42 Hurry-Hurry!(wishing my life away) But I am ready to start my seeds for some of my lost plants, And of course wishy washing --if there is such a word-- hoping to get lots of new plants.If I had the money I would hire a real gardener rip my flowers beds out and start brand new ones, again WISHING. But of course I must do it myself and hope to do a good -great job!! I am starting some plants in rows others at random, and I am hoping to find some Jacaranda seeds. Does anybody knows where to buy some Ivy geranium seeds? I would love to find some hibiscus vine too. Thanks for reading Marcie

Kylie, I am sorry to hear your daughter is in the area that Gustav is projected to hit, I hope she can evacuate safely, and that the damage will be minimal for everyone !..I have to say..I moved from FLA, and dont miss all the Hurricanes ! I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend..my son plays football, so no going away for us...LOL Have a safe weekend ! Kym

It rained nicely in the afternoon yesterday, thundered a bunch, of course after I had watered!!! But no lightning, so that was a plus. I was online for a while, but started a new book about birds, and must have missed your post, Cricket. Hope you day was fine, not too much work to keep the family happy, and lots of help with the cleanup. There were fireworks going off all over the place which I could hear, not see. My new lawn mower arrived today, and I put it together before breakfast, since there is a heat advisory for some reason....just the usual ole 90+ but about 100% humidity. There was a smoky haze early in the morning, but the hosta were all perky with the cool temps from the night time. When it is about 76 at night, it is as cool as it will get from now until October first. At least then.

So, I have this uncle . . . who gave my parents a beautiful large Chinese platter, which sits in my living room, but I never knew him, because he died in World War II. I was always told he died on the Bataan Death March. Turns out that's not exactly true. In the last decade, there's so much more information available on the Internet, If you'e been looking for people -- try again. And there's a ton of information on servicemen. only this year I found this out: On this Memorial Day, I'd like to take the opportunity to remember my uncle, Benjamin Lee McMakin, my father's favorite brother. He was a United States Marine Major serving in the Philllipines in WWII, when he was captured in May 1942 by the Japanese at Corregidor. He managed to survive the Japanese prison camps for more than two years, until in December 1944 he was transferred to the Oryoko Maru, a POW "hell ship" -- an unmarked ship transporting prisoners for slave labor, which was bombed by the Allies, and was killed on the ship or trying to escape. I never met him, of course, but I remember. Uncle Ben -- thank you for your service, and . . . I have your plate!