My grandparents were mostly born not only in the US, but in Chicago before the turn of the century, unusual for our tribe. Before the Depression, my grandfather was very wealthy, and his young bride had a number of "Depression glass" pieces. They lost every penny in the Crash, and my mother grew up bewtween that and WW2 rationing. When grandma died, I asked for the glass candy dishes and crocks in ruby red and green, plus her 1920 Deco dishes. I have carried those keepsakes with me for the past 20 years, over international water, moving to new countries, new houses, you name it. I also have my paternal grandmother's soup pot, which I still use all the time; it must be at least 60-70 years old. But the most missed thing for me are the stories of my great uncle, grandma's brother. As a young Jewish boy in the 1920's, the story goes that 6 months before completing dental school, he upped and left to be a hobo and ride the rails. The family was so ashamed that they never allowed him to tell the stories, especially to us kids growing up in the 60's. He died never having told any of the family of his travels. My sisters and I always felt that this was a huge loss.

Lisa, this is my creeping phlox that I have planted in my rock garden. It gets full hot sun nearly all day long and is super happy there. The ones that I have planted in my shade garden are being very slow to sprout this year. They are coming but very slowly. I took this picture this morning. These come in two different forms paniculata (tall, larger leafed) and subulata (creeping, low growing, usually evergreen). I do have some phlox paniculata that I received from a friend but it is unknown too. From what I remember it is a bright pink, nearly fuschia color. She just gave the division to me late last summer so it hasn't bloomed in my garden yet. The campanulas (bell flower) do come in small compact varieties and tall varieties as well. Mine are compact. I divided the heck out of them last summer and the small divisions look like they haven't come back. The large division looks nice and healthy though. The seeds I planted this spring are for the larger varieties. It took me a while to start writing them all down and try to keep track of them. I didn't really care that much until I came to GW. It helps to know species for private trades. Some members look for very specific information to help make sure they are receiving the right hybrid, cultivar, genus species, etc. I now keep a map of my flower beds. I try to remember to add each new plant to the map and update it when something gets moved around. I number the plant and place a circle on the map with the number in it. Then I keep a "key" with the plant name along with the genus info. I don't always keep up with it and then kick myself when I don't have it to refer to! lol! I can't wait for your box! I know I will love what you sent! You are such a sweetheart!

So guess what? I've now been to Ann Arbor for the first time in my life! Loved the town! Had some fabulous food there, and just found the entire Main. St. area to be very authentic, very lively on a summer Wed. afternoon, fabulous farmers market going on till 2, just perfect. After traipsing around Main St. for a bit, we drove to the Chain of Lakes area which was just about the perfect distance away, 30 minutes or so from the Main St., and an easy drive. As we drove on, I fell more and more in love with the landscape, which got more and more rural and beautiful as we approached the lake area. We first went to Portage Lake, and then to Baseline Lake. My first glimpse of Portage was perfect. Really liked the size, the setting, everything. It's a little difficult to GPS your way around a lake because I didn't have a specific address, just wanted to explore. The main part we saw had houses much too close together for my liking, though I loved many of the styles of homes. Similar feeling about Baseline. The overall problem was that my mom and sister are not good explorers. They are real homebodies, and don't get out to explore much on their own, so they were completely panicked about finding our way back, driving willy-nilly down roads that suddenly popped up etc. Once I realized I just wasn't going to be able to explore the way DH and I would, I just gave up on truly exploring the area. I did sneak down to the water's edge by trespassing at a house that looked somewhat vacated. The water seemed fairly clear, but there was definitely some algae at the shore. Not sure if that is a once every ten years kind of issue, or ongoing. At least I got to see the area, and assuming we could find a somewhat private waterfront home, it would definitely be in the running. On the other hand, 2 1/2 hours drive time from my sister's home to a lakehouse might prove to be too much adventure for mom and sis.... We're still hoping to get to Sleeping Bear at the end of Sept. so we'll have something to compare to. Thank you all so much for your help getting me there!

As someone who doesn't like design shows, I'm really looking forward to a new cooking channel! I can't tolerte most of the cooks on The Food Channel. I don't like how they use film for the shows instead of tapes, it makes a big difference. Paula Deen's show uses tape, the others are film, I think. The Bark hotdog sounds like fun...coming from a hotdog girl! Just no low talkers like the Contessa or whatever her name is. lol