Cynthia, SO nice to finally hear from you. I was getting worried about and "that fool dog of your's". I can't even begin to contemplate how hard this must be. At least with Rex he still had 3 legs left to hop around on... and while he may've been sore for some time he could at least move around and shift position without yelping. I really would like to see a picture if you're up to shooting it and then posting it. Hang tough! I love candles in the windows of a home (pictures? look who's talkin'). The only reason I don't do it here is that there are windowboxes under the roadside window and I fill them with greens that would hide the candles. But when I was a kid we used them. And, MARTIE, we added one for every Sunday in Advent! All the decorations were left up until the Epiphany (Twelfth Night) and they came down the next day. I finished the 3 pediments this afternoon and put them up. I like them. But need to add something pale/bright to the lower edge to keeping them from "oozing" visually into the window below... . Shoulda bought more .99 lemons at Wallyworld, damnit. I have the big pediment on the dining room table right now and am about to embark on that. Boxwood is holding up, and I'm a whiz at making white pine swags now. :) (smells really good in here and the cats are having a total blast... in and out, in and out, doing their wonderful kitty routines. (thinking of Cynthia and the candles). Norma, your photographs are lovely (no "blurries" here, either)! I see a lot more color than just green grass in those shots. I love the way Mother Nature changes the palette over the course of the seasons but gives us the shimmer of rain and snow, instead. Martie, Kyle should be excited about his position. He must be having the time of his life. I'm a bit envious, frankly! :) I'm still struggling with how Mum's life ended, Martie. Not that I think I could have done more (aside from the ususal regrets you feel when someone you love dies), but there are several things I would love the opportunity to go back and "fine tune". I've thought about your question repeatedly over the past few days and still don't really have what I want to say completely figured out. It's such a huge thing to face and I still feel the full force of the wave that overtook me and hurled me onto the beach. I'm still shaking my head and trying to "collect myself"; checking again and again to make sure "everything is here". A good, family plan is the perfect place to start and having the doctor know you is KEY. IF you're able, make sure your Mom's doctor "follows" her if she ends up living with her children or enters a nursing home. That's one of the things I most regret... I loved her doctor when she was with me. He was young, hip, and all about minimizing medications and keeping her ACTIVE. I deeply regret the loss of that when Mum entered that awful place. Many, many thoughts and reminiscences today... alone with my thoughts, the animals and my final project (helmeet working AND going out with his buddy tonight). Some tears, a lot of "singing along", and the appreciation that the decorations are really ALL Mum. I learned it somewhere, afterall! Thinking of my friends tonight and still hoping for some basic pointers on how to "light" a basic TECHINICAL shot with my camera. Please? (MY tent would have a perpetually warm hot water bottle, blue cheese and pate. A cat, a good biography... want to know more about Martin Luther and Abraham Lincoln. Sparkling water with lemon, and Pinot Grigio or a nice red wine. Clementines, olives, and almonds. It would smell like evergreens, too).

Good morning! I too try to visualize people and it rarely, if ever, works out. it is nice to put faces to names. Shirley, still thinking of you and keeping you in my prayers. i know that's your daughter, brittney and dawson -- who are the others (inquiring nosey minds want to know) and as for your mom, you never know what the next roommate may be, perhaps you can hold off on the move until you see what comes in LOL, however, I think I'd want to be with my own and her secrets kept!!!! annie your dogs are beautiful, as are you. my aunt and uncle, for as long as i can remember, were the first home for service dogs until they were ready to go into training. they had several different dogs from what i recall. sorry about your lizzie...i know how hard it is to lose a beloved pet. my next dog is going to be a shepherd, but it's been decided that we will only have one dog at a time now, so I have to wait my turn. (we'll see) i made an anniversary cake for a group i belong to, it was our 7 year anniversary so i made this massive cake. i filled it with alternating layers of buttercream and lemon curd, and dang, if it was not tasty. I was able to take a slice home for the family to taste and seriously wish there had been more leftover, would have made a nice breakfast!!!! a real nice combination, even though it started out that i was going to use raspberry as well...i just couldn't get enough to cook them down to make a nice sauce/filling. it's still so cold and seems to be staying that way until at least next week, when it's supposed to go to the high 40's, with rain. by then, i'll think it's summer. this cold is bone chilling and of course, they are calling for more snow. we haven't got much of it, but.....this year it is bothering me like mad! i shouldn't complain, there are parts of the country that are in the negatives, so i'll just keep my mouth shut on this subject any further! so whose left to post their pic? come out. come out whereever you are! speaking of which, jeanne, how are those triplets of late? is mary ellen still a part of this group? i feel like i haven't seen her in a long time...maybe since she became a grandmom, or right before that? hae a nice thursday! maryanne

ummm... i don't think smoking a bong is allowed! and drinking beer, well that would be allowed! i'm ok, jimi is my brother, but i raised him from a little thing!! LOL mom being a trucker and all. the other thing i can do pretty easy! pissing me off!! LOL he he he amazing aren't i! LOL funny how those kids are, when your not, looking they just do what they want!! my mom went and got tabor some of those heelys, so now he's like all cool. LOL sooooo, he wears them to church, so i make him change them, and he can wear them at break time, LOL the good news is my banana plant is comin out of it! before after like almost a week. so my banana plant is doing much bettr!! can't say much for the canna's. errr! one was just about to bloom too!! i was FINALLY gonna see this special yellow! LOL and one i've been waiting on never bloomed yet, won't this year thanks to the frost! that's it! i'm moving!! LOL :'))

Papa's little darling is a black/tan dachshund girl named Dixie. She is a huntress. After we added the "back forty" to our fenced space, she was enjoying exploring that new and shady locale. However, a week or so ago she disappeared one dark night and did not come when I called her to come in. It is my habit to let the two dogs out for a final business trip before we go to bed, and is usually over in a few minutes. But Dixie does not exactly pay attention to coming back when she gets her nose full of a scent like RABBIT, and we now have a rabbit coming into the garden to eat tasty stuff, and Dixie can track it everywhere it's been. So it was about 11 pm, and I was ready to go to bed. My flashlight batteries were DEAD, so I could not see how to walk in the stubbly field of cut bushes to look for her. Calling her name endlessly that late at night and clapping hands would not be appreciated by neighbors. I looked and looked, and listened for any sounds of her, all to no avail. Nothing. I went out front to the street to see if this little black dog could be out there, again no sign of her. I was sick at heart, because she is not wise to the ways of cars, and will follow her nose without looking up. I could not think about what I'd tell her papa in the morning when he called. So I turned on the front porch light, opened the blinds so I could see if she came up on the stoop, and waited. And waited some more. Around 2 am, there was a little scratch on the front door, and I looked that way to see her panting tongue lolling out the side of her mouth. She was ready to come home. She had scratches, a rash on her low slung belly, and by the next morning there were many bruises like finger prints around her back legs under the belly. I took her to the vet for babysitting (I was heading to Iowa next night), and they gave me something for the rash. Well, the same thing happened again Tuesday this week, only it was daylight, and I was watching the dogs while I watered my flowerpots. Suddenly no Dixie in the yard. I went calling again, no answer. I went to my neighbor's yard to see if she had gotten under our fence into HIS yard, but no. I was pretty mad at her this time. So I came back to our side of the shrubbery, and there she was, by the car in the driveway. Now I am putting her harness on with the leash attached to a large but movable object (a wire basket) so that she is slowed down, and cannot get far if she tries to go under the fence. This will be the routine until I can add a barrier around the new fence area, like we have under the old fence area, which will keep her from escaping. She is a quick learner. Poor little rabbit, I hope Dixie makes friends with it, and it grows up quickly to be bigger than she is. Anyway, here is a picture of her with her "ball and chain." I hope the animal cruelty folks don't catch me.