I have several streaked hosta seedlings which overwintered in the ground from last year, but got nipped by a rabbit. One h.'Blue Lightning' seedling is promising and just now develops a scape which I want to use with pollen from large blues. Last winter I started in November to grow streaked hosta seedlings from seeds provided by Mr.Hosta of Land of the Giants. Here are those seedlings of h."Blue Lightning', 'Topo Gigio', 'Fickle Blue Genes' and 'Dorothy Benedict'. They are bigger than last year's already. I got last year a freebie 'Powder Keg' from LOTG but that hosta did not survive. I bought this year h.'Justice' at a Hosta Library auction. How do I like them? I do not know yet. The seedlings which will survive my culls will probably have some stabilized divisions, but it will be interesting. I am interested to create a streaked large blue one. Bernd This post was edited by berndnyz5 on Tue, Jul 2, 13 at 19:32

Outside, I enjoy those books too--- my late FIL went to school with Ferrol Sams and we love his novels. I hadn't realized he wrote essays as well. "When attending art shows, I swear off coffee table books but I am weak." We share that weakness, lol. Seems I am "always" never going to buy another huge book... Beagles, that room is fantastic, and I do see your pile of books peeking out from under that chair to the left :-) I'm with you on the kindle, but every now and then I like to hold a real book. Even though I find myself pushing the edge of the page instead of turning it (hanging head). No screen can reproduce the heft and color of those prints in large books, there is something about a good quality art print that is somehow more convincing than an image on a screen. Sloe gin, over the past decade or so I've seen many people putting lovely shelving in their dining rooms to combine functions or simply bring books into a room that doesn't often see them. I love that look, of a literary dining room! And your basket sounds eminently practical, we use our shagreen boxes and ceramic bowls for the same purpose--- the "stuff" has got to be corralled somehow. I have seen that Circus book, Robo, and the Atomic Ranch book also, they are both marvelous! It's clear that our collective enjoyment of these tomes is at least partly for the esthetic quality of the books themselves in addition to the content. I suppose that's what makes them "useful" decor :-) In some cases they might function purely as decor, as the leather books you've used, tinam. Have you seen the book purses that are so popular in some circles? Kate Spade has or had a few, and there's quite a cottage industry on Etsy making real old books into small handbags. They aren't a tenth big enough for me, but I love looking at them!

This is what mine looks like. It's a year or so old. It actually holds quite a bit of debris in the container. The filters are very nice and easy to use. I did a lot of research before choosing it. I watched some very good you tube videos comparisons of it and roomba and a few others. By the way it has never got stuck it can work it's way out of tight spots. I don't leave any loose throw rugs out it could suck up. It does not go in random movements like the roomba it goes in a straight line just like you would vacuum. It's basically like a vacuum with out the upright handle. So on carpet you can see the path just like as if you had vacuumed it.

We have a Sleep Number bed, so old that the company was still called Select Comfort. It must be at least 20 years old, maybe 25. It's king size but has two air mattresses inside, so each can have the firmness they desire. My side has a slow leak that is getting worse, but the pump still works fine so I can reinflate it whenever I want. They have lots of models including ones that stay cool and ones where the head can raise and lower. We love it, and when we finally decide to replace it we'll probably get another one. Donna