Will, thanks for your posting. Your gardens look fantastic all year round! Some comments to your pics: Picea omorika 'Tijn' Must be written as 'Peve Tijn' I guess you're aware of this info... Picea omorika 'Wodan' I've it listed as Picea omorika x Picea breweriana 'Wodan' This cross was made by the Wittbold-Mueller Nursery from Germany. Cunninghamia lanceilata 'Glauca' I see your specimen developed a leader. Now you can prune it's long side shoots away so the shape will be a nice pyramidal. Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Ellwood's White' Yep, your specimen does have several reversions. This can happen to every variegated plant, please get rid of those and prune them, otherwise the green parts will take over and in a few years the variegation will be disappaered... Pinus parviflora 'Tanima No Yuki' Must be written as 'Tanima-no-yuki'. Larix laricina 'Smurf' I never came across this one, please can you give us some background info about it? Is it a seedling selection or discovered as a witches' broom?

I have been waiting for spring. But dividing then seems to set some of them back so that they don't flower. I don't know if that's normal or not. The reason I even think about such things as dividing in fall is because many of my daylilies are in smallish (10-12 inch)containers and some of the more vigorous ones are almost bursting at the seams by now. Why containers? I don't have room in the ground and I DO want more then 4 varieties. Why smallish containers. I don't have room for largish containers. As Paul Harvey says, "Now you know the rest of the story".

Where do I start? Yes I am very busy. The weekend was a HUGE success. We have to have one girls! I cannot wait to have one with all of us. I have just been friends with these ladies since Aug. & have met 4 of them. I have only met 2 of you IRL. Yes, I've talked to many more over the phone & seen many pics but then I've seen many pics of my other friends too. Especially since it is scrapbooking. LOL We did some shopping, went out to eat, let the kiddos swim at the waterpark, took lots of pics, did a little sleeping, and generally enjoyed each other's company. Dave came & spent a little time on Sunday too. He already knew 2 of the women so he met the 3rd one. This is a busy month of birthdays for us. So I've been busy doing birthday cards, pages about our adventures, sympathy cards, Mother's Day cards, and such. We've had trips to the commissary, VA, & tomorrow the Renaissance Fair on top of visiting the friend who had his cancer surgery & is in the hospital. We had the resident's association meeting, quilting show, shopping with the girls, & I'm organizing still. So that's been my week. Milkdud~[[[[Larry]]]] Hope you get good news. Glad you are staying so busy & that you are enjoying TOPS so much. My Mom's sis did that with great success for a while. NH Suzanne~Love hearing about the BB. We have had so many birds here this winter. I thought perhaps it was b/c we are so much colder than normal. Many, many more nests it has seemed to us. This would be the ______ in particular that I'm speaking of. If I don't think of it, I'll have to ask Dave what I'm trying to think of. He is off doing clothes right now. BJ~I hope you enjoy your time off the island & that you have better luck with the house this time. Can't wait to hear about Baby V. Little Sweetie Pie deserves to have a good home. Raeanne~The art show sounds divine. I can't wait to see the pics. I know Dave will be interested too especially since it is the Adironack chairs. Wodka~I'm thrilled you are going to Chicago. I've only been in the airport. It was cold. LOL I had to do a 4 hour layover from Orlando to Dallas. IDK, doesn't make sense to me? I know it is a little late but I always take out the honey, lemon, & tea when my throat is hurting. That seems to take care of it right away. Besh~Glad Zoe is doing well. Shopping, yes!! Fun, fun, fun. Well, I hope you have a great weekend. My friend is supposed to take pics of her friend having a baby & she is being checked by the dr so we may have to wait until Sunday to go to the Ren Fest but whenever we go, it will be a great time. Have a good one! Patti :-) Gretchen~I never did hear back from you so should I gather that you decided not to be part of the un-birthday group?

jessy, reading your original request and the information you provided has me at a total loss. I though English schools were bad enough at teaching irrelevant courses and subject matter (although they are belatedly trying to tidy up their acts) but the above is just so strange. I asked my DH (a long-time teacher) what age Grade 9'ers were and told him what was expected of your son. He said it sounded typical of a 'modern' university course, where 'studying' is left to the student, everything is wishy-washy and very little basic information is either taught or learnt. As some other RP'ers have said I would be interested if this course has been decided by the history/English teacher, the Head of the Dept or a School board. (here in England by the time pupils reach 14+ years it is the Examination boards that set the curriculum) As it stands, although your son might get something from the reading matter as works of literature I honestly don't think he will learn any history except maybe a little from The Scarlet Pimpernel. How, for eg can he learn any historical facts from the stories of King Arthur? It's as daft as asking a child of the future what he learnt about our generation from reading The Lord of the Rings. I'd love to hear the teacher's explanation of Patterns of Interaction and what it actually means or be a fly on the wall during his lessons. This woolly concept seems way too long (the history alone would occupy a UK kid the whole of his senior school days) and bound to lead to terminal boredom. As far as the book-cover thing goes. What I seriously would suggest, if they have to produce some sort of 'Art Work' is that between them, the class produces an illustrated 'time-line' as a frieze round the room, starting with the first Unit 1300 > > > adding the main historical events and fitting the book titles into the appropriate places. This way not only will they notice how far away Homer is from the 'modern world' but they might learn the sequence of history, a concept of which many children (and adults) have little understanding. Jessy this is most interesting . . . because it seems so CAZY. :-) . . . btw, keep off Richard Burton imo. He had serious problems of a sexual nature (his wife burnt all his letters and papers) so not really suitable for school!