Marda, The Year of Magical thinking is a wonderful book. And it's now going to Broadway as a play starring Vanessa Redgrave. A good companion book to read along with it is A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis. It's remarkable how similar their thoughts on the grieving process are, especially towards well-meaning people who tell the person who has suffered a loss that their loved one is "in a better place." I just finished My Life in France by Julia Child. She apparently started it a couple of years before she died and it was finished by her nephew. I just loved it & could almost hear Julia's actually voice as I read the pages. She was such a wonderful person. She grabbed life with both hands and collected friends like some people collect pots & pans. In my TBR stack is Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin about how Lincoln took his biggest political enemies and made them part of his administration. The Places In-Between by Rory Stewart who writes about his experiences walking across Afghanistan in 2002 Alice Hoffman by Alice Hoffman, a novel about being careful what you wish for. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. The story of life and death in occupied France during WWII The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards A novel about a doctor who gives his baby daughter to a woman to take to an institution, but instead she gores to another town to raise her herself. This is next month's book group book, so i guess it's really the next one in line.

Lilsprout, the two in our own garden are both 'Purple Smoke'. I did very largely cut them down after spring (and have for several years), but find the few flopped stems left grown at strange angles, such that they seemed likely to trip me up when working in the bed. I have the species in another garden, where there's a lot more space available. In this case it was staked and also wedged in between a wall and several other tall and tough plants at the back of the bed. I did cut out the unattractive dried seed pods but the foliage actually didn't look too bad when I started cutting it back (reducing the number of stems - to further expose a 'Nora Leigh' garden phlox) only this week. The plant's too big (in flower or not fully cut back) for our own small garden. If you have more space, it may be a good choice for you. False indigo does grow up and out, but the stems are weaker than those of either the hibiscus or butterfly bushes I've dealt with. The usual pattern here with our spring plants (primulas, lungworts, brunnera, Jacob's ladder, columbines, etc.) is that they're hidden under taller perennials in summer and put out new foliage in/by fall as spent summer perennials are thinned out and cut down. I've not noticed that, in the past, with false indigo. Maybe I just missed it. This post was edited by SunnyBorders on Thu, Sep 18, 14 at 8:08

lpinkmountain I wonder if you might have rosacea. (By the way, please forgive me...I'm not a dermatologist at all but just am someone who all of a sudden developed a kind of blotchy bumpy skin.) When I went to the dermatologist for my yearly check up (I've become really good about this), she told me that I have rosacea. If that's the case with you, there are very specific things that should be used on the skin and equally specific things to avoid. Actually, I've saved money on skin stuff because the dr. told me that the best cleaner for my skin is Cetaphil (cheap) and that the Oil of Olay products are good as well. Her comment was that they have good chemists working for them. I'm to avoid Retin-A (boo hoo) and to wear a really good sun block. Vanicream (another cheapie) sunblock was also recommended. I don't wear much makeup but did have a couple of Bobbie Brown products left over from my daughter's wedding a few years ago. The doctor told me that those were OK to use because there wasn't anything in them that shouldn't go on the face. Good luck. Regarding skin, I figure that my eyes are getting worse just at the right time because I can't see all of the imperfections without my glasses. So...I just don't wear them!

You need an electrician. It sounds like there was some improper wiring done on the transformers. Hire a competent electrician to figure out what the problem is. Good luck!