Jerri's link is the better one, because the HRG has the two page flyer link. On the ARS page, there's a calender, and when you cursor over the highlighted dates, it tells what's happening and where. First, don't y'all just love the picture of Old Grey Cemetery on the first page of the brochure. There is no charge for the day. Additional speakers include Bill Patterson from Roses Unlimited and Marily Young who has now been in the southeast for maybe seven years and who grows a passel of roses. We are definitely going to be there. I think we'll try to visit Riverbanks bot garden on the way down the day before.

I don't post very often, so cannot find a post right now to see "my page" to see what my official anniversary is. My profile page does not say, but the zip code showing corroborates my memory that I could have been registered since about 1991 or so. I, too remember Spike and the teacups. Those posts that earned a trip for someone to the teacups were often very fun! I remember several members that I miss off and on, but I like the "newbies" here, too. I come to read almost daily as I have since I found the cooking forum so may years ago. As with any family there is some tension sometimes and I even recall a period of time where there was so much trouble here I almost wrote this forum off, but thank goodness we all get over things and try again. Great recipes, great information, great people, great fun!

Congrats Sharon...you're a rare one..I've noticed some of the hollywood types who've had it done have put their weight back on...I know the constant battle you face...losing weight ain't for sissies!

Frieda - The Siege of Krishnapur would be in the OK category for me. Nothing special, but not bad either. I've got a bit of a soft spot for it, though, as it was the last one I needed to get to complete my collection, so I was very pleased when I found a nice copy on ABE and the parcel arrived through the door. It's a while since I read The Sea, The Sea so I don't remember the particular scene that you mention - obviously it didn't strike me in the same way as it did you. Life of Pi is most certainly not a fantasy, and it doesn't have any talking animals. Part of the pleasure of the book is the unsentimental way that animals are treated. Here's my review of it from the RP review thread we did a few years ago. (I think I might try reviving that...) ================================================== This is one of the few times when a Booker Prize winner lives up to the type. I've rarely enjoyed a book so much. It's not a difficult read, but it's got enough in it to make anyone think. It's full of little twists, and some lovely touches of humour. It's the story of a sixteen-year-old boy called Pi (as in 3.14159 - you'll have to read the story to find out why!). He and his family are on a cargo ship on it's way to Canada, carrying several large zoo animals; the ship is shipwrecked, and Pi finds himself on a lifeboat with a zebra with a broken leg, a hyena, an orang-utan - and a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Which makes for a bit of a tense atmosphere.... It really is one of those books where I envy anyone coming to it for the first time. I'm sure I'll read it again soon. Here's just a few extracts that particularly appealed to me. I hope they give a flavour of the book, without giving anything away. It was my first clue that atheists are my brothers and sisters of a different faith, and every word they speak speaks of faith, Like me, they go as far as the legs of reason will carry them - and then they leap. I'll be honest about it. It's not atheists that stick in my craw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for a while. We must all pass through the Garden of Gethsemane. If Christ played with doubt, so must we. If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" then surely we are permitted doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation. I am not one to hold a prejudice against any animal, but it is a plain fact that the spotted hyena is not well served by it's appearance. It is ugly beyond redemption. He's petulant! It's morning in Bethany and God's hungry; God wants His breakfast. He comes to a fig tree. It's not the season for figs, so the tree has no figs. God is peeved. The Son mutters, "May you never bear fruit again," and instantly the fig tree withers. So says Matthew, backed up by Mark. My fellow castaway came into view. He raised himself on...