Hi Javachik! Nice to hear more about your life. Very interesting. So, you worked at Langley...wow! Are you retired now? My brother in law just retired from working at NASA for over 30 years! He commuted all those years from Portsmouth! Are you going to settle down in Carrollton, or do you think another move is in your future? DC/NOVA is SO fabulous, but SO expensive too! I know what you mean about not being in "acquisition mode" anymore. My sis bought a house recently, so she's open to possibilities, but really, she's pretty much furnished and accessorized the house. I'm pretty much "done," too, but am open to finding some old, unusual, inexpensive piece of art, so I like to look at those items. Frankly, I think we just like to LOOK, period! The only thing I bought that day from an antique place was a necklace! I love it and have already worn it several times. On our outing we also hit Belks in Suffolk (we're SO exciting) and I got two summer dresses & two shrugs there on sale! Whoo hoo! Will definitely tell sis about Smithfield Station! That's going to be on our "must-do" list now! We always like finding a good place to eat! Thanks for the suggestion.

Netla, the first book that came to mind, though an old classic was Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life by Mrs Gaskell, written in the time of those 'dark satanic mills'. Modern writers from that area include Val McDermid, popular crime writer and Jeanette Winterson Oranges are Not the Only Fruit; she has become an increasing angry lesbian so don't know about her other work. ;-( You will love both Durham and York, both small enough to easily walk around and with beautiful church and other buildings. There is The Story of Durham by Douglas Pocock which looks interesting (though pricey). The site below gives some eg's of books set in/about York. Loads of history . . . Roman, Viking, railways, chocolate-making etc. Whitby is also interesting. Look out for anything from Saint Hilda to Captain Cook . .. and Dracula! Hope this helps a bit. Here is a link that might be useful: Books Set in York

Leggings Are Not Pants .......And Other Falsehoods - Jeanette Keene

I don't have any flowers yet and I fear my gardeners may have pulled some of my new ones when they cleaned up this fall, despite my leaving all the i.d. stakes with them. :( I can't really tell yet, and have been a little fearful to look too closely. I may have lost my clematis that was all dead and brown that climbs my fence to them, too. The bindweed had taken over and the gardeners approached getting it out with a scorched earth policy, so nothing was safe. Ugh. I had a bunch of seedling Hellebores from ruth_mi that may have been sacrificed as well. I was worried about them anyway because I planted the seeds shortly before our record setting heat wave last year and many things did not survive, despite my best efforts to keep them watered. Double ugh!