My seedlings have mostly sprouted, all of the sweet pea and most of the calendula. It's about time to pot them out, and the probably last real rain of the winter has just passed. The veggie seeds were a bust, every last one. The sun comes in and out and the crocosmia are in their glory. So far everything I bought or planted is still alive, and believe me that's a first, especially the basil and lobelia which I kill regularly every year. The come back from my sojourn in the States has been rough, and I'm starting to feel as if I barely understand what I went through there in my heart and head, but slowly it is working it's way through my soul. The future, reltionships, wants and needs, plans and expectations, all are slowly fermenting, and I might not like all the answers, but hopefully I can trust them. The tickets for our yearly Folk festival here are bought, and so are the tickets for a special once in forever concert with Joan Armatrading, who is visiting here in the summer, and will be worth every penny. (BTW Kathy , June Millington and her band were especially delightful and exciting and wonderous onstage at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival for so many years, and please thank them for me for their talent and humor and courage). The kids are all fine and blossoming on the three continents where each one is right now, and my eldest, whom I haven't seen in over a year and a half, will be here for three months soon. We're all healthy, and working, a real blessing that we often gripe about but I am eternally grateful that I have a decent job. The hummingbirds are out in the day, the bats are out at night, and the neighborhood rats haven't come out yet, and neither have the skeeters. Life is good.

Morning all! Hope everyone had a terrific weekend! We're just waiting for 1 more box and this swap will be wrapped up. I know I am the worst at this, but, if everyone could remember to go the rate and review board and leave a review for your swapper that would be awesome! Sue, I'm digging your bingo winner today :) Hopefully will be going out later...the latest tomorrow. Just want it to be dry enough. We've had rain everyday!! OH MY'ERS: Shirley (brittneysgran) AND Alana (poisondartfrog) SWAP WITH EACH OTHER~~Shirley SENT~~Alana REC'D~~~Alana SENT~~~Shirley REC'D~~~COMPLETE frankielynn AND Sue (sueguanzon) SWAP WITH EACH OTHER~~~frannkielynn SENT~~~Sue REC'D~~~Sue SENT~~~Sue SENT~~~ Kathie (sinbadsmom) AND Jayeanne (pinkiris) SWAP WITH EACH OTHER~~~ Jayeanne (pinkiris) SENT~~~Kathie (sinbadsmom) REC'D~~~Kathie (sinbadsmom) SENT~~~Jayeanne (pinkiris) REC'D~~ COMPLETE Sheri (panhandle_seed_swap) AND Cinnie0 SWAP WITH EACH OTHER~~~Sheri SENT :)~~~~Cinnie0 REC'D~~~Cinnie0 SENT~~~Sheri REC'D~~COMPLETE Suzanne(hibiscusfan) SENDS TO Colcol ~~SENT~~REC'D~~COMPLETE Colcol SENDS TO Vina (flowergirl34)~~SENT~~REC'D~~~COMPLETE Vina(flowergirl34) SENDS TO Suzanne (hibiscusfan)~~~SENT~~REC'D~~~COMPLETE Have a great Monday! vina Iris: Carnival Song

To bzamp58 Hi, I make and decorate cakes. I have NO trouble at all with my recipes for doing cakes. I always use the roller. Just make sure you do the wet ingredients first. The add the dry. My cakes are light, moist, fluffy. (As with all recipes and the DLX the wet should go in first dry last). Thanksgiving...Whip Cream! My granddaughter is not too familiar with my DLX...was using white bowl and beaters, she said I can do the whip cream Gram. Huh well we had chunky almost butter whip cream! The look on her face was priceless. How we laughed! Just added a tablespoon of cream to the 2 cups whipped and consistency was fine for the pumpkin pie! And I am thrilled this year to have my DLX for all my Christmas cookie orders! So much easier! Last year I used my 1980 Kitchen Aid and did 3000 cookies in three weeks. I had been so booked with wedding cookies so got a late start! Still got a late start this year cause we did a total "kitchen make-over"! But now my wonderful DLX and new kitchen...I am so blessed! Time to get Pecan Tassies out of oven. May all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This is very exciting for you! I retired just a year ago and like RubyClaire I decided to take that time to just get used to my new life and its different pace. Some things that I couldn't wait to do now don't have the same appeal and other things have taken their place. I did minimal gardening over the summer just maintaining but not changing much in order to thoughtfully decide what exactly I want. Same for many other of my hobbies and interests. The best part for me is that I can spend large amounts of time doing things that I want and not having to cram them in evenings and weekends. I'll be doing a lot of experimentation trying new things and see where they go. I'm trying to thoughtfully enjoy the things I do, sometimes a luxury in my hectic, high pressure working years. If something isn't working for me or I don't like it enough I can take it out of the equation. I need to be mindful of that - not always easy or automatic for me. Enjoy your new adventures and have fun with the planning phase!