mouse Ears' One I'm not sure what it is, but it sure is big and pretty! 11 of what I'm pretty sure are Irises. If so, woo hoo - I LOVE irises!!! If not, I'm sure they are lovely as well!! : ) A Crinium bulb - I'm thinking this will need to come in for the winter here?? So, I think I will put this in a container. A bunch of metal plant stakes - Oh, girlfriend! You have no idea how much I have wanted some of these!!! A beautiful hummingbird feeder! I love this!! The girls do too! We can't wait to see the hummingbirds again this year! A lovely bead and glass butterfly dangly thing! This is going to look GORGEOUS hanging from my front porch!!! And a lovely metal bucket painted with bunnies in the garden. (They are working, not eating!! I wish the bunnies round here did that!) And inside it is a big Wonder Soil disc. If I forgot something, I so totally apologize! It's been a busy day, but I was so happy to open that box, and head right out to dig in the garden! It is looking so full now! Time for some new beds!!! It's a good thing we opened up our other 3/4 acre that used to be pasture!! Now it's all yard and garden!!! I'm gonna need it! Thank you so much, my friend! You totally made my week!! You sure know how to cheer a girl up! All those daylilies are going to add so much to my garden!! You already know it, but I'll say it again, I love you, Sassy!! : ) Hugs, Becki

The weather was indeed perfect, albeit hot and humid for such a meeting. Saratoga is a lovely, small and old city with lovely architecture. I was right at home with the horse statues that lined the lovely main boulevard called Broadway! Saratoga as you may know is home to some very elite horse racing, amoung other things. Raeanne and I met early and perused the shops before meeting DeeMarie. I spotted Raeanne immediately at our meeting place. Her hair is done in a modern cut that kicks out in a playful way! I love the color and style Raeanne, it's so you! Her eyes are still a beautiful and brillant blue! After shopping we went to the meeting place for Dee but she wasn't there so we proceeded to the restaurant meeting place. As we were crossing the street I could see a woman waving in our general direction and I knew at once it was DeeMarie!! How wonderful that she spotted us and I felt so special that as I waved, she waved back. It was a fun exchange. So it was there at the restaurant that I meet our wonderful DeeMarie. She has the most wonderful and expressive big brown eyes and I knew at once that I had a wonderful and caring friend for life! It's amazing at how we women, and man, communicate and have become such fast friends! We shared a wonderful lunch. Okay, Dee and Raeanne did. I had the luck to order one of the worst things I have ever had and it was ironic a because everyone else had a wonderful meal before them...........figures. We shared a bottle of lovely white wine alfresco which was really good against the heat of the day! After lunch we went to our card reading................boy was that enlightening!! This woman had a great deal to tell me that was very accurate!! She is a gifted woman and I think we all came away with some new info!! Then we toured the shops of Broadway, Saragoga Springs, NY. It was fun, fun, fun but way too short a time. I had to depart by 3:30-4:00 to be back in time to feed my steeds.................I could have stayed and talked all night! I had a lovely ride home full of fond memories of my time with my sisters. Ladies and gent, we must find a way for more of us to have this meeting and connection! BJ, I am sure that Las Vegas is too far for some but we sure should try to all connect.............it's so much fun. Thank you DeeMarie and Raeanne for a very special day.

I hope all your travels go well and everyone has fun! It would be so fun to see everyone right now. I've been getting ready for my son's graduation and I'm needing a change of pace. So I'll be looking forward to your pictures and updates and wishing I was sitting in the back seat of your car Nita. Have a 'great time' to everyone envolved in this trip!