Jerri... those are amazing photos. Thanks. How is everything in OKC..? Here in the hills everything is so quiet. We were a very busy and involved family during the 70's and 80's... 'traveled a lot during the late 80's and 90's decided by 2000 enough was enough of that.. had a lot of 'house company' anyway... It's good to get out of our own space once in a while, however comforting it might be. There are no malls nearer than 70 miles. Nice to have our space, woods, and gardens to get out and move about. Good to read that there are still talented women who sew, garden, do things with children, have challnging employment, and take care of pets. In 1976 a friend taught me how to make ornaments from egg shells. Have been doing it ever since. The shells have to be strong and I prefer goose eggs if I can get them. Have about 6 new ones on the tree this year and still have a few unfinished. Have decided we all have enough of them now. I tried to get some pictures but it might be next Christmas before I share them. Have a big bag of unused yarn and need to do something with it this winter. Have enough of everything and too much of some things. Been giving away things that have gone unused for too long. Sylvia, fun to see your space. Partner's Grandmother, Aunts, and Mom all lived in houses filled with antiques. We kept some of the special things to pass on to the family. Still have some of it including a bushel size basket my maternal grandfather made in 1933. All of the family has something special from the past. We have note books stuffed full of pictures. Glimpses of history are interesting .. the trains, memories of the first time we heard a 'sonic boom'. Now we watch how many jet streams are in the sky at a given time from different directions, wondering who is up there and where they are going and why. However, here , they are up so high we don't hear the noise we had to endure in our previous environment. I'd rather stay away from Air Ports and busy roads. Marie, will you be flying into Tulsa International in April? There are some pretty gardens in Tulsa and Ponca City. I suppose you are more familiar with the Bartlesville area that we are. We've passed thru there a few times. Never have gone to Woolarc but have heard it is a beautiful area. How long do you plan to be in Oklahoma? Sometimes such events are good when we are seeking closure and getting on with the next phase of living. It is a 'shocker' to realize when the time comes that we are 'the elders'.. thinking of all. EP

THANK YOU to all my forum friends for your nice comments. Marg...yes that is a japanese maple, one of the laceleafs. I have two in that bed. I actually made the bed first, then planted the maples. I have other japanese maples around the property (another of my plant addictions, of which I have many). I actually make raised beds because the ground is so full of rocks and roots and it's impossible to plant. My whole property was forest when I moved here. Rita... I have unearthed probably thousands of rocks over the past few years. New Hampshire is named the 'Granite State' for a reason....LOL. I am running out of rocks so now I am getting them from my father's property miles away but I don't have a truck so I gather a few everytime I visit my dad. My husband isn't too crazy about the car always being dirty from the dug-up rocks...Haha. Edward & Ellie...Sorry, I don't know the name of any of my peonies. I have never bought any since over the years people have shared them with me, the same with the iris and many of my perennials. I have a lot of pass-along plants started from divisions. Folks don't usually give me a name so maybe they don't know either? I did see one at Lowe's the other day that looked just like my white one, but I didn't check to see the name. Sorry I'm no help. Missylin...I am pretty sure that peonies are colder-zone plants but I don't know how warm a climate they can tolerate. It seems everyone around here grows peonies and they do very well so they must like the cold. The same is true for tulips, lilacs, rhododendrons, spruce trees, birch trees, etc. which flourish here. (There has to be some positives to living where its really cold, right?). We do have glorious summers but it is so short-lived. Julia...yes we are 'rock-miners'...teehee. That is a very good word for it! I am told that I have not only a plant addiction, but a rock addiction. I can't stop making rock beds and taking over the lawn and entire property with rock garden beds. I figure, the rocks are there and they are free. And digging them up keeps me in shape! THANK YOU, Nancy, Kay, Nat, Brittie and Jean! Christine, you know exactly what I'm talking about having lived in Connecticut! You simply cannot put a spade in the ground without hitting ROCKS so raised beds are the only way to go. Celeste

ctnchpr, you only started attracting hummers a couple years ago? Wow! You really have come a long way! I've been avidly checking out all your videos for the last week. They are amazing. And, yes, I get the same response from people the first time they come to my house too. So that is good that I can expect hummers as soon as they pick up on where I am. Do you have plants out to support them as well or do you rely on the feeders? If you do have plants out I'm wondering which ones you find are the most attractive to the hummers? Rob, my little house in the woods is something I've always dreamed about. I just love it out here & all the wildlife that goes with it. My little piece of heaven that is for sure.Thanks for your support. I'll keep looking for my little guys to show up.

LauramarieDidn't you think Alexandra Fuller's mother was "flying high" on liquor a lot of the time? - "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight". After reading that book my impression was that her parents lived a very very hard life -- poverty, shack-y houses to live in, little or no electricity, etc. It didn't surprise me when Alexandra and her sister grew up they married and moved faaaaaar away -- one to England, the other to U.S.A. I think "flying high on liquor" is what you call an understatement , she was on the booze a lot of time. Fuller's parents choose to live an hard life, they tried to settle in England in the late 60s, Alexandra was borne there, but couldn't resist civilization and set off south, so they said to their friends , without telling them how far south they were heading for; they were looking for the wild and the wilder the better. Anyway here as I reviewed "Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight: An Africa Childhood by Alexandra Fuller who was born in England but was raised in Rhodesia by an "absented mind" mother, an "always on the go and work to do" father and with an "I mind my own business and you all can go to hell" older sister. The book is about her childhood in Africa. There are witty passages and sad ones and a lot about Africa In "The cocktail hours..." She explains about her mother growing up , the stern way she was raised, we're not whimper we are Scottish and so on. she explains better how much her mother was struck by a miscarriage, by a death of a son of her when he was a few months old, meningitis; but especially by a little girl death who drowned in a puddle aged two or three I read a few A.F.'s interviews and I was surprised to come to know how much she adores her parents and idolizes them , both of them, especially her mother, once she said " a lot of people think "Don't Let's Go To The Dogs Tonight" is a book about Africa, but instead it is an homage to my mother" I guess writing memories is a way to exorcize your pastand to keep a safe distance from it. grelobe