Well, I received Gary's HUGE package today! I felt like it was Christmas! LOL! He shared so many beans, you should all thank him for his generousity! And please GARY, let me know of some varieties that you DONT have so I can send you back some good ones in return! sugarshane, gardenmom2, and Zebraman, if you do not mind, could you just send me an email or post to let me know that you are still in this and if your beans are sent out yet? No problems, just wanted to double check with the people who I have not seen active on the thead lately. Christy ***bonechickchris~Christy ***dirtdiggin~Toni ***booberry85~Becky sunnyk~Donna ***highalttransplant~Bonnie gardenmom2~Nichol ***grymntl~Bruce ***tormato~Gary sugarshane1313~Jim sassybutterfly 2008~Wendy ***dem pa~Don zebraman ***Daniel aka dirtdiggin Jr. luvgardening2/Nancy ***remy ***arroyogardener/Jamie ***reynal/Danny (*** seeds Received)

We have all of Martin's books. My problem with your argument (which is a friendly one!) is you are assuming Weir writes romance novels when she doesn't. You said, "Who could possibly have come up with a fictional version of a 16th century king's life that would equal the facts of Henry VIII's?!" That kind of bit because that's not how Weir writes. Mantel also writes historical fiction. Does that mean Wolf Hall is a romance novel? No. Have you read any of Weir's non-fiction? She stays with fact and questions a lot of theories, because nobody really knows the dialogue back then, but both authors make up their own dialog & speculate in order to tell story. Weir may not have an academic background but that doesn't mean she's not a historian. She is labeled a Historian by others. I'm aware she's said she writes popular history, but that doesn't negate the fact she telling us what happened back then. Anyway, enough with "My author is better than your author." LOL. Lynn, when I'm reading I keep my iPad next to me so I can look up names and places. I keep Google Earth on England. :) In highschool one of my "dead" classes was being Library Assistant, and the Librarian is the one who turned me onto Holt. Which led to the Tudor era. BTW, did you see Hever Castle on G.E.?

I found a dessert in a book I already have called "The Bean Book" by Murdoch Books. Just a little book you probably get at the supermarket or K-mart or similar. It has alot of information about both beans and also international cooking terms for finding and using recipes from the net, also photo of aduki beans which was great because I hadn't seen them. The recipes of interest were Adzuki bean and date icecream, poached egg with asparagus and black beans, black and white bean salad etc. What a great find.

Sylviatexas, yes, I have eaten mock apple pie that a friend's mother made for an after school treat when I went home with her after school one day about 1955. I had never had it, and if I had not been told, I would have thought it was a slice of apple pie. The Ritz crackers are halved, and the only thing that gives it away is that the edges of the "apples" are scalloped or look like they have been peeled with pinking shears. That was an interesting visit. When my friend introduced me to her mother, her mom gasped and asked if I was Jack ____'s daughter. I replied that I was, and she proceeded to tell me how he was so handsome and she had had a crush on him in their single days. At dinner that night I related this mom's report of my dad. He was tickled to hear that a girl he did not remember from his past remembered him. I have seen pictures of my dad from back then, and he looked like a slender Bert Lancaster.