H O W D Y ~~~ DO ! ? ! TO YA'LL ! ! ! ~~~~~ I've missed Ya'll toooooo Thanks Karen.... Yes...Kirk is busy...with school... after all that BIG SNOW and stuff... he had Spring Break and HE Had TEACHER/Parent Conferences ! ! ! Ms Faith has had some Conferences and Talks on Butterflies & Garden stuff! ! ! Use2Bcapecodder~~ Sandy has a new computer and is busy~~ Busy ~~~ B U S Y !!!!! and Me..... I have Missed everyone so very very much... But I have kept Ya'll ALL in my prayers!!! as Karen says... I am sorting, packing, giving away~~~ and just de- cluttering and throwing out trash and Doing the unthinkable....DOWNSIZING ! ! ! Have to PART with some TREASURES! ! ! boohoo!!!! It is So hard... I should be use to it....I've had to do it SEVERAL TIMES B-4 ! ! ! but it is still NOT EASY ! ! ! I am trying to pass on to others.... some garden treasures.... SO THAT MAKES IT EASIER>>> It is just that EVERYONE does 'NOT' SEE the Treasures in the same way ! ! ! But I W I L L S U R V I V E and I Am going back to my roots..... My Beloved Texas ! ! ! I will miss be Ms LLF (Kathy) neighbor !!& CountryGirl and being close to Ms JeannieSpines and TOOOO Much Glass!! I will miss Lake Michigan.....but not ROCK RIVER! ! ! But... My Hubby's family lives here... so I will always be around Milwaukee...Chicago ~~~ Wisconsin & Illinois.... BUT TEXAS Is My Home... and My DD and Grandbaby will be there and YOU KNOW I WILL BE CLOSE ! ! ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You know I was missing in action... because I took a couple of nasty falls.... and My Right Arm is hurt and hard to type... and I just had another fall on Sunday...re\-hurt the same injuries.. and added some more... BUT >>>>> You know what they say.... IT's HARD TO KEEP A GOOD Junker DOWN! ! ! So L@@K Out ! ! ! !! I'm Back ! ! ! Thanks for caring ! Thanks for being my friends! Thanks for Sharing A L L the WONDERFUL Pictures!!! and Thanks for Sharing ALL the FANTASTIC IDEAS ! ! ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ God Bless ! Your Friend, SusieSunShine

Not nasty at all! Under the best of circumstances, it's tough to translate the soft-focus picture in your mind to the real world of which plant, which specific variety, how far apart, what to put next to it.... But when you have a lot of other people encroaching on your space, especially people who don't share your vision or your landscape "values" -- that's got to be really frustrating! And it sounds like you have a lot of space to deal with. In the time it takes to get shrubs and trees established, could you put in some hardscape features that would "guide" people where to walk and not walk? (And not park or drive!) Things like some fences, gravel paths, stepping stones. Maybe you could put in some raised berms, mounding up the soil into large curving beds to shelter your area. (The berms have an added benefit of bending the wind a bit and giving you some protected areas.) With a space that large, and with so much to choose from, perhaps you could get a landscaper to come out and work with you to develop a plan. I don't know how much that costs, but I know both my cousin and my sister made the investment and have never regretted it. It's like a multi-year plan; they buy the plants and put them in as they go, but the landscaper has drawn up the blueprint for them to follow. I don't know how your husband is, and I hate to make generalizations, but most of the men I know who aren't gardeners themselves seem to respond well to written plans and diagrams. It's one thing to tell them "I need 6' for these trees to grow up in" -- and another for them to see on the blueprint that the ultimate spread of this shrub goes right to the step, or to the fence line or whatever. (My mother insists that women are much better at visualizing than men, that's why they need the diagrams.) You may be able to co-opt him to put in some of the hardscape features. Maybe building trellises or arbors or pergolas, or excavating and laying gravel paths. That gives him a vested interest in protecting the gardens and keeping his family literally on the paths! Good luck. Building gardens takes a long time and it sounds like you're being pressed on all sides. Carve yourself a little space and dream big.

I am so sorry to hear about your little kitty, Merryheart. I know how much it hurts to lose a beloved pet. I worry a lot about urinary tract problems in my cat since my best friend lost her cat to it years ago. I think it's fairly prevalent in cats. I feed my cat Purina One 'Urinary Tract' formula. I don't know that it helps, but it makes me feel better, and she likes it. I've made stepping stones for my dogs that have died, and they are nice additions to my garden. I had a pet cemetery at my old house where I planted plants with the same names as my pets. I had grave markers, and stepping stones, and also had a bird bath set up there. For cats I have seen very precious little grave statues that are cat angels. They look very nice in your garden. If you know of a shop that has a laser engraver, they can make a marker with a picture of your cat with her name on a rock, a stepping stone, on granite, glass, or nearly anything. My brother's company has a laser engraver and they sometimes make pet grave markers. Another thing I like to do is plant trees in memory of my dogs that have died. I have a weeping willow that I planted for my all time favorite dog, Star. I hated to leave it when I moved, so I am taking cuttings of that tree to plant at my new house in memory of Star. That sounds crazy, I know, but I can't take the dogs' graves with me but I can take a cutting of "their" memorial tree. I have one tree still in a pot from when my dog Maggie died that I'm going to plant here. It's a corkscrew willow that I call "Maggie's tree". I also have a pine tree I brought here that belonged to my grandmother before she died, and it's "Grandma's tree". I realize you don't have an acreage like I have so maybe don't have enough room to plant a tree for your kitty. But it's my very favorite living memorial I do in memory of my pets. I also have a Southern Bottle Tree I made in memory of my friend Larry when he died. I found the cedar tree in his back yard with all the branches cut off fairly close to the trunk. I have no idea what Larry had planned for it, but I brought it home and "planted" it in my garden to remember him by. Eventually I covered all the limbs with cobalt blue bottles, and made it into a bottle tree. I think it's beautiful. :) But it's still "Larry's Tree" and reminds me of him in my garden. He was a gardener too and I think he would have liked it. I could send you a picture of it if you're interested. Here is a link for a kitty memorial stepping stone. If you'll see the seller's other items further down the page, she has some nice cat memorial items. Again, I'm so sorry for your loss. I know planting a memorial garden for you kitty will help you in your grief. Dawna Here is a link that might be useful: cat memorial stone

Hi texasfern, thanks for the info - I know what you mean about heat. It's blistering here in summer too. The two bowls I am doing are also ceramic bisque fired. I got them at the thrift shop and just couldn't resist them since they were a nice big size of 15 inches in diameter. I didn't know what cone I could fire them to so I couldn't glaze them for fear they'd melt. So I decided to mosaic them. I should have used a plumb bob when I marked the center instead of just eyeballing it from above the rulers. I'll do better next time. I also work in ceramics - handbuilt pieces from slabs to Cone 10 thus far. You can see some of my work at the link and I have a ceramic blog under the same title. I took a ceramic bead class - now that's really fun, because beads are small and easy to deal with. Right now I am getting my kiln (skutt) connected up so I can do the ceramics at home instead of just at the college and a friend is building me a slab roller, but that is a whole other topic I guess. Do you seal your pieces after you grout them - particularly the birdbath? If so what do you use to seal them? How do they do holding water, does the grout stain or get any algae buildup with use outdoors? You've given me an idea about going to the tile store I used for remodeling my house (2 bathrooms and our living room) and seeing what they throw away. They threw away 4 pieces of slate when I did my living room right in the trash can - I wasn't doing mosaic then so I didn't even think about it. I could have done something really neat with all those pieces. And I have a wet saw - not sure how easy it would be to cut the pieces real small with a wet saw though - I might try it though. Well I have all my ingredients and tools set out to start grouting the turquoise bowl - so here goes. Wish me luck. Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Starr Gallery