Rita, Glad you enjoyed them. Looking forward to seeing some of your blooms soon! Jan, It was luck - that daisy is in a clump of three - a red, a yellow and a pink (strange combo but that's the way they were potted and I haven't divided them). Julia, I've been putting in a lot of hours outside too. I try to get as much done as I can before the really hot weather arrives. Debra, I could use a rainy day...it would force me to stay inside and clean house! Chris, It was your pic that convinced me to buy TS. Even though it was rusty last year, I couldn't part with it. missylin, Those begonia's have bronze leaves with white flowers. They are very common here. Mine are watered every other day. I've always planted begonia's in the shade. But I keep seeing huge plantings of them in front of hotels in full sun. This year is an experiment for me. One side of the bed is full sun all day long - we'll see how they do - they may be crispy by August. Kathy

Well hello everyone! I too have had many family members that served for our country! I have a niece that I raised that is a colonel in the Marines right now! She has spent a couple tours in Iraq and several other places. Many hrs. of worry there, but thank God for our many veterans! Mellen and April-so glad your husbands are doing ok! My thoughts and prayers are with the many people here who need them! Melissa, I loved the pic! So cute! I know what you mean about little ones growing up so fast! I had all 3 boys here last night and I just go with the flow! No work, just play! I know someday they will have many memories of old grandma taking them fishing, going for walks, coloring, crawling around and just having fun! Hope to get ahold of you soon about the plants! Just hate to see you mail them after you already mailed a box! I will get that way soon! Well, most everyone here knows me, but a few don't I suppose. I joined in 2003. I started doing alot of gardening in 2000 after my husband passed away in 1999. It was something for me to do and keep me occupied. My mother was a member of GW and loved it so I did have her do some trades for me and we shared things for a couple of years! She taught me to wintersow and how to do seed trades, etc.So I was very familiar with some of it when I joined. She finally convinced me to join and I've been here ever since. I did seed trades for a year or so then did a couple plant trades and then some round robins. Don't see much of that anymore! Things have definitely changed since I started here. I see many familiar faces, but so many new ones! I too often wonder what has happened to some of the people that were here all the time and then just disappeared! It became quite the thing for many years as my mother and I shared and wintersowed together, planned our gardens together and just in general loved the same things and had so many wonderful memories doing them! I have a yard full of plants from wonderful GW members and also full of many of the plants my mother and I wintersowed together that last year! I know she is up in Heaven looking down and seeing how beautiful they became! Well, enough of that! LOl! No more tears right now! Anway, I tried several names and couldn't find the right one or one that wasn't taken, so I just chose the things I love! I love flowers and rocks and children so that's how I chose ilovefarac! Margaret, I haven't been in a swap that you have done before, but I congratulate you on being great at it!! And everyone who posts! I just love reading all of them! Waiting patiently on more games! Have a beautiful weekend everyone! Melinda

Blimey, it's too long since I've been on here....note to self - must visit more often! Sheri - I read Your Inner Fish about six months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. This month, I've read a couple of books which might interest you. First, I decided that I'd see what the creationists have to say about everything (or, at least, one of them), and read Evolution - The Fossils Still Say No! by Duane Gish. He follows the story of life as written by evolutionists and just finds holes in the arguments; his main argument being that there are no real transitional fossils. It's a very frustrating book - it just picks holes in evolution and evolutionary theory over and over again without putting anything except "Goddiddit" as an alternative. To someone with a scientific bent, it's very tedious. I was able to spot a few of his flaws, but I'm not an expert on paeleontology, so the book does give the impression that evolution is dubious, to say the least. Then I turned to Evolution - What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters by Donald R Prothero. Prothero is a professor of geology, & a fellow of the Paeleontology society. Basically, he knows what he's talking about - and boy, does it show! In the first part of the book (entitled Evolution and the Fossil Record), he discusses the scientific method and why creationists cannot be considered to be scientists (basically, it comes down to the fact that if the evidence leads you somewhere, that's where you have to go - even if the bible tells you something else). He also discussed the history of evolutionary and geological theory, and systematics - the way living things are related to each other and how they are sorted out. In the second part of the book (entitled Evolution - the Fossils say Yes!), he more-or-less follows Gish in discussing the evolution of life on earth from the beginning. The difference is that he demonstrates, with dozens of examples, that the fossil record is far more complete with literally hundreds of transitional fossils between "kinds". He also takes the time to bad-mouth creationist quote-mining and their misapprehensions about evolution - he goes as far as accusing them of downright dishonesty in a lot of their books. It's a magnificent book, and I frankly don't understand how anyone could read it and still believe in young-earth creationism and flood geology. I'd thoroughly recommend Prothero - it's one of the best non-fiction books I've ever read on any subject. If you wanted to read just one book about evolution, to understand exactly what it's all about, and why the creationish arguments are so flawed, I can't think of a better one. It's worth reading Gish in parallel to see how dishonest a so-called scientist (he has a PhD in Biochemistry) can be - more-or-less HAS to be - when they are starting from a premise which they are not allowed to challenge. (The only down-side to Prothero is the fact that it's a BIG book - it's not one you can slip in your...

Come Fly With Me...Flying In Style - Jodi Peckham ( unfortunately, this is a lost art. Mother used to say that if you dress nicely you'll act nicely. Some of the heinous behaviors on flights these days seems to support that notion. )