This zucchini cake recipe is absolutely delicious! I have had it for so long that I do not remember where it came from. It is moist and tastes similar to carrot cake, and you can use young or big old tough zucchini. I am baking it today to take to my brother's BBQ tomorrow, so I thought I would share the recipe. ZUCCHINI CAKE 2 c sugar 1 c cooking oil 3 eggs 2 c flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon 2 c shredded, unpeeled zucchini, packed (about 3 smaller ones) 1 c very finely chopped walnuts (best to chop in the food processor) 1 Tbsp vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting Scrub zucchini skin well to remove all grit before shredding it--use a vegetable brush if you have one. Mix sugar, oil and eggs on medium speed of mixer for 4 minutes. Fold shredded zucchini, nuts and vanilla into sugar mixture. Sift dry ingredients and fold into batter. Bake in a greased tube pan at 350 degrees for 60 to 65 minutes. Cool in pan on cooling rack 20 minutes and turn out on rack to finish cooling. Cream Cheese Frosting 3 c powdered sugar, sifted 2 (3 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened to room temperature 5 Tbsp butter, softened 1 tsp lemon extract. Beat thoroughly and frost your cake.

Nice to 'see' you again, Carl. Should we assume that you've retired from the show's marketing committee? I did watch the video and it's lackluster. Maybe they'll include time-lapse growth films of plants and flowers, or garden development? But it looks like drama and romance films are the focus. Might be interesting to see what clever artists create to support that theme. I'm glad I went to the show a few years ago and I'm happy that this old tradition is still happening, despite it's evolution toward formal floral design. To maintain an event since its 1829 birth, in this fast-paced country, is a great achievement. I'm going to spend some tourist cash in Pennsylvania, but it will be at Longwood Gardens. (you're VT weather stick is waiting for you) Jane

JLC712, I know exactly what you mean. Most people complain about gaining weight at Christmastime, but Easter is my downfall because I love those Cadbury milk chocolate mini-eggs. Chocolate candy isn't even my favorite, but there's something about those mini-eggs that is addicting. I usually have to have one of the gooey centered version for tradition, but it's the mini-eggs I crave. I accidentally bought the dark chocolate ones last year and they went into the trash.

In light of the season, might it not be better to focus on the positives rather than the negatives? In the grand scheme of things, problem species - like those mentioned - make up a pretty insignificant portion of our tree populations. I live in a very heavily wooded area of the country where few trees ever see any pruning and grow just as nature has intended. While few look perfect, all have appeal....broken limbs, leaning trunks, lichen covered branches, flawed foliage not withstanding. And so it is with humans - few of us (none that I know!) are perfect either, yet almost all have some redeeming quality that makes them appealing as well. You just have to look beyond some preconceived notion of 'perfection'.