wanda, don't you mean juvenille outlook? ;) You are all those things and more. You do look younger than your age. Although, it has more to do with a lodge and face time with some loving dude named Steve.

Update on the note. I took it back to the teacher. I told her I knew who the girl was and knew the mom would really want to know this. Teacher said she would. But the teacher also said that this note really disturbed her and the only reason she told me about it was because she is a parent, otherwise she would have thrown it away. I told her that regardless of being a parent, anything that shows a child is in danger should be addressed. This was not just a kiss, this was more than playing doctor and hopefully the girl's parents can now stop an unwanted pregnancy from happening before it is too late. I think my thoughts came across as some crazed parent trying to hold back and control too much a child who needs to be able to grow. I did not intend to come across that way at all. Our dd is a very strong child. She has asked for our trust and some independence. Basically she has been given too much freedom and is not handling it as she had hoped she could. Pretty common for her age. The schools have also told us to sit back and let our kids try to learn to be responsible without our involvement. In doing so we have set back and watched our child plumet gradewise. At our conference the teachers all thought her grades were not all that bad. DH was appauled. A straight A student all of the sudden getting As on tests but totally failing all other assignments, not turning in a 160pt project, is not what we would consider "not that bad". She basically slipped by and now as parents we are stepping in to say enough is enough and want to help her get back on track. We are going to help her with whatever she needs to get back the grades she takes such pride in getting. Same with the social stuff. She has tried to handle it on her own. She needs guidance without being told what to do, advice so she can see her situation for what it is and make better choices. She has to learn that when she breaks the rules there are consequences and as parents we have to enforce them without being cruel. We are seeing a patern of rudeness, lying, stealing etc that is really out of her character and she knows it. She just does not know how to manage it. She is going to her 9th year in fastpitch softball with us telling her that we don't care how well she does, she is there to exercise and have fun and be with her friends- none of which go to her school. Twice a week she teaches a craft at her old daycare to the toddlers. They get so excited to see her and she really does have fun. The teacher has realized that she is not capable of picking the project and setting it up herself so the staff will assist her. But primarily my dd teaches it. I fixed my sewing machine and since I might gain weight with chemo, she and I decided to make sundresses together. We may invite a friend or two over also. She was very excited. My sis sews- degree in home ec- and I took dd over this weekend and dd was excited to see all the patterns and stuff. DH also is so starving to spend time with her. She is so outgoing and he wants her to kayak with her. She and I talked about her developing a greater bond with him and she knows it would be good for her. Basically I have a wonderful daughter who is growing up way faster than she can handle and she needs our help in doing so. The discussion about my making my boyfriend wait to earn a kiss actually came up because she asked me about kissing a boy and such. I openly talk to her and she does tell me more than some kids tell. I am so fortunate we can talk like that. As for smothering her and the camera stuff. We live in a spot that gives our front door acess to everyone walking by. This is a huge temptation even to kids that she does not know. Everyone knows where she lives. We have actually been telling her guy friends that they need to be honest and if they want to stop by they need to wait until we are home, same with the phone. Several have taken us up on this and dh and I greet them and let them know that respecting our home shows they are respecting our dd. The good ones get it, the bad ones just don't care. With my being home possibly through Oct/Nov we have the chance to help her get her schoolwork, social issues and such all in order. She is learning balance and it is not easy but she is learning. Again, hope I did not come across as too freaky.

Of course, the issue here isn't print vs. original. The issue is one of the image itself... Of course it's fabulous and beautiful and that's why it's been reproduced over so many years in so many ways. I think the comparison is with the Mona Lisa or even the Statue of Liberty. Both beautiful images, both are extremely recognizable and have been loved by many for many years. No question about anyone owning the original, so it's a matter of reproduction and in what medium. Having a picture of the statue of liberty hanging in your house is one thing. Andy Warhol morphed the iconic image and having it hang in a room is another. So would be a statue of liberty snow globe. And of course it isn't a question of whether she could hang it or not...she can hang anything she dang well pleases. And it's not a question of anyone looking down on you as you're fabulous and have done fabulous things with a fabulous house. The question is really one of will it get you where you want to go with the room...if it will enhance or diminish your vision of the room, what you want it to say and what feelings you want it to evoke in the people who occupy it. I know you like the unusual and unexpected, and all the "maine" pics in themselves become expected and iconic and I can understand you not wanting to go there. I also understand how an iconic image can become the unexpected...because it is so iconic, no one will use it in a formal setting, so you will. So I guess I'm changing my mind. If you like it, if the family likes it, it's not expensive and can always be replaced when and if you find something you like better. For me, I'd turn it into a craft project...take the poster, cut it up into squares and mount it on blocks of various heights to make it more textural so it keeps the image, the colors, the theme, but makes it more unique and less kitsch. But that's me. BTW, I too am surprised at how many posts this thread has gotten! Art definitely strikes home, no?

Looks like a hen got out of a caged area, or lost. They are no match for wild predators, of course. Poor chicky didn't have a chance in the wild outdoors. Predators must eat. I've been enjoying all the wonderful photos and stories. Jane, Susan and others, I love your hawk photos and, as I only know two or three hawks, I would like you to give the ID, if you know it. Were the above hawks Redtail and then Cooper's? I have had two gangs of wild turkeys, woodchuck (adorable pest, dug next to the foundation, Grrr), and my buddies, the Virginia opossum/s. A few weeks ago there was a black bear sleeping in a roadside maple a few hundred feet uphill from us. For the past few days there has been a "big brown bat" in the house. I suspect he/she got into the house when DH removed the stovepipe to clean it. He did block the flue opening, so maybe "B-cubed" was in the section of wide stovepipe and tumbled out before the stovepipe was taken outside. Two nights ago, I waited until dusk dark, open the front door wide, and waited to see if the B-cubed would exit. Nothing. I hoped that BBB had flown out the opened kitchen window the day before. But, no. Last night DH slept in a chair in the room where B-cubed was last spotted. He heard it moving or landing or flying around. Well, this morning, we looked around the area where it had disappeared and found it clinging to some wainscoting in the shadow of some furniture. We moved it into a little metal cage for now. We tried to let it go outside but of course it was daylight, and cold wind blowing and ruffling its fur. The guy had not eaten or had any fluid for two days or more, so we brought it back into the cage and inside the house and put a little bit a water in her dish and some bread. Maybe we can get some live mealworms at a pet store. I have the cage covered to keep it dark. But here is my dilemma: since the bat arrived the temperatures have gone from 48 to 28°F and I would think the big brown bat should be in hibernation this time of year (?). I want this bat to live, and so I don't want him to succumb to the frigid night weather. I thought that maybe we could drive to where it there is a cow barn of something and let it go at dusk; but that isn't much of a guarantee is it? Any suggestions? Thanks. ed-- for clarity