I'm sorry to anyone reading this but the above photos are no longer visible because of iVillage imposing new Terms of Service regarding copyrights of photos. I refuse to let them benefit from my hard work and hard earned money. You can click the link above to get to my homepage or the link below to go directly to my photo galleries. Please email me if you have any questions as I doubt I will be spending much time here in the future. Thank you, Trish Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.greenfreak.net/greengallery/

No, this isn't my first winter up here. I grew up in the Rochester area, and moved away five years ago, for Florida. I lived in Tampa for two years and loved the beaches there! I then moved over to the East Coast for the last three years. I lived in Palm Bay. I have to get used to this 50 degree weather DURING THE DAY! This was the weather that we might have in February at night! So why am I moving here? My family all live here and I really wanted to get back to a more natural cycle than Florida offered. I guess you can't take the New York out of me! So now I can learn to snowshoe near Lake Ontario, sample wine in the Finger Lakes, and see all of the fall foliage at Letchworth! In my Florida garden I had a beautiful Bismark palm, several foxtails, bottle, spindle, triangle, queen and teddy bear! I will have to try a needle palm here when I'm more settled as I adore the palms. Isn't there a book out on "Crape Myrtles Won't Grow Here--and other myths"?? I think I have to get this one! DGordon...let us know about your crape myrtle here! At least they offer more year round interest than the powdery-mildew prone lilacs. It's sad to say, but I'm not impressed with the look of the lilac plants this year. What variety did you buy? Christinpalm...I will have to look up that sabal palm in my books! I just think, even if it's a slow-growing palm and not a twenty foot tree, it will be interesting to have that in the garden here! Thanks guys Mark

As a perpetual tourist (I live here), here's my take: 1) STATUE OF LIBERTY. This is an all day trip. Go early. Book your tickets ahead of time on the Internet. Pack a lunch. The kind of food they sell on the island is the kind that gets you sick on the ferry going back. You can go to the highest point, the crown, if you go on the first boat of the day. But it's not worth it (tiny little room, tiny windows, crappy view, horrific climb up corkscrew stairs to get there). The rest of the day, you'll go to the base, which has a great view. There is also a fantastic museum IN the Statue. You can buy combo tickets for the Statue and Ellis Island, but even if you whiz through the Statue, you will end up with about an hour to spend on Ellis Island--if you are really interested in Ellis Island, think about making it a separate trip. 2) I third the STATEN ISLAND FERRY. Here's what I usually do with my guests. Find out when sunset is (check the paper's weather page or the Internet). Make sure that you are in the waiting room for the Staten Island Ferry 15 minutes before that time. Get on the ferry. Watch the sunset of the Statue of Liberty. When you get to Staten Island, get off the ferry and get on the next one going to Manhattan. If you are in the front of the boat, facing Manhattan, you will get a postcard view of downtown Manhattan all lit up. Did I mention that this trip is FREE??? As I think of more, I'll post more.

Nicholas i think the full names of both sisters are 1) Debbie Graptoveria-Taylor, the Wife of Frederick Ives, son of Burl and 2) Doris Setosa-Taylor, the half-sister of Debbie. Each year the three of them meet in a little Mexican town called E. chihuahuensis in a hotel owned by the esteemed Ana Campseros. Ana's mammy is as you know, Ms. Hahniana and her Pappy is Old man Trollii. --- I hope this clears things up a bit!