Oscularia deltoides is a good choice. It spreads its dense blue carpet quickly. Most sedums will look great. Try Sedum spathulifolium, or any of the myriad Sedum rubrotinctum hybrids like 'Aurora', or Sedum spurium hybrids like 'Dragon's Blood'. Squaw Mountain Gardens and Wild Ginger Farm, both in Oregon, have a great selection of sedums, and other mat forming succulents. Brad

Both Marilyn and Raven have mail from me. I have been busy with their GFM pages. Boy, oh boy... so many thank you's to send.... There is no reason to quit contributing once the stated goal is reached. I had to put an amount in there... to get the ball rolling. I guestimated amounts to buy a mobility chair, and on Marilyns page, to replace the pickups. We want more than the total in there anyway... go fund me keeps their cut too. Other than that, I bought stuff for on the bottom of Charlottes chairs, to keep from getting my floor scratched up, and a couple of shoe shelves. Yes, Charlotte did move in here while I was gone. So far we get along famously. :) I also visited with a girlfriend and showed her my crazyguy pages pictures. Ling's English isn't to good, and she could not figure out how to navigate there. Well, it's getting close to bed time.... need to brush my teeth and get ready. Good night all Moni

Did some laundry, went grocery shopping.....had to go to three stores to find lady fingers. It would have been easier to make a jelly roll cake and line the springform pan with that than running around trying to find the lady fingers. Came home and made an ice cream dessert with the L.F.'s and got it in the freezer. I'm having my Wine and Dine group here a week from Wed. and decided instead of going out for dinner after "happy hour", we would just stay here. Trying to get whatever can be done ahead of time and in the freezer. Then I tried a new recipe for Lobster Mac 'n' Cheese. It was very disappointing....couldn't even taste the lobster. Total waste of money. Won't be trying that again. Will freeze the leftovers in small portions and when I don't feel like cooking, grab a pack. It wasn't horrible, just disappointing. Tomorrow I'm making cheese crispies. They look like peanut butter cookies but are an appetizer I thought would go nice with the gazpacho I'm going to make next week. I just make little balls of dough, freeze them and when I want some, I defrost and bake. Will also make some mini corn cakes and freeze them ready to top with creme' fraiche mixed with lemon juice and dill, a piece of smoked salmon and dill garnish. A fancier take on lox and bagels :-))) The more I can get done ahead of time the better.

What haven't I done lately? Whew. I planned my outfits for the week yesterday, because everything else is done. I did make some cookies (and ate too many of them). I put the dahlia tubers in pots with soil and put them in the basement. I hope they'll be ok. And I decided to get back on the diet wagon full force, so I made my snacks/lunches for the week. I sketched the front bed and sat to watch the sun moving to decide how much of the bed is truly shade only. I watched a painted lady butterfly on the butterfly bush after I deadheaded it. Made me smile! I rested for the remainder of the day. . In the past week: I cleaned the house from top to bottom and even cleaned the oven (not self cleaning). I painted the dining room and one wall of the hallway (the one facing the living room) before guests came so they could enjoy the new color and see what color the hall will be. I raked a million more leaves; I'm almost done. I painted a lot more of the pergola. We took the broken plastic roof off the pergola so it won't hold in moisture (mold. I've had fungal sinusitis twice in the past year, so I am thinking about these sorts of things), or leaves, and catch the wind in a way that sounds scary to the cats. "What's that noise?! Augh!!! Run around and look wary". Poor things. The boy got up on the 25 foot ladder and finished the last few dabs of paint on the body of the house. I need to paint one more set of shutters, finish the front and back porches, and the window trim, but the main body and doors are done. We replaced two of the 72 window panes; these were broken. Now, they're all ready for reglazing. That will happen the next time we have warm weather, and I scrape off the old glazing. I have two storm windows on, but need 7 more. I weeded the entire garden, and started 27 kinds of seeds. I put out several more winter sowing containers, with five more to go. I watched Inception, and stayed confused the whole movie. I get the basic premise, but not the tiny details. I made a fantastic turkey and sad sides. Everyone else liked them, but not me. I threw it all away, except the turkey. And apple pie. The boy ate that one. I did gain a couple of pounds, but no big deal since I'm dieting. I'll be back down by the end of this week. Oh, and he changed out the dining room light switch. It dims now. I think that's everything. Next week is work on the car weekend, new tires and oil change. We might also put up the porch swing now that I can access the top of the pergola.