I showed DH your post here, Kirk & we both think that it is so cool that one of our barnwood birdhouses found a home in Washington state! Wow, it looks great in your Bart vignette! Love the rustic junk (art) that you've added to it! That bear is "perfect!"...& other cool rustic pcs that you put on the bdhse & post. TFS! I'm glad you enjoyed this bdhse inside your home & now the birds can enjoy it, too, outside! Hope it weathers well for you for a long, long time! TFS! Jeanne S.

Thanks for the encouraging posts. I know drought sounds like it is not as bad, but on the other hand......I faithfully watered throught the summer. Even going so far as to transport 50 -1 gallon jugs of water from our park throught the summer so my well would not go dry and did not loose that many plants. Hard to keep an eye on the flooding, water kept rising all night long and finding it path to the river. Can not stay up all night and watch it and even get close. If you got close to parts of the garden, it was at least 6-8" of mud you would sink into. I'll take thr drought. So many things are rotting from sitting in that much water. My poor alliums that I planted last fall will not make it. Peonies do not like wet feet. I have so many peonies that are still trying to dry out, will see what happens eventually. The picture does not even capture how many peonies I know have in that corner that flooded. This was taken before my renovation to that corner.

Oh, Kate if this is your first swap you are gonna have a lot of fun! I've been doing them forever and am always thrilled and surprised with what I receive! I have gotten some pretty amazing items in all my years of doing the CF swaps. Once I received a fabulous package from Coranado, California that had 5 different heirloom tomato seeds along with homemade zest of many diferent citrus, dried peppers, and a beautiful homemade card! Then I got a FABULOUS plate from Oklahoma that was thrown in a kiln and horsehair was then put on top of the plate. Absoulutly beautiful and I think of my friend everytime I look at it displayed on my bookcase. I got a great box from California with lots of wine and spices. The box also contained many other wonderful things like, plates that reminded me of my partner everytime I use them. Colorado sent me a beautiful glass platter that hangs in a special place in my home along with some serving spoons. I use the spoons almost daily! Especially with my Grandson! He loves to have his food served to him with these special spoons. Another beautiful package was from California that contained some beautiful old (carnival glass) bowls. They just happen to match my dining walls perfectly. I use them all the time for candy when we have a party. I happen to love OLD decorative items to display in my home from all over the world! I don't want anyone that has been my partner think I've forgotten them...never! There are just to many to list ;-) I guess in short words, ;-), I absoulutly love everything I have ever received in a swap. Just have fun with this swap and enjoy what will come to you in the mail! I can hardly contain myself when my box arrives! So fun!

dear justine grower, I have lurked at your last post and having witnessed the end of my mothers no good marriage, and remembering my position as her young daughter at the time, this is a I need to see through. I spoke to a friend of mine who is a psychologist, he says that your husband is displaying classic sociopathic behavior, he may not a murderer, but he is void of actual feeling, and everything and everyone is simply being kept neatly in their rightful place in his life because this is where they are in his mind. He will never divorce you, but you will never feel loved by him, you are there simply to play your role, as your daughter is. But I am afraid for your daughter, because when she develops into a young woman with wants and needs contrary to daddy's ideas for her, her self esteem will be crushed by him, because she will too, be kept neatly in place and eventually grow in to a woman who will not make a decision without, specifically, his direction. If this is the case for her, what will happen to her when something happens to him. She will never individuate from him, he will be the extension of her that gives direction to her life. May I ask, what happens when you have an idea concernign some decision for your daughter that he opposes? Does your idea stand a chance, or does he go on proving his postition by making you of no effect in the direction of her life, except when it corresponds with his ideas? I am sorry that you are sad, and that you feel the natural loving and maternal need to save him, or help him heal, but you need to realise that his way of thinking and analysing real llife aituations is not going to change, or even get better without some serious therapy, multiplied years of therapy, and he must be submissive at that, now honestly, do you really think this is possible? He feels safe only when things can be controlled, which is why he is great at work, there is no emotion to complicate the work environment, there is simply a formula to follow, the rules are straight laced, he walks the beaten path everyday, and can follow the same rules over and over and over again to make things work for him there without question. But with you, when he follows the same rules over and over and over again, there are questions, complications and unhappiness, which he cannot understand anyway 'I can't connect to his personality, he says one thing today and something else tomorrow, doesn't even remember or says 'well that was yesterday'. Sometimes I wonder who the hell he really is?' You are not loved, you are simply filling a role normal to an adult male in his adult male life. So is your daughter, 'Like he never memorizes things about me, after 10 years he still gets me wrong presents and red instead of white wine. He is not on my side if somebody hurts my feelings' It is obvious that your role as 'wife' in his life had been fashioned in his mind long before you even met him. You are in a position that fits no one but him, in his mind the wife he has isn;t anyone but someone he made up, I guess that you were the closest fit, or a woman who was easy to mold, or make fit into what he envisions. Was he abused as a child, why was his emotional development so stunted, that he plays life? You do realise that he isn't living it right? And I am sorry, but you cannot save him in time to save your daughter. Get out for your daughter's sake, even if you are convinced that you love him and want to see him better, then look on him and support his progress as a friend. Please get your daughter out of there.