I'm posting this on both threads on this subject. I was pretty upset about the new policy, so I went on the Winter Sowing forum and asked Trudi, who owns the copyright to the Winter Sowing concept and who owns the Winter Sowing website, what she thought of this. These are excerpts from her response: *********************************** That is a standard disclaimer--Spike had one too. Every website does. iVillage is an enormous global publishing conglomerate. They are extremely professional. They got to be so big because they do things correctly. Pirating is not their style. My work is NOT at risk. I have my registered copyrights to ALL the FAQs I've done. Josh is completely aware of the importance of this forum and its posters. iVillage is not suicidal, and Josh is a very decent and bright man. I get a lot... from the AgNIC Alliance, it's a caring and kind relationship--they REALLY do care about all of us and the good things we're doing.... AgNIC is very happy to be part of Winter Sowing and I am very happy to be part of AgNIC. Thanks for caring, it means a lot to me. Trudi **************************************** Anyway, unless you plan to sell the photos you've posted, or publish the info you've posted, we probably don't have much to worry about...except, of course, that icky email address selling issue. If you do plan to sell your work, copyright it. Let's hope they honour the 'opt out' option!! Feegle ~feeling much more relieved

You guys say what you want but for me that is one of the most beautiful gardens for texture and color I have ever seen. I went to their website and read their story....pretty straight forward. I'm sure some of my details are off but....... It's a UK couple that's been into gardening for years. Loved Acers and Azeleas. Started this one about 10 years ago when they moved. Back lot is basically 170 X 60. Fenced back with major tree rows down each side. Recently retired. They garden every day and love it. They built every bit of it by themselves including the two full size pagodas and the running waterfall / creek. They pride themselves on it being a 4 season garden...thus the name. It's been named "best garden" and won several other awards. I say if they don't mind caring for it, then great. No-one can deny it is gorgeous. And I bet a lot of plain lawn loving folks would look at most of OUR gardens and say "Man is that way over the top or what". All I can say is I'm analyzing several of their shots to see which of my favorite plant / color combinations I see and really like are usable in my climate......and I made it my screensaver. mark

Greetings jampack, Thank you for your generous comments. I absolutely, completely agree with you about "reinventing" ourselves. I call it creating a new life using the strengths from the "beloved life" or just simply "the past." We can view the beloved life but we cannot participate in it anymore, so take the strength of the beauty of the memories and the great love shared and heal the pain of grief and move into creating a new life. What really encouraged me in always moving forward in my healing from the pain of grief was to take care with my thoughts and my self-talk. What I think, I create. My thoughts become things. If I think something will be horrible........guess what, it WILL definitely be horrible!! Or, "I will never get through this, I am destined to suffer from now until I die." But, if my thoughts go like this: "This will be a difficult situation for me and I will experience deep pain (or agony, discomfort, embarrassment, fear, etc) but I know with great faith, I will get through this and be stronger for the journey." The situations and events that this can be applied to are endless. But it must be used fervently. It doesn't have to even be believed at first. But practice, practice, practice. Write the phrase down and carry it with you. Having been a consummate, professional horse trainer for over 30 yrs, I used those very skills to train myself to heal. In training horses, compassion, kindness and positivity are the greatest tools for success; and, the successes are measured in tiny increments....tiny steps. When one is in the throes of the most horribly, painful feelings of their entire life, DON'T STOPKEEP MOVING!!! I have heard countless times when I share my story at grief seminars, "When my spouse (child, parent, sibling) died, I died with them and my life has ended." Now, this is 100% true, but only to the extent that the life with the deceased has ended. Then, too, a large percentage of those folks refuse to/don't know how to create a new life. It is common for these folks and fellow grievers to feel that by torturing themselves with as much pain as they can inflict on themselves, they are honoring their beloved departed one. But, just sit back for a moment and do a "what if" scenario. What if you, yourself, died, was killed, committed suicide, or whatever, would you want your family and loved ones to stay in a painful, morose, joyless, depressed agony for the rest of their time on this earth; day after day, year after year???? I absolutely wouldn't. I would pray that they transplant themselves into a wonderful new life to experience once again joy, happiness and love. I have heard the cry, "Will I always feel this way?" or "Will the pain EVER go away?" My answer is a resounding, jubilant YES, YES, YES!!! The pain will recede when you choose to let go of it; but, only if you choose to heal the pain of grief. You must decide for yourself, "Am I clinging to the pain because if I let it go I will lose the love for my beloved or they will forget about me or I will forget about them?????" I can assure you with all of my heart that if you stop clinging and release the grip on what can never be, you will experience the closeness of what can be. (I feel such a warm, loving, close relationship with my Michael, now.) Do you always want to feel "this way?" It is your choice!! Everyone heals at their own pace. Consider it to be like planting a seed. It seems like forever before the little seedling pops through the soil and starts growing towards the energy of the sun, to blossom and grow to grandeur. But, we must keep watering it even if we don't see it yet. So goes our healing. The mind is critical and sharp, with a tendency to focus on what's wrong, rather than appreciating what's right. When you have gone SO far that you can't manage ONE MORE STEP!---------------------Remember, you have gone just half the distance you are capable of. Turquoise

mpagmom - So glad I can help you procrastinate! I always have something for you to think about, if you are in need with your own list of things to ponder. Thanks for including the link/pics to the garbage under the sink. I'm open to the idea of garbage or recycling under the sink - or both. I think I'm going to need to decide if I want a 30" with a single bowl or if I want to keep the double sink and go back up to 36". One thing I've been pondering is the location of the sink on the peninsula run and that cabinet being right next to it. Things can get splashy, but I also benefit from counter space on both sides of my sink. Hm... lisa0527 - That website is fascinating, though some parts of it are creeping me out. The botanicals are cool, though. leia_in_lalaland (Love your name!) - Wow, you went to town, and I really appreciate it. Those plants are so unique, I need to look into that more. For some reason, they reminded me of the plant shelves I posted a pic of below. I stuck that in one of my files several months back now, while researching Sochi's living wall. I really like the shelves, but I'm just not sure I can afford to have something that comes out into the aisle. Unless it was high up and didn't interfer with opening the upper cabinet. Floating shelves are one of my favorite things. The picture 6 up from the bottom is also fascinating. It seems they stuck a very narrow upper across the galley wall. I wonder how far that extends. I imagine there's no uppers on the left side, either. It looks very practical and seems not to interfer with the use of the peninsula. The shutters, though, are also intriguing - that pic that shows a set of grayed out shutter doors, especially. I could have a faux door after all. lol Hm..and the tin reminds me of a piece I have in the entry. It hangs coats right now, but could hang towels, I guess. It's a piece of architectural salvage with hooks on it. I'll have to go stare at that... lol Thanks so much, everyone.