Well done Grant!!! one of the most important techniques in that book is from Mrs. Schulz's friend Mrs. Hardgrove in Arkansas. Her technique involves cutting the bulb at the base of the neck just as it finishes blooming, but before it goes into growth stage. The bulb will come into bloom again in just a few weeks and Mrs. Hardgrove is justifiably amazed and proud of her discovery. The bulbs she is using it on appear to be not hippeastrum, but amaryllis belladona the plant of African origin. I was surprised and pleased to find mrs. Hardgrove and her discovery mentioned when I read the book a couple of years ago. I figured out and defined the technique about 10 years ago for hippeastrum (amaryllis0 and wonder what other amaryllidaceae could be brought kept in the blooming stage in similar manner = heamanthus ? brunsvigia ? For 8 years I have been teaching this technique in seminars to Master Gardener Groups; Clubs: and even a few homeowners associations. Last weekend at the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs State Convention in Jacksonville FL., I was gratified to have amaryllis lovers who attended some of those seminars tell me of their successes. One lady kept her amaryllis in bloom for 4 bloomsets in under 6 months. That is one original bloomset from a new commercial forced bulb followed by 3 bloomsets expressed from bulb by decapitating the neck just above the bulb. A bloomset in these young 3 to 5 year commercial bulbs like Benfica, Pink Diamond, or Gervase bulbs is 2 or 3 flower stalks. I call my technique bloom extension[originally Consecutive Blooming] because by cutting the tips of the new leaf growth you are keeping the bulb in the blooming stage instead of letting it go into growth stage when the the new leaves ang root growt occur. You can do this with the bulbs you have in pots or in your garden. You will have difficulty with cybister hybrids and some species, but the wides range of hippeastrum hybrids is open for you to have a 4 to 6 month amaryllis flowering season. You cut the whole neck of the bulb completely off 1/4 inch above the bulb before the last stalk of the bloomset goes soft or wrinkles. E. Wm. Warren

I love going to estate sales, and Kevin bought an 8 mm movie projector at the last one we went to, and it works fine. We have a lot of home movies from the 1950s that our grandparents took of my sister and me (Kevin was not yet born), and while we also have those on DVD now, the transfer to VHS tape years ago was not edited well. Today I received The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook by Beth Hensperger, and it looks like it will be a good book. I also recently got Bread Machines For Dummies and was rather disappointed with that - perhaps because I do not qualify as a "dummy", but I simply did not find it helpful, and I think its tips are misguided. Anyway, I've been making bread since I was eight, and so I feel very comfortable using my own instincts when it comes to making bread, even with the machine. I have yet to make pizza dough in the machine, and I'm out of semolina flour, which I normally add to pizza dough. Last week-end Kevin and I cleared out about five hundred DVDs from bookshelves in the living room and started putting them in books with sleeves so that we can reclaim the bookshelf space. I have stacks of books in my bedroom that need to find a home. The DVD cases will go into the attic, but I kept ones that are autographed or are special compilations out on a shelf. We already had over six hundred DVDs in books, and this does not include Blu-ray discs. Kevin gets free Blu-ray discs at work, and he used to get free DVDs - many of which we have never gotten around to watching. Kevin has software that will keep track of the DVD titles we have, and he can scan the barcodes on the cases with his tablet to get the information automatically. I'm glad that I now have more space for books, although I may get rid of a few when I have time to reorganize them. It's rare for me to get rid of books, however, unless I absolutely cannot find space for them. Lars

what are the books that empower you ? for me, books are entertainment, novels and biographies are just that, imo. Unless it's a biography of someone who has accomplished something special that might inspire me. watching a tv show about someone inspiring, as empowering to me as reading about it. most useful book I've ever read : the Four Agreements, I still refer to it. Simple and basic. Out of all the self help, motivational books I've read, it's the only one that says it all within the confines of a very small book. I've read hundreds of novels, yet I wouldn't want to line my shelves with them or want to be judged on who I am because of them. They mean nothing to me but the fleeting escape I got from immersing myself in them. I do buy books as souvenirs/mementos, I am not a knick knack person at all. Frank Loyd Wright when I stayed at the Biltmore hotel, JP Gaultier book when I saw and loved his exhibit at the museum recently, San Fran Homes book when I did a tour of famous homes in that city, book on Tuscan Homes right after my first stay in Tuscany. Books are easy to stash in a suitcase, do not need to be bubble wrapped. oakley, your book nook is a genius idea, very original.

I have all of her books, tho EGG is the most significant to me. Be sure to read the sequel, The Solitary Summer, and, if you can find it, The April Baby's Book of Tunes, not a children's book despite the title. That was illustrated by Kate Greenaway and is therefore somewhat expensive. Last book Kate G. did before she died (and what an interesting life she had!) The other very compelling book Elizabeth did is Mr. Skeffington, her last. It was made into a movie starring my fav, Bette Davis. In real life, Elizabeth had great trepidation about the Germans and feared WW2 would result in catastrophe. She carried suicide materials with her at all times, in case the Germans won! A cannister of cyanide gas, at one point. Moved to the US when the war brok out in Europe in Sept 1939 and died at the Doubleday family's winter home in South Carolina. Her remains were returned to England after the war. Quite an intriguing woman. And you might like Vera, a novel and account of her second marriage to Bertrand Russell's brother. He sued her for libel but she threatened to tell even more on the stand so he withdrew his suit. She never divorced him--I think she loved being a countess--because she said staying married (tho apart) would prevent any other woman from suffering from a marriage to him!