A plant list, hmmmm, maybe next week when I'm not as busy. Kristin, the magenta dahlia is Formby Royale. It's my favorite, the color is always perfect and they have long, strong stems. I hope I never lose it one winter. Moonphase, the bed is about 50 feet long and 9 feet wide. I actually started by placing some small trees and dwarf conifers for winter interest. Then I made of list of whatever plants I had in dark purple, rose pink, light and dark violet. Then I place them starting with biggest, then favorites, and then fillers. Then rearrange the plan 10 times. Hopefully this will stop the 10 times of rearranging when they are in the ground :-) Weeds? In early summer I try to mulch everything once with finely ground wood chips. I never get it all done. That really takes care of most weeds. The second way I deal with them is by being tolerant of them. I always have weeds popping up later, and I do "spot weeding" if things get out of hand. (like spot cleaning) But mostly I just don't have time to keep my gardens immaculate, and a few weeds here and there are part of my gardening style. ShaSha - I buy lots of seed started plants in tiny 4-packs, 4 for $1. (delphiniums, lobelia, hibiscus, etc) Then I grow them out in my working garden, so that after a year I will know what color they are, and can place them accordingly. Memo - what am I working on this year? Too much!! Peony bed to line the front driveway. I actually prepared the bed and moved the peonies last fall from my working garden. But I still need to give the bed edges - brick mow-strip on the lawn side and low stone wall on the driveway side. And of course I need to plant all around the peonies . . . circular veggie garden I prepared the soil last year by adding and tilling truckloads of manure. Now I'm laying out paths with the same fieldstone and going to plant it up. It's more than a veggie garden, it will also be a cutting garden and tree nursery and propagation bed. I'm moving some of my working garden to here. barn bed Flowers to be seen from a bit of distance. Yellows and whites, golds and oranges. I've got a plan, just need to find time to implement it. front bed Last fall I finally decided on the shape of the front beds and laid a brick edge for mowing. ( a tedious, laborious job that took a really long time and one that I need to repeat for the peony bed, heavy sigh ...) Now I need to completely rearrange that bed, and plant it up. I don't have a plan yet, for some reason the front of the house stumps me. Too many projects. . . and then I need to maintain them all! Next winter I should post photos of these new flower beds.

spedigrees: They do look sort of like gigantic bumblebees, there's just something endearing about them (probably the only moth I can say that about). Jane: Does that chipmunk have a short tail or is it just the angle? I've noticed that I have at least two different chippies visiting my deck; one with a short tail and one with a long tail. I'd thought that maybe a predator had bitten off the tip of the short tail, but it could be genetic. The squirrels here come in two types - one type has a regular full tail, the other has a skinny tail (evolving into a rat?) Guthrie has been quiet lately. Possibly he noticed that I've moved all of the defoliated phlox to a new Phlox Protection Zone, fenced to keep him out. There's one phlox blooming there that he missed. Claire (trying out the new GW photo uploading feature. I just edited and rearranged my post and had to re-enter the photo file) Phlox Protection Zone

ML, I have had no experience whatsoever with subways. I read about them being traditional, but have never seen them in anything but a modern setting in person, unless they were in an actual subway. That may be because I have only ever been in 1950s and newer houses with tile! To me they feel modern and very "in" and overused. I figured they have to go "out" sooner or later! However, I do respect your opinion. I thank you for your insight. I had not thought of whether the 6x6 effect looked MCM or not. The sink definitely has a pre-MCM vibe, as do the med cabinets. I suppose the lights do, too. And the dresser is definitely older. So square tiles came along in the MCM era, huh? Bummer. I avoided 4x4 tiles because that is what my 1978 home already has, I thought that by going bigger, I would avoid the era. Phooey. So I need to do subways to be in a 1940s and earlier vibe? Okay. Is the 4 x 6 you suggested more period than the 3 x 6 that are so easy to find everywhere now? BTW, as time passes, I am more and more inclined to go with the Carrara-looking trim, rather than the black. Then there is a part of me that says that I like color too much and that it is just hanging out on-line that has gotten me loving the Carrara look (because it is so loved on the kitchen forum and bath forum). I also am drooling over a mother-of-pearl tile to use as a listello between two rows of Carrara. Then again, if a beauteous tile becomes available for a great price on Craigslist, all bets are off on color! I am considering heating the floor. It will also help it to dry if it gets wet splash-over from the shower. Things like Carrara-looking tile and heated floors became more of an option when my SSDI came through. The Swanstone ADA floor with the trench drain is so new that I have not found a picture of a real consumer using it. The link below will take you to a PDF that shows the new shower floor and wall system. The shower floor is on the cover, but it does not show the whole shower. I will be getting the New Construction floor because we have to pull up the subfloor due to rot. I will get the 96" walls seen on the right on page 8/9, but in the color "Ice" or "Glacier". "Ice" is shown below, it is the closest they have to Carrara. "Glacier" is just white, but the surface looks like snowflakes, sort of. The shower looks way too skinny, but I keep telling myself that the shower looks skinny because of the drain taking some of the floorspace. It will be the same size as the bathtub, without the bathtub sides getting in the way of my feet. I keep saying that, but it sure looks skinny! That is why the floor outside the shower will be as water-proof as a shower would be. Here is a link that might be useful: Swan Shower PDF see Page 8/9

Wow....what an amazing list of people.... too many of them no longer with us or active here. It is nice to remember some of their names and their struggles that we shared. Thanks for the memories.