Here's the maple. First pic I am facing north, second I'm facing east. I included a picture of the London Plane because I like it so much. My question, again, concerns the timing of the manganese. I'd like to do it now rather than in the fall, for convenience sake. The arborist's treatment has been effective in de-yellowing most of the leaves. I'm wondering if it is necessary to wait until spring becuase, for convenience sake, I would like to do it this fall.

Retail therapy is ALWAYS good to cheer you up! Glad you found some treasures too...you find the neatest things..the bunny ornament is too cute (and you love bunnies so much anyway), the cardinal is really pretty and the teacup and the plate look beautiful. I am SO happy that you are re-doing your room as a place of peace and solice for you. The color sounds very relaxing and inviting and I know it is beautiful! Glad to hear that Zorro is doing so well...isn't it something how they know when they need to be patient and quiet and when they know it's okay to play and be themselves again? It's nice to know that you're moving forward day by day my friend!

It never occurred to me that there were people who had never heard of banana pudding. I'm shocked!!! LOL! I make mine from scratch. About 20 or so years ago someone brought some to a Christmas party at work and it was called Easy Banana Pudding. It was made with French Vanilla instant pudding and called for Eagle Brand milk. It was definitely different from the other pudding, but it was mighty tasty. I have made it a few times, but haven't done so in a long time. I still prefer the original recipe pudding. Here's my recipes: Banana Pudding ¾ c sugar 3Tbsp. all purpose flour dash of salt 4 eggs 2c milk ½ tsp. vanilla extract 5 to 6 ripe bananas, sliced Vanilla Wafers Combine ½ c sugar, flour and salt in top of a double boiler. Mix in 1 whole egg and 3 egg yolks; stir in milk. Cook, uncovered, over boiling water, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat; add vanilla. Spread small amount on bottom of 1½ qt. casserole. Cover with a layer of vanilla wafers. Top with a layer of sliced bananas. Pour about 1/3 of custard over bananas. Continue to layer wafers, bananas and custard to make three layers of each, ending with custard. Beat remaining 3 egg whites til stiff, but not dry. Gradually add remaining ¼c. sugar and beat til mixture forms stiff peaks. Pile on top of pudding covering entire surface. Bake in preheated 425°F oven for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm or chilled. ** note** Sometimes I don't put the meringue on; I just crumble a few vanilla wafers to make crumbs and put across the top. **another note** I almost always double the recipe because it doesn't last long either around the house or any pot luck I take it to. Here's the recipe I have that uses sweetened condensed milk: 1 lg. box French Vanilla instant pudding 1 can Eagle Brand milk 1 (9oz) carton Cool Whip 1 box Nabisco vanilla wafers 6 large bananas, sliced Mix pudding according to pkg. directions and let stand for a few minutes to set. Add Eagle Brand milk and Cool Whip. Mix well and pour half of mixture over a layer of vanilla wafers and bananas. Make another layer of vanilla wafers and bananas and pour remaining pudding mixture over this. Crumble wafers on top or top with additional Cool Whip. **note** On this pudding I put both Cool Whip and crumbled vanilla wafers on top. **another note** I don't necessarily use the brands mentioned in the above recipes. They were just the ones mentioned when I got the recipes.

Hubby surprised me with a new laptop when I came home from Hawaii in early April, went to be there for our granddaughter's first birthday, with a new laptop. He had to use my desktop while I was gone and said it was so slow that he didn't want me using it anymore. It's a Toshiba with Windows 8.1 but I set it up using a Chrome Browser that works like 7. They give you a choice when downloading. The only time I have to use the apps is when I click on the snipping tool, Paint or other programs. I removed all the apps on the start app page but the ones I use on a somewhat regular basis. If I need something else I just click on the little Window icon in the lower left, which opens the app page, and type what I'm looking for and a search shows up on the upper right side. Until I realized that all the things I love about the Windows Photo editing program was the same, but for a different set up, I used my desk top for all photos and transferred them via thumb drive. Instead of the slide system that Windows & and before had, 8.1 has a circle and shows choices when asking for auto fix. I don't care for the auto fix in this version, but then the other wasn't that great either. I can make better changes on my own using the other tools.