I can't believe no one has mentioned "Doggie"!!He wasn't around long I think Spike banned him over something...I just remember when his wife came in and posted that he had passed away suddenly...He wrote the most incredible poem...I'll share it with ya... "Doctor Time" When we lose a loved one and we're in despair Doctor Time is already there He's treating us all, we're unaware When our loved one is gone and on their way Doctor Time helps us move on day to day He treats the anger, grief and sorrow with a medicine he calls "Tomorrow" As the days, weeks and months go by we just look back and wonder why Such a beautiful person had to die But deep inside we feel okay We have lived to see another day He's calmed the anger, grief and sorrow, we took the medicine he calls "Tomorrow" Doctor Time has one thing to say Time heals all wounds day by day I remember he posted this poem to someone's post who had lost a loved one and he died shortly thereafter...

I did that from my tablet. Long press on a word you want to copy, brackets pop up. Slide the brackets to encompass the phrase, when it's all in all brackets look up at the top of the page and there should be an option to copy or it might pop up on the page, it depends on the Android version, tap copy and it saves the text. Come to the reply box and long press a blank space you should see paste pop up on the page click on paste, it will insert the text you copied into the box.

Sorry for the dark exposures, but it is going to pour here, so thought I'd snap some as it is getting dark, in case the blooms do not survive our upcoming storm: 'Miss America' peony - one of my favorite herbaceous peonies: Oldie, but goodie: 'Festiva Maxima' peony. I paired it with catmint & like the combo: Closeup: Belle of Woking clematis: Celebrity peony (1st year)- the shape changes considerably from the first time the bud opens to days later, when it looks more like a pom-pom: Wow- the Festiva Maxima peony survived the storm that took down a 4" tree branch! Here is a better picture:

Hey all just checking in. I happened to see info about African violets above. Back when my father was much younger he was quite the horticulturist and loved African violets especially. He still has a magic touch with them. Funny (but true) family story. My aunt (mother's sister and known/admitted black thumb) expressed her absolute glee over how beautiful my father's African violets were. She was explaining that she could never ever keep anything alive but had an especially difficult time with violets. At the next family get-together, my father brought my aunt a plastic potted African violet. He said, "this is one you can never kill; I guarantee it." He thought based on that, that she knew it was artificial. About a year later we were at her house and she had it in the middle of the kitchen table and said, "Look Rick, I have been caring for it for a year and it hasn't even dropped it's petals." When he looked at her quizically, she said "I water it every day and make sure to give it sun but not too much. You were right, I didn't kill it." My entire family erupted into laughter when he explained that it wasn't real. Though crestfallen at the time, it has become quite the family hoo haw.