Perfect, absolutely perfect... Jane, yes...that's the house and thankyou so much for the pictures of it..it's one of the chosen places I really want to see in person, if the day comes I jump aboard the clipper.. Kathy and Kathy....both are excellent... if I wasn't so adamant about gardening, with actual dirt and plants, I would love to fill my yard with this same kind of yard art but that never was the goal of what's transpired with my battle with the gestapo guy... I always had tripling up the garden space, with whimsical things added all around..but it's been an uphill fight, for months with the next door neighbors and for the life of me, I don't know why they don't just get a life and leave me alone.. before they had the fence built, I could understand them not liking the pile of junk I had on the side of the house..that was acceptable..I mean acceptable that they didn't like it all.. but after the fence was built, they just didn't let up. the day the survey was finished and I had a copy of it all in my possession, I was like given a second chance at life itself.. you know when you're in a restaurant and by chance you end up at a table, where the noisiest people in the world seem to gather..not just a couple but an entire extended family and they talk a mile a minute, top of their lungs and you wonder if they will EVER shut up or EVER leave... then, they finally finish and leave the place.. you sit back and are so tired from them all, that you just sigh a sigh of relief... or if you're out camping..in the quiet, in the woods..and some idiot cranks up the car radio, or battery operated radio, with music you detest....and they have a 'good ol' boy' party, bbq... drinking...then arguing, then either the cops are called or they finally pass out, till morning, when they start it all over again.....finally, camping is over and you go home, exhausted.... well, having the survey papers confirming my thoughts that the fence was on my side of the property.... that was the same kind of 'silver lining' in the clouds that came over me.. I could think straight, I could sleep at night, I could feel comfortable in knowing my boundries, both realistically and figuratively.. it was awesome... now, since we've gotten rid of what I believe were the points of concern...solid waste..(appliances that showed, since the carport fell down from snow) and the bags of coffee grounds and other misc...I don't think there's any reason for me to concentrate on anything other than my gardening in potted plants and raised beds, with the other garden junk art that I had planned. if he has a problem with any more, I will take it up with the county and file harassment charges. it's just gotta stop somewhere. and....I will have more than one person here, in my defense, to walk around, while 'gestapo guy' does the same. I have 30 different emails I've sent to myself, from google, emails and posted pictures on here and other albums some of you have in your own folders... there must be no less than at least a hundred photos... all of them too cool to single any out.. thankyou to any and all of you, who have contributed to this cause..I appreciate it so much. and sure wish you could all converge in my yard, the day he shows up...lol sincerely, Becky .(*_*).

I was just thinking I should add up what I've spent already: $167 just the other day for a trellis, 6 potted Summer Skies delphinium, 2 Carefree Beauty, 1 Vanso clematis, and peony hoops (for my hydrangea). Maybe about $15 on composted manure, $25 on bypass pruners, $30 on 5 small Yews for some evergreen interest. About $30 on bareroot Sarah Bernhardt peonies. So far about $267.00 I'm planning to purchase about 10 more roses yet this season which will most likely include Pretty Jessica, Konigin Van Danemark, Sharifa Asma, Frontenac, Quietness, Morden Blush, and Prairie Joy. I also may spend additional $ yet this season on blue companion plants. I seem to have a thing for pink roses with blue companions.

As much joy as I feel for all of you with the arrival of some reasonable spring weather-I feel equally jealous. :-) The sun is shining here today for the second day in a row, maybe 1/2 dozen sunshine days all winter. I have veritable mountains of snow all around me. They ran out of room to put snow here in my community because we had so much this year. Right now there is at least 6 feet of snow covering my garden area...sigh. We have to go back to MN at the end of April for an extended period of time. We need to vacate our little apartment here so I am hoping and praying we have some of the snow melt off by then. It won't be very pleasant trying to empty the furniture if this sticks around which looks likely this year. On the other hand, my daughter tells me that back in MN the weather is as wonderful as it is unusual, she is already starting the spring clean up in the gardens there.

Hi Nola - I assume you're asking about Sumi-e glass tile, correct? When I talked to the tile vendor and tile maker (Walker Zanger and Lunada Bay, respectively), they were pretty adamant on installing the glass tile on cement board. The Lunada Bay guy said that the tiles may or MAY NOT fall off, and if you've gone a year without anything coming off, you're probably fine. THAT BEING SAID, I just googled and saw this guide that says you can install glass tile on drywall if it's an area that doesn't get a lot of moisture. Has your contractor installed glass tile before? Glass can be persnickety to install and there are special considerations like using a latex-modified thinset (preferably white). I know that the sumi-e tile you want to use is not inexpensive, so you want to make sure your contractor has a lot of experience with glass tile installation. Hopefully Bill V. will see this post and confirm that drywall is okay. Here is a link that might be useful: Glass Tile Installation