I suppose we will all confirm our fears and we typically find only what we seek. If you want to belive that gardening is less popular, or that the globe is an average paper- it would be easy to confirm that with investigation. I do think Garden Web is a much better way to get gardening info- That was my main thrust. I guess i am coming from a different angle. I am comparing items, Globe vs other papers. Garden web vs Globe gardening articles. The globe is a great paper (to me) because they have a valid editorial staff and great washington DC office. What I mean is that they still produce indepth, new- news. Not many papers do that any longer. This is the era of Fox News. Ick. I see no evidence that Gardening is on a downward trend. Home depot, Lowes, Walmart, They might change the market, but (again my opinion) that proves that there is a larger market than there used to be. I venture to say that there are more gardeners now than there ever were, they are growing flora that my parents never knew about, and they can find better information in 20 minutes of research online then they could from reading 20 years of Boston Globe Thursday gardening articles. Still- perhaps they are less sophisticated. I live in Franklin, and the town library has wonderful historical films on VHS, and Dahlia's and Rose gardens were pretty well represented in some of the back yard images. those gardens were very impressive. Today is not "better", just "different". I have many 30 yr old friends that garden, they do so for the same reason people did it in the films. Gardening is good for you. It always will be good for you.

Aujourd'hui and L'espalier (french) are both excellent places for a celebration. Yes they're upper crust but you go there when you're celebrating getting a PhD (esp. from a Boston-area Cambridge, perhaps? University ;-) ). A less expensive cousin to L'espalier is Sel de la Terre and is run by the same establishment. Personally, I prefer their waterfront version to the new one on Boylston street. Food is really good. Craigie on Main is another excellent choice, as is Clio. FYI, Ken Oringer (of Clio) was one of the chefs that appeared on Iron Chef America and really impressed the judges from the "the genius in that brain of yours" and "you've trained your staff to implement your billiance" noises the judges made ;-). He won that challenge by a mile - and the reason he did shows in the food he serves at his restaurant. Fantastic. But so is Craigie Street B. Hammersley's bistro is also very good but it has been a good many years since I've eaten there. All of these but for Sel de la Terre do run up a pretty penny though, it has to be said.

I also received a resurface quote that was substantially more than new cabinets, including the install for the new cabinets. You can only save money if you DIY. I am going to try this on my small powder room vanity someday. I wouldnÂt experiment for the first time on a kitchen. These are the reasons to resurface instead of going new:  Your cabinets are structurally sound and the frames and shelves are in good condition.  You donÂt want to change your layout.  You want to avoid having to remove all the items from your cabinets (they tape up plastic film).  You donÂt want you kitchen to be out of commission for several weeks. Typically a resurfacing job takes one week and thatÂs about it.  You like your counters and everything that sits in them  sinks, cooktop, Etc. IÂm including the link to the DIY site I found when I considered this option. Here is a link that might be useful: DIY Resurface

Refacing is only an inexpensive choice if you DIY. If you pay a company, especially one of the chains to do it, it will often be more expensive than buying all new cabinets---with less than stellar results. And you don't have the opportunity to tweak your layout or have the newer sturdier drawer glides, or the newer more durable varnishes, etc. You pay all of the money of a complete kitchen replacement remodel without any of it's benefits.