Mary -- Just confirming that I got your seed requests. And thanks for sharing the story. There are a lot of animals out there than can use a bit of a helping hand. It always touches my heart to hear about people helping.

Dawn -- Super bummer! I was actually disappointed that no one did the quote game. If you end up finding something with your answers, that's dated, I'd be happy to give you the win.

Ha, Dawn, I have way too many. June in the early 90s, we were called over to a friend's house, to see "a baby hawk" that a young man had taken in, children were bothering it in the alley. The on going discussion prior to our arrival: Take to a vet? To a shelter? Well, either of those would do what we did. We took it home and got in touch with wildlife people. This was my first hawk experience, I looked at it and thought it might be a peregrine, uh oh, don't want trouble. At home, we had it sit on our leather gloved hands, I have photos of this. Hysterical, tiny tiny fledgling on big clumsy leather work gloves. Sibling in law put us in touch with wonderful lady in Florida (!) that identified this bird for us. An American Kestrel. A small falcon, off came the gloves. She answered a lot of questions and gave us a couple of local contacts, including SOAR. Save Our American Raptors. So we had proper food (insects and small mice) and she perched on the living room curtain rods (no drapes). We did this until she could be "hacked" back to living wild, just ten days. (she had been on her own remember) I was sitting in the dining room, writing out bills ... something went overhead, the silent flight of a falcon. "You hungry?" I defrosted a mousie, then stood on a chair to hand it to her up on the LR curtain rod. Dropped it. Faster than it could register in my head, she stoop dove to the floor and grabbed it. So it was time. We took her out a SOAR rehab family. She joined three other little kestrels for hacking that June. She was banded and released. Enchanting while we had her.

This post was edited by cottonwood468 on Mon, Jan 26, 15 at 20:52

Wow, Mary. What a fabulous story. That must have been magical being able to help such a beautiful bird.

Picture below of the American Kestrel.

Yes, it was such an adventure. BTW, that is a "tercel" a male in the picture...he has that one bar on the end of his tail. Females have several bars on theirs. The females are somewhat larger than males. Kestrels can be used in falconry. You need a permit, etc. Many young birds don't survive their first winter. You don't want to hear they found your band number.
I had never noticed Kestrels before this experience. It opened my eyes. I saw them all the time after that. You see them up on phone wires, watching for prey. Saw one in our yard that November, not the same one, chasing sparrows.
Thanks for the beautiful photo.

I'm an old member recently back ,never tried anything like this can I join., Here is what I have ,

love lies bleeding under the blazing stars ,as Johnny jumps up for the rose for Sharon. If she gives her love in a puff ,their will be Canterbury bells ,in the heart of Graceland , And when it's time to kiss your salvia red hot lips ,,,,,,I know our love will be forever.
Sincerely
Butterfly Weed
A
symbol of my Love

Here is my entry for the love poem game!

My love is like a daffodil
Resting silent in the loam
Cradled in earth, coddled by stone
Keeping me safe and still

Trembling warmth brushing near
His touch melting into the ground
Blades cracking from within the mound
Fervent slicing you cannot hear

We reunite, my light and I
This verdant gleam breaks through
Ivory meets green as gold meets blue
Earth tied to blushing sky

Welcome, tergrov. Please be sure to send your seeds out in the next day or two, since they need to be to me by the 1st.

This post was edited by EricaBraun on Tue, Jan 27, 15 at 14:59

Anyse -- Great poem!

My poem:

My love is like a gentle, summer breeze,...
delightfully unexpected,
delicious with fresh mown grass
and honeysuckle communing with bees.

Enraptured with Nature, and all her sensations,
with eyes smilingly closed, I am embraced
by a loving invitation to partake of her glory
and join the celebration.

Seeds become gifts, become food, become flowers,
lovingly tended, helping them grow is a passion of ours,...
and by ours I totally mean to convey I see all of GardenWeb precisely this way.

The love that we share is rooted together,...for the love of
a garden, like birds of a feather.

The splendor, the bounty, whatever the season, we all gather here for precisely this reason.

-Cryptid

Bravo, Darrin! Wow, you guys are going to make this one hard to judge. I knew we had a lot of fabulous gardeners here, but I didn't realize we had such good poets!

Jen and Terri -- I received both of your packs today. Everything looks great.

Jen -- I had to come back and add that I love your seed pouches!

This post was edited by EricaBraun on Wed, Jan 28, 15 at 21:41

For those of you who haven't mailed your seeds yet, don't forget they need to be to me by the 1st. Try to get them in the mail tomorrow.

sigma3 -- I received your pack today.

Erica - I completely lost track of the time! I can pack the seeds up today after work, so they'll go out in tomorrows mail, if that's alright.

Artemis

Artemis -- Sounds great!

Mary -- Thanks for the email. Since you don't receive my emails, I figured I'd respond here. Thanks for the bonus seeds. As for the quotes, the Dr. Seuss quote was my favorite too. The Ovid and Bailey were close runners up. I got a good chuckle when I came across the Ovid one. It really resonated with me.

Erica, did you get my email about dropping out.

Erica, did you get my email last night?

Dawn -- I didn't get your email. Sorry. If you are sending your emails through GW, it is notoriously unreliable.

I sent you an email. You should be able to respond to that without any problem.

This post was edited by EricaBraun on Fri, Jan 30, 15 at 13:50

Mary (cottonwood) and Terry -- I received packs from both of you today!

Mary (cottonwood) -- Thank you so much for all the extra goodies. What kind of leaf was that? It was very unusual. Looked like a maple on crack. Lol.

Besides, Dawn, Anyse, and Artemis whose packs are en-route. Does anyone else still have a pack that is on its way to me? If no one else speaks up, I will begin sorting as soon as those last three packs arrive.

This post was edited by EricaBraun on Sat, Jan 31, 15 at 19:14

Oh yes, that is a leaf from my Cardinal Climber vine, Ipomoea sloteri. I was so taken with the beautiful leaves, I stuck several in a phone book. If any crafty people need dried leaves, that would be ideal to grow. It has red flowers. I grew it for the first time this year and it was a winner for me. Mary E.

Wow. That's very cool. I haven't seen anything that looks quite like that before.

duplicate

This post was edited by cottonwood468 on Sat, Jan 31, 15 at 22:19

Yes, and as the vine grows, the leaves are all different sizes. From about one inch up to the size of your open hand The leaf was part of the decorate your own valentine, in the package.

Terry (tergrov) -- I just checked your pack. You forgot to include return postage and a return address label. I sent you an email.

Anyse -- I received your pack today!

Artemis -- I received your pack today.

I think I'm just waiting on a pack from Dawn now.

If anyone wants to send in their two cents on who they think should win the Valentine's poem, please feel free to email me your vote anytime between now and the 5th. Votes for yourself do not count. On Feb 6th, I will announce the winner.

Here are the contestants:
gardener365
blossombrigade
cryptid

I just had time to open Artemis's pack. Unless I missed it, these were the only seeds that included some symbology. I got a good smile out of it, so thought I'd share:

Lilac -- symbol of young love
Black Spanish Round Radish -- symbol of lust
Garden Strawberry -- symbol of love

And then there was this clever one: Calabrese Green Sprouting Broccoli with the notation "originated in Calabria, Italy and we all know St Valentine was from Rome!"

Thanks Artemis for giving us some great symbology and a historic reference! And thank you for the hostess gifts!

This post was edited by EricaBraun on Wed, Feb 4, 15 at 0:30

I'm glad you enjoyed that, Erica!

Today (5th) is your last day to email me your vote for the "My Love is Like..." poetry contest. I've received one vote so far from Jen. I'll be announcing the winner on the 6th.

The contestants are:
gardener365
blossombrigade
cryptid

This post was edited by EricaBraun on Thu, Feb 5, 15 at 0:16

I've emailed my vote!

Got my vote emailed!

Jamie, I received your vote. Terri, I didn't get yours. I sent you an email to vote again. If you voted through GW's email service, it is extremely unreliable.

I have Terri's vote now. We have 3 votes in!

I voted twice (both email addresses) Mary E.

Mary -- Lol. I saw. I checked my reg email, then logged on to my alternate to email you back!

So, we have 4 votes in and it's a two way tie at the moment!

I received a vote from Dawn. We're no longer tied.

Most interestedly reading,...but, otherwise, not posting (well,...except for this, of course).

Winner will be announced in about 35 mins!

Game Winners

I'm a few mins late getting this posted.

Congratulations to Cryptid for the poetry contest!! Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote.

Darrin, please pick 10 packs from my trade list and email me your choices.

For our two runners up, gardener365 and blossombrigade, please pick 3 packs from my trade list and email me your choices.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

This post was edited by EricaBraun on Fri, Feb 6, 15 at 0:47

My love is like tulip colors sharp in rainlight
like heirloom tomatoes free of blight

Congrats to all the winners! Mary E.

Mary -- I love it!

Starting a new thread, since this one is almost full.

Teeth
Watermarked sepals
Colors sharp in morning light
Today ruffled tepals
Lily

Congratulations to Cryptid for the poetry contest!! Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote.

Darrin, please pick 10 packs from my trade list and email me your choices.

For our two runners up, gardener365 and blossombrigade, please pick 3 packs from my trade list and email me your choices.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Holy Cow! Wow! I actually won?! What a great day this day has been,...I even found a quarter on the ground when Elly & I were out grocery shopping! Thank you so very much, everyone! This is definitely a first for me regarding GardenWeb themed swaps. But more importantly, as did Erica, I totally likewise thank my fellow participants for their excellent entries as well! - Again,...Wow!

Rofl, Darrin. I like your holy cow!

Received seeds today. Thanks, everyone!

Holy snail mail! Yours took forever to get to you! Glad they got there though. :)