kt- what terrific photos of terrific pieces. you have really made my day. so exhilerating! what i love about these pieces is that his work is so reflective of the tropical plants themselves. the long twisted pieces are often obviously influenced by actual tropical plant parts. in keeping with their surrounding plants, they add color and excitement to some otherwise more monochromatic visuals. it's funny, i have seen many many of ch's pieces, and been to the tacoma, wa. museum that houses much of his work- but i have never before seen pieces so simpatico with their environment( certainly NOT the huge venice installation). your photos definitely rekindle my interest in him, so thank you. i think your re-positioning of the iron pieces- amongst your ferns- is brilliant. as to the bigger 'art in the garden' discussion, i do have a few thoughts. we have a lot of garden art throughout the gardens here, and most of it has some size. for me, the pieces provide contrast and counterpoint to the surrounding world of plants.however, even as they provide contrast, they must make visual sense for where they are placed.they also have personal associations for me, and some of them ( quotes and poetry) reflect my feelings and give me pleasure to read when i'm in my gardens. all of them make me smile. outwardly or inwardly. two large pieces make me laugh- and that is specifically why I purchased and installed them, though they are in our work area. one rule that i have developed for placement is that i try to not have more than one art piece in any given 'visual frame' (unless they are symmetrically matching.)each garden room has its own artwork that is not visible from one room to another. the art pieces do not jump out at you. 'garden art' includes 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional sculptures, sculptures that incorporate movement- from water or wind,and some incorporate architecture- as a backdrop to the piece or as the piece itself. all this garden art is a real life saver when the gardens are not their most attractive (like now, with all the stress of the hot summer and when it's quite 'jungley' out there. i find them particlarly valuable in shady sitting areas where large swaths of non floral plants can really use the surprise element. at the risk of sounding overblown, here is a poem that i keep over my desk- that says it all for me- about the gardens and about the art in the gardens. I pray for an arresting beauty a single span of pure delight Intrude upon us. Give us pause Be the deer in the yard, the wine in the water cask, the mermaid in the net. -Thomas Donovan surprise, delight, reflection, contemplation, nourishment- all the things i hope are provided by the art pieces throughout our gardens.

Well -- our old USED cars were bought in 1997: a) 1993 BMW wagon (146,000 miles) and had been repaired MANY times -- and currently needed the whole AC replaced. Frankly I was getting too scared to drive her anymore -- wondering what would break down next. This car did NOT qualify for the program -- and became a trade-in. I would imagine that its value was in the parts that I replaced over the last two years! So its parts may benefit someone! b) 1993 Lexus (185,000 miles) This car DID qualify for the program -- and was leaking "something" onto the driveway -- and the very last time DH drove it to the dealership -- even HE said that he was glad for it to be gone too! Interior lights didn't work; the sunroof didn't work -- lots of mechanical issues. I really don't think the either car would be a good "clunker" for anyone else -- unless they had the money for the expensive repairs! WE HAD ALREADY PLANNED TO REPLACE BOTH CARS! Out of sheer necessity. Again I state: we saved for TWO years. We argued and checked out cars for last six months. We NEVER planned to get NEW cars -- the "fates" simply rolled them our way!! We had been looking for USED ones -- but the prices for the outgoing 2009 ones were NOT that much more than the used ones!!! And we negotiated HARD. And paid in cash. So the program helped us! :) We ended up with two 2009 Nissan Versas (subcompacts) with warranties for three years. Jan at the poor-but-planned Rosemary Cottage

Tammy's answer notwithstanding, it is true that once you have children, THEY are your primary responsibility and job for the next 18-20 year. Yes, some people do get remarried, and have successful blended families, BUT you've had ample warning that this woman is NOT going to be a good person to have you your son's orbit. As a responsible parent, you have NO busines, NO right exposing your precious child to someone who isn't going to be a positive influence on him. I'm sorry to say, for the next 2 decades, you are going to have to put HIS well-being ahead of your own interests. That's what good parents do--whether they're a solid married couple or single parents. Before you date, or bring someone into your life, you need to think long and hard about how they will impact upon your child. This relationship isn't one that's going to be healthy for your son--you have to end it for that reason. That's the bottom line. Know that's probably not what you wanted to hear, but it's what any truly good parent will tell you.

Edited to add: Paxil is very handsome! You both will do fine. :) Also, to look at me I don't look disabled. So I did have one person call me out and she was just a customer in a grocery store. Basically she wanted to know how she could bring her "very well behaved dog who just got his Canine Good Citizen's certification" in the grocery store. She told me I wasn't disabled because she couldn't see my disability. Ha! Seriously, just like a poster above, I took the high road and just said that you can't always see disabilities and then extricated myself form the conversation. That was the only confrontation I had like that. Now onto my original post.... My Boxer was a service dog for me. You don't often see Boxers as service dogs so people could have had issue but only one store ever did and we went everywhere together. Grocery stores, restaurants, etc. The only store we had a problem with was Sears and it was because someone had been in with an unruly "service dog". I had heard about this other person before from other vendors but never ran into them. Once I explained to the people at Sears that Champ was, indeed, my service dog, the person asked her manager who was fine with him being there. Quite honestly, I probably wouldn't have left if they asked me to. Champ was his usual stoic, very well behaved, self and I knew the law was on my side. Champ was my dog before I needed a service dog and he was trained specifically for my disability when he was three years old. He was privately trained and I sent away for his service dog certification and card. I know some people abuse what is available online but some people do not. When I first started going out with Champ, I was self conscious of how he would be accepted or if we would be in people's way, etc. But before long, I was used to him and he was like glue by my side. The only issue I had with people out was them wanting to pet and or touch him. I would often talk to people who asked about him but they weren't allowed to pet Champ because he was working. He knew the difference. Every now and then I would run into an old friend and give Champ his "off duty" command and he would start bouncing around like Boxers do to say hi to my friend. Then it would be back to work when I called him to it. I did enjoy talking with people though, especially if they had had Boxers before. If there were kids present, I would sometimes put him through his paces so they could see what he did for me. If there were kids who were afraid of dogs (which we ran into often), I would have him lay down and let them come pet him because he would stay stock still for them. I guess my whole point is that the more you are out, the more comfortable you will be in the presence of others and the different establishments. People like service dogs. But most people know that they are not to interfere with the person and their dog and they respect that. That might have been part of the non-response you got from the people in the waiting room. I'm feeling melancholy reminiscing. Champ got cancer when he was was a few months short of seven years old and we lost him two months after that, just shy of seven years old. I have not replaced him. Here he is with my Grandson. The second picture is Champ at Target when he was first being trained by the trainer.