I'm so glad some of you remember a lot of the things I do. Some of my most cherished memories are when my playmate two doors down (Ellen) and the girl our age (Mary) across the alley would play in a little lean-to playhouse built against the north side of Ellen's garage. They had a huge wooden sandbox. People don't like the tracking and what it takes to fill and maintain sandboxes, but I've got to tell you it was heaven on earth. The sandbox was under a slightly larger pergola. Over the pergola grew Concord grapes. How beautiful it was under the shade of the leaves and when the grapes hung down as we played in that sandbox. Sadly, Ellen whose parents had the sandbox died from cancer a few years back; we had been separated for years as she taught school and moved to Michigan. The other girl, we parted ways after kindergarten, and she went to the Catholic school. We made new friends and lost touch with one another. A few years ago I found her how? The internet but somebody must have given me some clue, didn't even know what her current married name was. I met her when I was 3. She lives in NC and is such a lovely person. I cannot remember the last time I saw her, before I was 10. We correspond regularly and share these precious memories. Right now I have heard that her husband is facing a terrible ordeal with cancer and his pacemaker; her health sounds good. Tears flowed from my eyes when I read that, and I need to answer soon. I didn't have a video camera, but one beautiful fall day, I walked the old neighborhood with my wide angle lens, walked up the middle of my street and back (there were low hills on both ends of that two-block long street), walked back down then around and up the alley we shared, then around and down her street, clicking all the way. I put the photos on a cd and sent them to her. She was so grateful for them. I'd never met her sister who was older and away by the time I met her, but she sent those photos to her sister, too. I'm so glad I did that. This is the same street from about the exact same spot and one of my photos from that day. The older one I took with my brownie Kodak when I was about 8. The second one was Oct 2005. My house was the one on the right that is yellow now (hard to tell the color) with a red roof and the white rails. Ellen's house was the first one on the right you can see, a grey house with red trim and grey roof. There was a small one in between that isn't visible. I presently live about 1/2 mile from there. The oddest thing is that apart from the cars, trees and a few cosmetic changes to the houses, it has changed very little. 55 years then and now.

IE; drying herbs, it depends on what you are using the herb for. If you are using them medicinally, you want to retain as much of the essential properties as possible, so drying under open shade with good ventilation, and spreading out the herbal material is important, especially under humid conditions. An unventilated greenhouse in summer would be too hot, and evaporate many of the important medicinal components. For medicinals, its also important to tincture or store the dried material ASAP after drying, to avoid further degradation. Properly dried herbs should be a nice dark green color, smell green and lovely...the dried herbs in stores are usually poor in comparison. If you are using hebs for culinary purpose, all the above holds true for best flavor, but you have a bit more leeway, they'll still have flavor, but you may need to use more. For herbal oils, you want your herbs to be thoroughly well-dried to reduce pathogens. garlic is a nice addition as well, for flavor, but also to kill bad buggies. Hope this helps!

We do a whole lot of pesto each year. Use a food processor, add a squirt of lemon juice to preserve and keep the bright green color. Freeze in muffin tins; placing a sheet of saran wrap over the tin, fill the tins with pesto allowing it to push down the plastic into the cup, and freeze. When frozen you just pop them out and you hardly have any clean up. We store them (4) four pucks to a 1-quart Ziploc bag and write the date on the bag. One puck is about right for my wife and I for a small batch of gnocchi, or thaw a puck for sandwich spread. We always add cheese to the batch as it tastes the same as if you add it later. Do you want to spice it up a notch? Add a little fresh oregano. Greek Oregano if you want it "peppery". Do you want a gourmet touch? Use Macadamia nuts instead of pine nuts!

I take it that that the silk floss tree is Chorisa speciosa. The container has no drainage and the plant is dying from the tip down. That suggests that the problem is in the roots. Either a root fungus and/or a "salt" problem. You might save it by removing the plant carefully and immersing the root ball in a solution of a suitable fungicide; maybe up to two hours. Then repot it in some clean potting soil. Container drainage is quite necessary for aeration. Fresh air is drawn into the soil pores as the water drains out. Harmful salts are leached as well. Cutting back the dead tip might stimulate lower buds to develop. I hope that you can save it because the silk floss in full flower can stop traffic!