You absolutely DO NOT need peat moss. Just use what you have. the old grass & leaves will be fine because they've already started to rot & will be full of those compost-making bugs & worms.

Ashes can be quite alkaline at least for a short time until it leaches away. If your pH is already high I would not put ashes into the soil. If your soil is acidic it probably won't hurt. Typically it's not a good idea to till uncomposted stuff directly into the soil in spring because breakdown can temporarily deplete nitrogen. Grass clippings are high in nitrogen though so it might be OK. I have not tried this so I'm guessing. I normally use grass clippings mixed with last year's leaves as a summer mulch for the garden. By fall it has broken down and disappeared. You should really use a mulching mower and recycle those clippings back into the lawn, or mix them with some browns (leaves, straw, sawdust, wood chips, newspaper shreds) and compost them. Your soil will thank you. :-]

RICHARD PERREAULT TEL: 514 373 7502 Kederi2000@yahoo.ca I found 30 years ago some old new paper and I would like to know if those have certain value. FRANF LESLIE�S ILLUSTRATED NEWSPAPER No 1 - VOL. 1 NEW YORK, SATERDAY, DEC. 15, 1855 ONCE A WEEK AN ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY NEWSPAPER VOL. X1. � No. 14 NEW YORK, JULY 15, 1893. A NEW SERIAL, BY H.G. WELLS, BEGINS THIS WEEK HARPER�S WEEKLY A JOURNAL OF CIVILIZATION VOL. XL111 �No. 2194 NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 1899 ONCE A WEEK AN ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY NEWSPAPER VOL. X1. No 16 NEW YORK, JULY 29, 1893 HARPER�S WEEKLY JOURNAL OF CIVILIZATION VOL. XXXVII � No. 1906 NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JULY 1 1893 BLACK &WHITE A WEEKLY RECORD AND REVIEW No. 6.-VOL. 1. SATURDAY, MARCH 14. 1891 LESLIE�S WEEKLY NOVEMBER 1 1906

Talley, Enquiring minds want to know--how do you spend that down time? You know, the time you are sitting at the kid's lessons, those 10 min. while you are waiting for the pasta water to boil? We have a regular coffee klatch going while waiting for the kids to practice Irish Dance. Everyone brings some type of handywork and it creates ways to develop friendships. The mom who sits in the corner punching her PDA makes it pretty clear she's not interested in getting to know us. Her loss. I'm not there. I'm at work. And I don't have a PDA, cell phone, etc. If I *am* there, I just talk to people, or I watch the kids. I don't DO anything. I sit there an enjoy the down time, and listen, and talk. Believe me, nobody gets a message from me that says I don't care. I sometimes bring a book, but if there are people there, I don't read it. I'm not even the one waiting for the pasta water to boil, LOL! (If I am, I'm cutting up veggies while I wait.) I'm not anti-crafting. I just see so much of it as creating something that will turn into "clutter" quite rapidly. And so I have a huge caution about it. Scrapbooking in particular sets off my alarm bells--and really less because of the clutter factor, and more because I think there's a sublimation of the important stuff--the memories--to the unimportant stuff, the embellishments and creativity of the creator. And while I admire the skill of crocheters and knitters and embroiderers, etc., very few of them produce anything I would want in my home. It's mostly too ornamental, and not practical enough. Or it reflects THEIR tastes, and not mine. (The days of my grandma embroidering a book on a pillowcase because *I* like to read are over.) And sometimes it reflects what they *THINK* my tastes and interests are, which only makes me sad to realize how little they really know about me (yes, I collect penguins, but that doesnt mean I want a penguin pillowcase). Which is why I keep my fingers crossed that no one will give stuff like that to me. I'm also tired, I confess, of having my home NOT reflect me. I want stuff *I* picked out. I don't even want to have to display stuff my KIDS made me anymore. I want a streamlined life, that pleases MY eyes, and seven pieces of lumpy kid pottery are seven pieces more than I want in my living room. And an afghan that's wonderful to sleep under, but misshapen and pieced together isn't what I want on my bed, even if Nona Rosa DID make it. (I'm sad about that particular one, bcs if she hadn't pieced it together to get it the right size, I'd use it daily instead of keeping it for a spare, bcs it's so warm, and because she DID make it for me.) As Maura said: "I cherish the one-of-a-kind items given to me (luckily not too many)." I *do* crafty stuff. I just spent the last week 1) making a dragon piñata, complete w/ pipe cleaner/tissue paper wings, plus papier-mâché head & tail; 2) finding a dragon picture to reproduce on the top of a cake; 3) making shields for all the "young knights of the realm" to decorate; 4) figuring out how to have jousting in the church fellowship hall. I steer all my creative impulses into birthdays and holidays, so that I can use up the stuff I've created. I go way overboard for Halloween costumes, spending several lunch hours scouting fabric, and discussing how to recreate Link from the Zelda video game, etc., with my kids, and with my colleagues. Also, if the act of knitting, and the creative work of picking a yarn, and a pattern, make you happier, then your craft is NOT a waste of time. But *I* don't want to have to speak in hushed tones, and treat your end product as though somehow it must be more valuable to me simply because you made it. Somebody designed and made that Pottery Barn afghan too--and it's prettier, and more to my taste!