Glad you like these shots. It was a bit past prime time when I went out, so the Kindle Fire HDX used the flash. Sometimes it worked, other times the rendering was too cool. I was pleased overall though. I could upload direct from the garden to Flickr and when I came inside, just put together the thread. Gesila, I am in awe of what is happening to my hostas this spring. There is much humidity, much direct sunlight as I'm trying for more hours in the sun, but it is a tricky balance. The golds are the most amazing to me, nearly all of them hanging with the bright colors. If they get a lot of hours exposure to sun in the middle of the day, I water them. Like the ones against the deck and the house get full sun until about 1-2 pm, or they did--I moved them this morning, at 7am, humidity so high I was wet with sweat in five minutes. I am reworking both ends of the garden for hosta, almost have the south end set up. The north end will be raised a bit and then hosta moved into the spaces between blueberries, with a couple of big umbrellas for shade. Once the 10 foot high latticed screen/pergola is constructed around the end of June, I will have my potting operation located against that screen. It should give some shade from the summer sun I guess from 2 to 5 when it is awful....then the sun drops behind the tall pine trees across the street, and we begin to cool down. If you can cool down, that is! Luuk, I agree, Brenda's Beauty is amazing. Not sure of its heritage now, but the leaf shape is like Gold Standard. It came into its own this spring, has been lovely from the time it pipped. I work in the garden during the morning, and stop about this time of day. (2pm here now) and do my inside stuff. Then around sundown, or slightly after, I like to go to the garden with my camera. I see the solar lights (individual stakes not strings of lights) begin to flicker, like fireflies waking up testing their twinkles. It cools considerably after the watering and of course the sunset too. If we had an early dinner, I stay until the lightning bugs/fireflies start to twinkle. Some of the pictures I took were just blind luck. I could see nothing in the viewer, but I knew I was pointed in the right direction, and I held as still as I could. If the flash does not glare off a leaf, it works out fine. I did not take time to alter any of the photos, the ones I uploaded were hot off the camera. I can imagine that someone with a good camera and understanding of night photography could have some impressive photos at this time of day. The one I really was pleased with was the shot with Sagae in the foreground, the garden in the middle ground, and then like some old-fashioned sepia/monochrome lavender grainy photo, the Teahouse (my Irish cottage, actually is the inspiration) appears like a spectre in some old southern town that time forgot. My garden is many things, and like Ken says about gardening being an opportunity for adults to dig in the ground, it is also the time in life when I have the skills and the dreams to make it like the play houses and towns we'd build/create in the sandbox. No reason why we should not all make our gardens the idyllic dreamscape we admire. I'm going to recommend a book to you and also the gardens out in Bainbridge WA. Little and Lewis have moved to Mexico now, but their website is still up. I admire their concrete and hypertufa leaves and objects of art, as well as their garden. They used to come to GWeb also. I think they were on Martha Stewart as well. But, I digress. Take a look. There is even a recipe for their concrete somewhere online. (And note that I am not getting any of these posts in my email, although I had checked to do so.) Here is a link that might be useful: Little and Lewis garden INSPIRING

What a great collection of ideas. I almost wish I had to buy a gift for an old guy. The charity donation is a great idea for the right person. Some people need the exchange of actual gifts to give and receive the feeling of being loved. My in laws are gift people and there's nothing wrong with that, it's just how they express love. They won't donate in my name, as I've requested, because it's just not something they understand. So we exchange gifts. OTHO, my Mum makes donations to charities in the grandkids names instead of buying them gifts. She picks things that represent them. She donated to a cancer charity to pay for yoga lessons for patients in honor of my niece the yoga practitioner. She donated to provide musical instruments for schools with underserved kids in honor of my nephew the musician. She donates to Heifer International and some of us 'get' bunnies or chicks or bees. We all prefer it to getting more stuff.

I use the Apple Smart Cover on my iPad Air 2, as I had liked the one on my previous iPad. Bummed that it's not available in leather anymore, but the finish isn't bad. I like the cover bec I can fold it as a stand, leave it flat, or pop it off and on easily as desired. For carrying around my iPad (eg., tossing it in my gym bag), I like the Built brand perforated neoprene sleeve with twist top corners. It's padded for protection, lightweight, and my iPad is easily accessed. I had purchased one for my original iPad at Staples, but gave it DH with that iPad when I got my Air 2. I got my new one from Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B009A6CVCK/ref=pd_aw_sbs_e_9?refRID=152QX4D4GT05GW7FMB75

I have several Kindles, including the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9. I also have an iPad Air. My Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 can do everything an iPad or iPad mini can do. And, as shown in several commercials, the Kindle Fire is sturdier than an iPad. The Kindle Fire has a fully functional web browser, a camera, can store and play music, can take videos, etc. You can add apps to it, too. If you're an Amazon Prime member you can watch hundreds of tv shows and movies for free on the Fire. If you're not a Prime member, you pay to watch movies/tv, but you still have the ability to watch. I send e-mail from the Fire and receive e-mail on it. You can add a micro sd card to the Fire to expand the memory by as much as 128 GB. (You cannot add a card to an iPad.) The "Family Library" on the Fire allows you to share your account and content with other family members,