Good & blessed morning dear Kathy! Such a joy to hear from you :)! No worries about the ProTekt ;). It was a simple mistake, no harm done. I should've tried to do some research about it on my own but since I'm still fairly new to growing Brugs & Plumies, instead of trying to figure out what's best with my extremely limited knowledge, I felt it was more practical to consult with my fellow gardening buddies here, especially since you've been so very kind & helpful (& patient!) with all my spastic pondering LOL ;P! God bless y'all! Glad to hear you're still hanging in there my friend, although I'm disheartened you're in so much pain. Yikes about your strong meds causing that rare form of glaucoma!! No need to ever apologize for complaining about aches, pains, or troubles dear soul! That's what brothers & sisters in Christ are for! If I can be of any service to you don't hesitate to reach out! Amen, it's a comfort to be able to read the Bible & know our Lord is right by our side through thick & thin. Every trial we face is a new opportunity to grow closer to Him & watch Him work in our lives. Your trial is going to become your testimony to encourage someone else :D. Congrats on figuring out a way to kill 2 birds with one stone regarding walking Max using your lawn mower lol! Hey, whatever works, right? Your daughter sounds like a real sweetheart (of course, you raised her). That picnic at the playground sounded like the perfect pick-me-up. Hearing the laughter of children, surrounded by loved ones & the beauty of nature on a sunny day is sometimes the best cure for a bad day; that & a nice cup of tea or chocolate works too ;). I can imagine what a task it's been trying to tend to all your plants, especially the Brugs, before the hard frost comes. God will give you the strength you need to get it done. That double Angel pic is just gorgeous! I LOVE when you post pics of your gardens!! I'm still prepping for my Angels, although the more I think about it the more uncertain I am that they'll survive being in the shed over winter, even with all the prep work I'm doing for securing the area inside against the cold (building a cardboard box frame to put around them & insulating it with layers of newspaper & freeze cloth, then heavy mulching the pot & covering the pot with layers of burlap. All together now kids, "Yee haw!"). I'm praying we have a warm winter like last year but, like you, I want to be prepared. Today it's around 80* with bright sunshine, this after we were inundated with rain & clouds for 5 days when our area was already sopping wet. I have a mess of Deathcaps growing all over my yard which I'm digging out & disposing away from my dog's curious reach. I'm letting the Plumies my friend gave me sit outside on my hot brick porch so their clay pot can dry out thoroughly before bringing them back in. The Brugs are in the sun trying to dry out more before I cut them back above the "Y"s & then try to lug their pot into the house. This should be fun. When you cut your green tips, how did you root them - water or just potted them up? When I cut mine back I'll have some tips but I don't know if I should even bother trying to root them being our weather is going to be in the 50's & I have no clue what to do with them at this point in the season. My family gave me some colorful descriptions but I'll refrain ROFL. My Plumie friend wants my Brug cuttings but I told her it was probably best to wait till I can make spring cuttings because of the chance these ones might not make it through the winter. Sheesh, I really need to build my own greenhouse next year! Looking forward to hearing from you again! Happy day! God bless (((hugs)))!

As liriodendron said, you may uncover some family secrets when you research your lineage. That's the best part, it's the things they didn't want known that are the most interesting! In my case my father said that there was a secret in his family but he never knew what it was, his mother did but she was gone. Well that's all I had to hear and I was off to the races, I had to find out! What did they deam so bad they didn't want anyone to know??? So I started digging, looking for any clues. I searched a couple generations and found nothing. But the generation prior I found something unusual for this very WASPish clan. Amidst all the Scottish/Irish names I see a woman with a very different maiden name...mediterranian maybe. Was this it? The big secret was that there was an Italian in the family tree??? LOL. I laughed because that would be something this family thought to be shameful (btw, my mother was Italian). It took some doing but I finally tracked down the mystery woman's lineage and that's when I saw it...siblings with Jewish names! That was all it turned out to be, my snobby grandmother who bragged about being a Daughter of the American Revolution was technically speaking, Jewish. I called my father up laughing, "hey Dad, you're technially Jewish! That's your mother's secret". He said, "that's it? that's all?". Here I was looking for a mass murderer and it turned out just to be bigoted grandmother. OY! But wait...there's more. ;-) Years before I got into geneology I was talking to a Jewish gal who says to me, "you're Jewish right?" I said no. "Yes you are" she replies. "no" I repeat. I remember this conversation because of what she said next, "You ARE, you just don't know it!". We laughed. I wish I still knew her because she would have gotten such a kick out of my geneology discovery. Even though I'm only 5% Jewish she could tell it's in there somewhere!

If damage is not superficial, and paint is the only option (veneers intact or secured), I like the look of tole in the Russian lacquer style. Practice first on other things or on materials for this purpose. Michael�s has all you�ll need. Once at ease with your brush strokes, then you can go with motifs of your choice -- dramatic or subdued. There�s a bounty of books by teachers of this technique on websites and bookstores. An internet search of painted furniture using the query term tole painting Russian lacquer will give you some inspiration. Note: Pleeeze do not decoupage. Here is a link that might be useful: Russian Laquer painting -- Google image query

On Saturday I went to the public library booksale, and got 7 books, $1 apiece, among them: The Echo Maker by Richard Powers, An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor and The New Yorkers by Cathleen Schine. Cece, Did you finish The September Society? Did you like it? I read recently the first book by this author, A Beautiful Blue Death, and liked it. Lemonhead, I read Moon Tiger years ago. I didn't like it. I'd be interested in hearing how you feel about it. Kren, They did a movie of The French Lieutenant's Woman years ago, with Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons. I haven't read the book, but the movie was pretty good. Kath, I'm with Vee, you have to tell us about your trip when you reach to your final destination. It would be interesting if you add which books you read in each leg of the trip.