Larry, you may be behind last year, but you are ahead of me. My tomatoes are only about 4 inches high, but they look nice. I actually had to start over once. I started with a poor starting mix the first time and it dried out so quickly that I gave up and started over. Even after that, I planted too many seeds and probably have 60-70 plants, but I don't have a lot of variety. Outside I have planted onions, potatoes and a few peas. I threw some corn salad seeds in the onion bed, but I think the birds cleaned most of it up before it sprouted. When we had a hail threat, I covered one onion bed with row cover just to make sure I didn't lose them all, but the hail didn't come. I think the robins are having a family reunion in my garden this year. When we get past the next 10 days, then I will worry about getting everything in.

Sydney, Any news? Did you get a new camera? September 26 is day to mark. Why? Photokina will start that day. Photokina is a large convention in where all the camera companies show off the new lines, makes, and models. Some companies are already making announcements of what they will be showing. I see your price range and there are a lot of good cameras in that range. It seems that to meet your expectations you might look into getting a camera that allows you have manual controls over the camera. Do you want to stay with Point and Shoot or would you like to move to the DSLR range? Some things to think about: a P&S camera is compact and it easier to part from if you move on to another camera. If you go the DSLR route, you are just not buying a camera, you are buying into a system. Unless you have money to throw around you will most likely keep that camera a lot longer. You will have to buy lenses for the camera body. In most cases the lens can cost as much, or near, as the camera body. Therefore you find yourself dedicated to that company. There are some very nice entry level DSLRs out there. Nikon had the D50, I played with it for a while, but I decided to pass. I had the Canon XT Rebel, but I fell in love with the Olympus E500 so I gave the Canon to my wife. I can expand later if you want on these cameras if you want more info. Check dpreview.com you can find just about any camera there and it has customer ratings as well. Unfortunately, the best advice I can give you right now is when it comes to cameras, most salesman at retail stores donÂt have a clue, honestly, they donÂt. So donÂt listen to them. I get angered at times when I hear them make recommendations based solely on the amount of megapixels a camera has. This is just FYI but my current cameras are: P&S - Canon PowerShot 620, Olympus SP 500 UZ DSLR - Canon 300D XT/ Rebel, Olympus E500, Olympus E1 Zitro

I've suggested to a number of people over the years that we should keep busy and active ... and should keep making new friends. Some have wondered what they need to do that for - they have a number of friends as it is, tried and true ones that they've developed over the years. And I've suggested that in many cases a number of them are work-related and when we retire, our interests may well change. Also, as many retire, they may, for various reasons, move to distant locations, so while that friendship may continue, it isn't as active as earlier. Some become less able to relate, some become disabled, a number die, so the number of active, vibrant friendships tends to shrink. The problem does disappear, eventually ... ... when we're the one to cash in our chips. In the meantime, it's valuable to have a number of active, dynamic friendships ... keeps one busy and vital, longer. It seems to me that if we lack such ... it may well actually be shorter ... but just seem a lot longer. ole joyful

Really, any way of using this forum that produces useful feedback and information seems okay to me -- isn't that the whole point of the forum, to get and give ideas and help? Multiple posts, many questions, few answers, whatever. I don't get being critical of how someone else uses the forum, how often they post, or reply to other's posts. Not everyone who needs help will be able to provide it to others equally; often the OP responds to responses and never gets another response; continuing in a thread with a slight change of focus ( ie what about *this* color?) often also gets no further answers. And, as we all have experienced, the search function is often not helpful. I am *extremely* grateful for those who do respond frequently and helpfully! and, especially, for those with a talent for recalling other threads, reveals, and sites that can be helpful!