They are fruiting spurs and are not what you want to graft. You want to graft leaf buds, not flower buds. There may be some leaf buds on the sides of some of those fruiting spurs. Also the top part which you did not fully photograph looks like it may have some leaf buds on it - the two bumps on the upper right of the upper picture. Scott

For windows as well as walls, as Nan says, it is the direction that the sunlight is coming from that counts. For example I look out my bedroom window and see the sunrise, I have an east window. The exterior wall that my bedroom window is set into is an east wall, because the sun that is shining on it is coming from the east. As the sun travels from east to west in the northern hemisphere , it takes a southerly path, so midday sun shines into south windows, and afternoon sun to sunset into west windows. Northern windows get indirect light only. Al's list is correct, as far as absolute light is concerned, but I must add my own observation about south windows. When I first moved here, I was excited about having a large south window for my sun lovers. As it turns out, in the summertime, when the sun is high in the sky, I actually get very little direct sunshine through that window. The angle of the sun doesn't allow that strong sun to come in more than a few inches beyond the sill. (the southern wall outside has no such problem and is bathed in strong sun.) So during the summer, I find my west window is far better for the high light plants. In the winter, the light does come through the south window at a better angle, but winter sun is quite weak here in northern IL. My personal favorite exposure is east, right near the window. The majority of non-succulent foliage plants I grow do very well there.

I had a couple of pink flamingos in my yard for awhile. I named them 'Tongue' and 'Cheek'. They finally died. I think of,embarrassment.

Oh yes, little critters are everywhere... but it doesn't mean I'd want to rub the ones that are still crawling around on my eyelids... *shudders* I know what carmine is and where it comes from, but the dye should be an extraction created from the crushed shells... and should NOT contain living buggies. If BE is going to continue using carmine in various products, perhaps they should find a better way to refine it... or at least have some better quality control over it. And no matter how you shake it, bugs are NOT minerals. You can't make a big deal about having 100% mineral makeup when you are using non-mineral ingredients in them. And if it's only the the foundations that are 100% minerals, then they should stop implying that ALL their makeup is 100% min. That's just my thought on the matter. Having worked in the cosmetic industry before (but no longer) I ran into many people who had sensitivity/allergic reactions to various ingredients. Other than perfumes, one of the biggest offenders causing skin sensitivites is COLOUR. A LOT of people have reactions to products that are in shades of pink, and to lesser degrees reds and some light purples. Not all shades of pink, mind you, but enough of them to make them wary of that whole section of the colour spectrum. And since they can use other colours of shadows and blushes, they've ruled the irritants down to one or more of the dyes. The problem with most beauty products is that there are so many ingredients listed on the labels that once you know that you react to a certain colour product, you can't usually tell which of the dyes you are sensitive to. Most people with this problem wind up avoiding the whole pink colour family just to be on the safe side. But if you know you react to a certain ingredient, like carmine, you can pass on anything that shows it on the ingredient list. I have not seen how the ingredients are labeled on the BE packaging/website/etc, so I'm just going off of what people have posted here. My issue with the whole thing is: How are the people who KNOW they are allergic to carmine (or have any other issues with it) going to know to avoid this product? Or at least that colour? If there's no ingredient list and the company is already implying that they are 100% mineral based, that further implies that they don't use carmine... which can be a problem for those people who need to avoid carmine for allergy or lifestyle reasons. And personally, I get a little peeved when something is sold to me under false prestenses, implied or otherwise. That's just my spin on it.