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

There are lots of ways to make pesto. I have made it half basil and half spinach....or half basil and half parsley...or roasted and skinned red peppers and sun dried tomatoes....or all spinach and blue cheese instead of parmesan, or a mix of parmesan and romano...or all romano and sub walnute for pignoli.... all combinations of the above are good. Think of pesto as a garlic, oil, cheese and nut thing with some sort of fairly assertive herb or vegetable added. Surely there is some combination Cookie would find good on pasta. Linda C

We just went from a 27" crt tv to a 42" LCD Emerson (bought at WalMart on Black Friday) for Christmas. We LOVE it. It's not even hooked up to HD, just DirecTV. We've only seen HD on it when I get a blu-ray from NetFlix. We really love the picture. We also got a Sony blu-ray player that can stream NetFlix. We got the 4 Monster HDMI cables (5 feet) on Black Friday for $10.00 each. We also got a Wii, which we also love. The bowling is so much fun. We will probably get a Wii Fit for it, too. When we get back to MN, we will get a 46" Sony Bravia or a 50" Sanyo plasma. Our tv has a refresh rate of 60, it works for us. And it cost $398 on Black Friday. The LED and the plasma have beautiful pictures, but the LED is a jump in price. I think they will drop though, as the stores push 3D more. The LED is noticeably brighter than the LCDs, to me. But they all look wonderful in the big sizes compared to a 20 or 26" CRT tv. Like being at the movies!

My mother is one of those people who loves to give gifts, but unfortunately, has no sense of what the other person likes. She orders junk out cheap catalogs, re-gifts (for instance, a make-up case where an eyeshadow or two was used), or wraps up prizes she won at bridge tournaments (keychains or BBQ tools marked "Delta Dealin' Regionals"). She is well-to-do, (maybe because she doesn't spend much on presents? ha) so she's not giving inexpensive items out of necessity. She just doesn't get it. Christmas is tricky--but my family chuckles. (My husband got a Humane Society calendar this year, the one they send for free if you've donated. He also received a plastic Thomas Kincaid corkboard/keyholder thing in a busted box that he immediately took to a "Dirty Santa" party.) But then I am left with boxes saying "As Seen on TV!," useless kitchen gadgets, hideous plastic decorative items and heavy sense of guilt for wanting to get rid of it all. "Gosh, it may not be much, but she chose it with love and wrapped it with me in mind. I can't just put it in a yard sale." I was wringing my hands over my quandary, as my closets slowly filled with unwanted items ("but my MOTHER gave me this!"), when a wise friend had a talk with me. She reminded me that when a gift is given to me, it is now mine to do whatever I like with it. It is not Mom's, with strings attached or say-so about what should be done with it. It is MINE. I own it and I have the authority to decide where it goes. And it is perfectly okay if I think it should be donated to Goodwill and be enjoyed by someone else who might love it and think they found a treasure, instead of sitting unopened and disliked in my closet. So I no longer feel bad about "recycling" her unwanted presents. The only time I've ever spoken to her about the issue was when I had to gently ask her not to give me clothes anymore, since her taste was so different than mine. Now I thank her And sometimes she does hit the mark and I am delighted by her gift. You cannot control someone else's desire to spend money on your presents. They enjoy shopping for you and they like thinking they found the ideal gift, even if it's expensive. Of course, if you don't like it, it makes you feel bad that they invested in it, but every so often you might get something you want and then the cost doesn't bother you, right? I think you're being very gracious about trying to decorate with this item to spare your mother's feelings. But it's not up to her what you do with it, because she transferred ownership when she gave it to you.