g'day sunnybunny, i'd suggest a visit to yor local lending library first up there should be a plethora of books on the shelf, don't get into the tomes keep the reading simple. one you should seek out first i'd suggest is bill mollison's "intro' to permaculture" comes in paper back and hard cover versions, for me permaculture is all about simple common sense practises that fit into your lifestyle or system. the rest you can find out here for free. len Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

g'day ana, surprised that yahoo won't recognise my e/mail addy you can use the addy from my web page, or can you simply start a new e/mail and type in one of my addies? as far as i know the term permaculture can't be patented and hasn't been something about you can only patent intelectual material. and lots of stuff in permaculture is used in other disciplines. all that has happened is the best or usable of all those other disciplines has been pulled in under the permaculture banner. you could drag and drop my essay over into your documents folder for reading anytime off line or print a hard copy. but yes you need to create questions and provide answers as well as take questions that are already there and provide answers and put these all in the FAQ. don't know that a chronological order is so important as it may depend on how many questions you get. and not in all cases will there be a single correct answer. just have a look at all the posts in all the permaculture forums (i can give you some links maybe send me an e/mail i can post them that way), that is the place where questions should/are being asked. but you will find there is an awful lot of stuff that realy isn't just permaculture, it can be from organic gardening, or composting or lots of other areas. i think if you have a look around you will find there isn't much asking going on it's all just general type chat about companion gardening (guilds), keeping chooks, using worm farms, using raised beds, courses and on and on. len

First of all, thanks for your comments, I appreciate the outside viewpoint! Carla35- She brings home a stack of work every evening and weekend, and even if she doesn't do it, it serves to block any spontaneous activity or plan that I might propose. But if a friend, relative, or co-worker calls she will spend hours on the phone with them, and if they are in a crisis (real or imagined) she will spend tons of time with them, explaning they "need her support". Yes, I'm groused about it, and yes, we've talked about it, and it always ends with "after this crisis is over, we will have lots of time together". And maybe there will be a couple of quiet weeks between crisis, but usually not, because the work and friend/relative/coworker crisis are usually overlapping. Her friends are mostly of low moral character, or just hangers-on who use her time and money, and most of her relatives have "behavioral problems", so I don't want to spend time with them. And frankly, I've grown tired of trying to fit our married life into the tiny free spaces in her schedule. I get tired of following her around like a lost puppy in order to actually hold a conversation. popi and scarlett2001- You could be right that DW is bored with me, I'm not Mr. Excitement, but I am Mr. Dependable. I do about 90% of the housework, take care of the pets, take care of most of the financial matters, make sure her stuff is in her briefcase as she screams out the door in the morning, and support her 100% in these endless crisis she's involved in. And I have a full time high-level job of my own to go to everyday. It's kind of funny and kind of sad, it seems like I'm simply experiencing what most career women with inattentive husbands go through. ;-) We married late in life, so I knew we'd have our own friends and interests, but (I thought) we would both be giving up some "personal space" for "common ground" and companionability. I must have thought wrong! I've gained a huge load of work and grief for a small dose of companionship. And I think I'm just running out of energy to cope with the endless "crisis mode" we seem to be in. As the years pile up, it gets harder to believe that she can't manage her schedule well enough to live a semi-normal home life with her husband. So- rivkadr- thanks for the suggestion on meetup.com, looks interesting! I think I'm just gonna have to start taking care of my social needs on my own, and not worry about the grief that DW gives me for it. As I mentioned, there are some reasons for not making a major status change at this time, but at least I can have some fun while I see how things shake out. Thanks again!

Came back to give an update and see lots of new responses since I posted 2 months ago - thanks everyone. I actually did type up and print a number of categories, gave it to a couple of women I'm getting to know and they offered suggestions for some of them. We found a great vet, I like my hair stylist, found an orthodontist I like and will probably use the dentist he recommends. Still have medical categories to fill in, can't get a decent manicure for some reason but that's no big deal, would like to find a reasonable upholsterer, and I would KILL for good Chicago pizza!!! But for the most part, all is good considering we've been here 4 months and moved far from where we both grew up and lived our whole lives. It's an adjustment for sure, strangers in a strange land and all of that!! But it feels more like home every day and the days of feeling like 'what the heck did we do' are fewer and farther between. We're still renting a house, trying to find a house or property to build on and that's been a LOT more challenging than we anticipated. We find it takes a lot of our focus. Without realizing it we rented in a 55+ community and it's fine, people are nice but most are considerably over 55 and in a different phase of life than we are with different perspectives. Went to a New Years party (which ended at 9:30!) and we were the youngest by a good 20+ years. I've joined a Meet Up group and will be attending a Trivia contest tonight (will try and drag my husband) so there are opportunities to meet other people and socialize.