Cathy - you and me both. I have an aster and while it's a great nectar plant (for which I got it), I've yet to see a Pearl Crescent cat on it. I have a lot of PCs in the garden, and there could be some wild aster in my yard that I'm unaware of (I have a little mat growing one that doesn't pop up until late summer that the Dainty Sulphurs love to nectar on). I would imagine the native aster species would be the best ones to use as host plants. I also imagine the caterpillars are so small it is difficult to actually "find" them on the plant. I see evidence of something chewing on them, but have not found any cats. I imagine it's a geometrid cat of some kind. The leaves on mine are very robust and tough - wouldn't think that would make for a good dinner either. The only thing I dislike about the aster I have is that it blooms very late (as most asters do), but the flowers don't last very long on it. It is a beautiful plant in bloom, to say the least. How are you doing? Have you got everything planted yet? I haven't for sure. For one thing, it's been so darned wet here, I can't get anything in the ground! I saw that page the other day when I was looking for cats that resembled bird droppings, and you're right, it is pretty cool. They have really built up that site nicely since they started it a few years ago, haven't they? Susan

At 64 yrs old I can fondly remember pounding the keys on an old Remington Manual Typewriter in the hopes of passing the required 60wpm speed test to complete the course. The base of that desk, minus the hutch top is identical to the typing desks that we used in school. The small fold up table leaf on the right side of the desk is to provide a place to stand a top bound "stenographers pad" or in some cases a vertical metal document holder so you could easily see the original document that you were typing. I do not believe that to be a stenographers desk because it lacks the amenities required by a stenographer, by example, where is the drawer to hold pencils and spare steno pads for taking dictation? I suspect what you have is a much more specialized desk, a "typing pool desk." One clue would be to check the back of the hutch top to see if its plain wood or is it finished? If its plain wood it was most likely intended to be placed against a wall in the manner that you have it now, but if the back is finished it was designed to be a free standing piece where both the front and back would be visible while in use. Typewriters were relatively noisy so in larger offices where the noise of a number of typewriters might interfere with normal business they generally had a separate room called the "Typing Pool". A secretary or stenographer would go into the office and take dictation, then the notes were taken to the typing pool to be transcribed onto final hard copy. In the typing pool the typing desks were aligned in rows like seats in a class room. Note that your desk has small compartments on each side of the typewriter platform that are sized for envelopes while the hutch top would allow ample space for different varieties, sizes and grades of bond paper, and/or the necessary company forms and letterheads. In some cases they had a person who was known as the office devil, who was responsible for stocking each desk with the appropriate envelopes, paper and forms. In those days "Time was money". By automating the desk in the manner you describe a typist could come in, lift the lid and voila, the typewriter slid out, the paper compartments opened and she was ready to sit down and get to business in seconds. The top hutch also serves another function in an office of that period. When seated at the desk you could not see the person ahead of you, and if you turned around you could not see the person behind you, therefore it helped reduce time lost to trivial gossip between desks, and of course there was a supervisor constantly walking up and down the aisles to insure you weren't leaning across the aisle to disturb your neighbor. Also note that there was no place to put your favorite potted plant, the pictures of your kids and your coffee cup, sorry folks, your hear to type, not set up housekeeping....LOL.

I made these Vanilla Pistachio Crescents at Christmas where you scrape vanilla beans and then process the bean scrapings with sugar in a food processor. The texture does become finer, but not like powdered sugar. The recipe originally called for processing for 5 min. If I do it that long, the powder starts wafting out of the processor and inhaling it makes you cough! Grocery stores here in northern Virginia carry Domino's superfine, or bar, sugar. Sometimes, it's with the drink mixes and such.

I was walking by a small stream in my village and stopped to watch a bevy of swallows work an open section. Those little birds were a flash of speed with dating manauvers. One would swoop down and whiz a short length of the stream and then pull up at the last instant to avoid an overhanging bush. And then, it would dive again and sweep the stream in the opposite direction. What amazed me was it was at least 10 birds working the same space while flying in opposite directions. I wondered how they kept from crashing into one another; What rules of the road were they using? I wasn't able to determine anything other than their extremely quick reflexes and they did limit the number of birds passing through the hunt zone at the same time. Any misquito in that zone did not stand a chance.