I was fortunate to view the interesting plant Dipteronia sinensis at Quarryhill Arboretum at Sonoma, CA this past spring. With only a casual glance one would think it was a negundo or henryi. Quarryhill Botanical Garden is a non-profit botanical garden dedicated to advancing the conservation, study, and cultivation of the temperate Flora of Asia. It is a very interesting place to visit. Their collection is at the most only 15 years old, so plants are very young. It will be a spectacular place to visit in 15 years! Their website hosts a very useful Database of Asian Plants in Cultivation. It allows you to find Arboretums throughout the US that have a particular plant. http://www.calacademy.org/research/...yhill/index.asp

I'm another Penzey's fan. You should be able to find any type of salt free seasoning there. You might want to check their website for the locations of their stores. I first went to a Penzey's store I noticed while in Madison, WI for my DH's yearly heart biopsy at the VA. I passed it going back and forth to the VA. I got a catalog from them as well as purchased $70+ worth of seasonings. I found out there was a Penzey's about an hour and a half from home. There was a Trader Joe's a couple of doors down from them. I never dreamed these wonderous stores were that close to home. You can sign up for Penzey's catalog to be sent to you. They not only usually have a coupon on the front for a free container of their newest product, they have lots of customer submitted recipes in the catalog and on their website using the different spices.

I, too, love Anne Fadiman. All her essay collections are great and she wrote the brilliant "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down." I also enjoyed Susan Hill's book. For a fiction read, I liked "Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Book Store." Woodnymph2, I found a plausible explanation for why our Greek family has many members with fair skin, red hair and blue eyes in "How the Irish Saved Civilization". I think maybe one of those book collecting Irish monks stayed a little too long in the Peloponnese.

Ah, Helene Hanff! I can't say enough good things about 84 Charing Cross Road . Sorry to be a little off topic but yesterday I found Quiller-Couch's On the Art of Writing available to read online. "Q" inspired Hanff's 84 book. I bought Jackson's Anatomy of Bibliomania, The Fear of Books and The Reading of Books. I began Anatomy months upon months ago and am only to page 308. It seems every other line is a sentence of latin. Very eccentric. I have a fear of even cracking the other two. Cindy said: "Nicholas Basbanes has written several books about books and book collectors." I haven't read him but have seen him speak on Booktv and he seems very knowledegable and Every Book Its Reader looks good. I've read parts of Corrigan's Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading and enjoyed it thus far. Currently I'm admiring Old Books, Rare Friends: Two Literary Sleuths and Their Shared Passion by Leona Rostenberg and Madeleine Stern. These two ladies share their childhood in the first part of the book and then get into the details of book hunting. It started well and I expect it to end well. I have one book about books that I haven't started but looks tasty: The Literary Companion. It has tidbits and trivia about famous books and their authors. I know I'm judging by the cover but it's so cute! A textured khaki dustcover with a navy ribbon sewn in the middle on the binding. I do like books about other's obsessions with books.