Vacation Bottleneck area

AOL was featuring this on their Welcome screen. We have about 4 areas that are trouble areas highlighted on this CNN map. That's out of the entire country! They mention Lancaster, PA (about 35 minutes from me) , the Delaware/Maryland shore, the Jersey shore and the Poconos. I can get to most of these areas in around 3 hours or less. So you can see what a pain it is to travel for us. I have to say I love the Delaware/Maryland shore area and Lancaster. When you go to places a lot, you learn the back roads, etc.
Speaking of traveling, even venturing down to Philadelphia is a trip and a half. We were thinking about going to the Live 8 concert, but with all the masses of people it's a turn-off. I am sure people will be sleeping around the concert area (if this is allowed). It's all they talk about on the news. I had forgotten the tickets to the Live Aid concert back in 1985 were $50 each. It was in the old JFK stadium and it was hot! I was pregnant (not with Sean, had a miscarriage), so we taped it all. It doesn't seem like it was 20 years ago.

Some of my favorite places-my gardens...

This fairy/gnome garden use to be my rose garden. There are some mini yellow and orange marigolds plus some snapdragons and blue lobelias on this side. On the other side (referring to the other side of the ancient stone birdbath) are the gnomes and some trailing herbs and a big plant of babies breath. I found those cute mini bed posts at Kohls one year and they are on either side of the garden (get it-'garden bed'). The bush you see in this photo is a pink spirea. I love the red mulch and use it in 5 areas around the yard.

This is my little pond. I mostly have flowering plants in pots like sunny pale yellow petunias, mini orange marigold and lime green sweet potato vine. That is a neat gazing ball, like a champagne color and it's crackled. I do have purple and pink flowers (salvia, lobelia, dianthus) planted around the gazing ball. I an see the waterlily blooming it's deep pink flower in the middle of the pond. I added some Japanese irises to in between the stones near the wrought iron fish. In the background you can see the butterfly bush (under the bay window that faces this area, the backyard). There are some tiny white petunias, a yellow coreopsis and a hanging pot of more petunias and portulaca at the corner of that area.

This is a corner of my house next to a metal basement door (the kind that opens up) that needs painting. I ripped out a ton of viney growth and added some herbs, dianthus, marigold, daisies and even some eggplant, a couple of yellow pepper and a roma tomato. As you can see it's very English garden like right now, which I like. The big pot is full of red & white candy cane striped petunias. The other plant that you can't see is in a sofa table that lost it's glass. It has petunias and portulacas in it.

Invasion of the Japanese beetles

As a gardener, I dread the destructive Japanese beetle. For such an unusual and almost pretty bug, they are a nightmare. I see nibbles everywhere. I got out the bug juice and even sprayed my sunflowers, and about 4 of the beetles came to the top of the leaves and I could almost see them coughing from the spray.
I know some history about Japanese beetles. I can't believe they were actually brought to this country! Why not throw some locust in too! I bet they came from foreign soil also. Eat everything that people grow!!
The Chestnut trees are dropping their fuzzy bombs all over everything now. What's falling is like a skinny animal tail about 6" long. And this year we have a bumper crop of them. In the fall the needle-like burrs with the chestnuts inside come a tumbling down followed by the leaves. We had a Lowe's gift card and I was pushing for Brian to get a chainsaw-no luck! Just give them a little trim, please?

Dark red lily amongst the rhododendrons. 

Lime green sweet potato vine with some mult-color portulacas hiding underneath.

Peach Chiffon calla lily is poking up out of the soil. (It was only one bulb). 

I've been waiting for these babies to open up and the rain enticed 6 of them to pop open since yesterday. 

My son...now an official college student

Sean went down for registration and to get his ID at Penn State yesterday. He will be taking basic Freshman courses plus a 'required' seminar class and gym class. His earliest class is the one he is looking forward to the most-'Intro to Metereology' at 8:30 two days a week. Now it will depend on this class (in my opinion) to see if he likes that as a major. His advisor said he could swing over to Environmental Science which would be minus some of the required math that his major has. He's all finished at 2:20 every day.
He went to the mall afterwards, the same mall I use to hang out at when I was his age. Funny how things go in circles. His dad also went to that same Penn State campus. We're thinking Sean could get a job at the mall. One day, I think it's Tuesdays, he has to kill 3 hours between classes.
He seems optimistic about it all. It's a 36 mile drive every day for him. He goes to school from August 30th-December 9th. Not too bad.

Thanks for the rain

Just when I thought I couldn't lug another watering can to another hanging planter, the skies opened up today. Thanks to my pal Charlotte who probably sent it our way from Ireland. She was talking about expecting rain there last week.
I love walking around in weather like this. It's not pouring rain, we are having spurts of rain. I was hand pulling weeds as I walked around earlier as the earth was now damp instead of holding those buggers in like cement.
We went over to my father-in-law's yesterday to give him some belated birthday gifts. When you don't know what to get, get a basket of food. Older people love that. Brian had gone with me to the store and we picked out a few things we knew his dad liked but probably rarely bought as a treat. We all looked nice, I even wore a new aquamarine colored skirt, a neat crochet type top and pretty shoes and beads hoping we were taking his dad out to eat. No, as usual, he didn't want to go out. We ended up at Boston Fart-ket, I mean Market ( that food made us so gassy) and we brought him a platter back and he ate all by himself. Dad-o was trying to push some 20 yr old Estee Lauder make-up off on me that had sat on the back of a toilet all those years. What a nice gesture, like I am only good enough to offer old stuff to, but he won't say I look nice.
We also stopped in the 90 degree heat and bought him a large, beautiful pot of golden dahlias and a smaller pot of marigolds. Sometime this summer, we will paint the trim on his porch too. Our other gifts were a wheelbarrow and a shovel that dad-o wanted.
Later dad-o told Brian to go check out the 'tiles in the bathroom'. Hmmm....did he finally Mop&Glo the small floor? No, he got taken in by an infrommercial that was hawking tile restoring stuff. The damn grout he was restoring is suppose to be terra cotta colored! I don't know if he ruined what he did or not but it has a milky white coating over it now. Instead of worrying about stuff like that, he should get his yard tidied up. Hire someone-save your money. Talk about eccentric.

Stitching Blogger Question...

Are there any types of designs that you won't stitch?
Because I do charity stitching for Love Quilts, I have done almost every kind of design from Precious Moments to flowers. I think the Precious Moments are cute, but I wouldn't do them for myself, maybe for Tori if she asked.
Computer generated charts can be the pits sometimes if the person who did the chart didn't adjust the colors correctly. I bought one of Rose from Titanic on eBay and started to do her only to find that her face was gray! That was a waste of money. If I ever try to do the design again, I have a lot of color fixing on it.
I also probably wouldn't do a design that I have seen dozens of times on the internet. I won't name the designer, but these are usually of elegant ladies. If you love them and do them, that is wonderful, but I am quirky, I like things that are a bit different. At least do them on different color fabric than what the designer suggests or change the colors to make it your own.

Golden Girl

Jessica Savitch was a popular news anchor in the late 70s-early 80s until her untimely death from being trapped in an over turned station wagon that had ended up in a canal in New Hope, PA. Personally, I can't go in that area without thinking about Philly's very own 'Golden Girl'.

"A native of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Jessica Savitch began her broadcasting career at age 14, working on a radio rock show for teenagers. While earning her degree in the television-radio department at Ithaca College, she was an announcer for the College’s television station, WICB, and worked in radio at Rochester’s WBBF. After graduating in 1968, she joined WCBS radio in New York City. She moved to television at KHOU in Houston and in 1972 became the news anchor at KYW-TV in Philadelphia."

The tv movie about Ms. Savitch (1995) starring Sela Ward was on Lifetime this morning. She really was a wonderful news anchor and I remember admiring her when she anchored in Philly and was not surprised when she went on to national fame.
I know of the house in Kennett Square where Ms. Savitch lived with her family before her father died and her mom moved the family to Margate, NJ. For some reason I thought she went to Kennett High School, so I guess I just forgot that she moved away from here when she was about 12. I am sure she used the same building as Sean if she didn't go to Catholic school. I'll have to look in her bio sometime. She's like one of this area's most famous residences, right up there with the Wyeths. I am sure she traveled down our road many a time.

Jessica Savitch-gone 22 yrs. It's hard to believe.

Not a happy scene from Ladder 49. 

Local tragedy

There had been three little boys missing in Camden, NJ since Wednesday night. They were 11, 6 and 5. Tonight they were found dead in an abandoned car that the police said they had checked the first night they were missing. So everyone is wondering if the police checked the trunk (the car was right next to one of the boy's home in a grassy lot) or that someone killed them and snuck them in the trunk. This is so sad.
I never let Sean play outside by himself when he was young. Why were those little boys with an 11 year old? Why didn't the older one have sense not to get into a trunk of a car? So many questions. You would think someone would hear them kicking on the lid of the trunk if they got stuck in there. It's been warm here too. I just hope there isn't foul play involved.
Sean rented 'Ladder 49' the Joaquin Phoenix (really 'his' movie) and John Travolta movie. The ending wasn't what I expected, so I was bummed about that and then had to hear about the little Camden boys made me feel terrible for their families.
Earlier I was surfing from a James Taylor link (he is on the AOL screen tonight) and was reading up on Sally (JTs daughter) foundation called 'The Tranquility Project' which is to help do away with land minds around the world. The late Princess Diana was an advocate about this. Good work Sally and good luck with your natural food line called 'Sally in the Raw'. She's a cool lady. I had the privilege to see her in a free concert with her band a few years ago. I must be a long, lost cousin of that family because I feel so akin with many of them.
I'm following Abby's blog about a 16 yr old guy named Zach down in Memphis who 'came out', telling his parents he was gay and only having them toss him in a place to 'get the gay' out of him called 'Love in Action' which is a load of crap. There's a big protest going on to 'Free Zach'. I hope it at least helps to get him out of there and closes the place down.

I got my hair 'touched up' and the stylist thought it would be interesting to see how my hair looked ironed since she does that to her own hair! Man, is it straight! BTW, this is what happens when you take your own photo. I would say to hold your chin up, unlike me.

Things aren't too bad right now

It was Bri and my follow-up visit today to check out our bloodwork from last week. I was pretty good all day until an hour before our appointment. The weigh in is the worse to me. I was feeling bloated all week and nothing fit right. Bri and I went in together to see the PA (physician's assistant) and held our breath. I guess you generally know how you feel most of the time. Well my cholesterol was about 146 but my triglyerides were again borderline high. The good news is that my liver function tests were normal. Thank goodness! The PA didn't think I needed to get the AMAs (anti-mitrochrondrial antibodies) checked if the LFTs were in the normal range. She will send them along to the GI doc for evaluation.
What's really excellent is that Brian's cholesterol and triglyerides came down quite a bit from last year but are still higher than they should be. It's the fish oil people! He's been taking fish oil capsules for about 6 months. I should take it. I just don't want to take 1,000 mgs of it. He says it gaves him tummy trouble sometimes. That I don't need.
If we can work on the above and throw some exercise in there, we are doing pretty good for middle-agers. I have a few more doctors to see this summer-gyn, dentist, eye doctor, but I have to keep optimist about those upcoming visits and just get through them.

Super Size Me!

Not exactly the best documentary to watch after you've eaten the food scorned by the producer of Super Size Me. Morgan decided to eat at McDonald's for 3 meals each day for an entire month. He wanted to see if a court case against McDonald's (by two teenage girls) was worth sueing this world force fast food restaurant for. Morgan threw up after he finished his first 'Super sized' meal. Morgan kept eating and eating. He went from being a healthy 30 something man who weighed 185 to a sickly guy who weighed 209 pounds. His liver was ailing badly. His cholesterol was through the roof. As a footnote at the end it said it took him only one month to put on 24 pounds and 15 months to get it off.
Is this more than a wake up call for so many of us? This guy was consuming tons of sugar along with the massive doses of fat.
I have to admit I like a fast food burger maybe once or twice a month. I could go for pizza over burgers anytime. I prefer the broiled Burger King Jr. Whoppers. I like McDs fries better. My favorite is Wendy's Crispy chicken sandwich. I am overweight, but I have been around the same weight for years. My blood pressure is good (usually) and my cholesterol was borderline high last year. Brian's was high. We are going to the doctor tomorrow to see what our bloodwork shows. Always scary to me.
One of the doctors said it's okay to eat at these kind of restaurants once in a while. Sometimes it's just too easy to drive on through and get a sack of fat. But I have to say this was an eye opener. I didn't look when the man who drank 4 gallons of soda a day was getting a gastro bypass operation.
I say eat sensibly and move your butt by gardening, walking and doing exercises. That's the only way to be fit. I should live by my own words.

Cotton candy pink petunias. 

My 'crop circle' of baby flowers. The wildflowers are closest to the middle. The next row is a strong showing of zinnias. This is partially shaded by our old chestnut tree. Incidently, we use to have a satellite dish here and had a hunk of cement in the middle of the yard there, hence the garden. I have a dish of colored stones and plastic do-dads in the middle that I try to pass off as a bird bath.

Glorious lilies-they remind me of a sunset. 

Gardening update

I am really pleased with the way the flowers and shrubs are taking off this year. It's bloom city here! From the viburnum to the magnolia and dogwood-they are loaded with flowers. Though the peonies and azaleas must need food because they are straggly and didn't bloom much. I just happened upon a box of Miracle Gro for azaleas and rhododendrons (they bloomed fine).
The petunias are making a nice show and are so bushy rather than leggy. I have them in beautiful shades of pale yellow, lavender, pinks, purples and red and white striped.
I planted two 'crop circles' as everyone is calling my seeded gardens. Both are doing excellent! Nothing is eating anything-yet that is. My flower seed garden is loaded with zinnias, cosmos, marigolds and other wildflower seeds. It really needs thinning in the wildflower part of the circle, but I can't seem to get myself to pull them out.
Portulacas came up by themselves in many places. I salvaged some from off the top of my plastic strawberry jars (planted with lime green and purple sweet potato vines on the tops and portulacas in the holes). The sweet potato vines are doing great also-I have never seen them any so bushy before.
I am disappointed in the moon flower seeds I planted. I soaked them as instructed on the package and only three of the 8 seeds emerged. I am hoping a good rain will make them pop.
Did I say how pretty the snapdragons and dianthus are too? Gorgeous rainbow shades. And my roses that didn't die bloomed like champs.
The lilies are taking their bow next. I love them too.

The birthday boy (Uncle Don) is in the hat next to his sister my mom (Jeanne). 

Three handsome young men- David (20); my Sean and Patrick(16).

Party yesterday

The immediate family minus two of my three brothers came out to our house to celebrate my Uncle Don's birthday (a week late)/Father's Day/Sean's graduation (he got 2 gifts). I worked my butt off as earlier described so the yard would be a nice place to sit and walk around in. Everyone remarked about the flowers, which I appreciated.
At the picnic we had three scares. Brian's dad had a choking/panic attack. It seems when he is around a lot of people and eating, this happens once in a while. Brian said he almost had to do the Heimlich maneuver on him, but I believe he was just panicking so much he 'thought' something was still stuck. I didn't see all this as when Brian was helping his dad, my mom said food was sticking in her throat! It wasn't something I made, but both people said it was from the same food that someone else brought. Then later mom was bringing around a flower planter for Uncle Don and she tripped on one of my flowerpots and went forward and skinned her shin a bit. She is more achy today from driving out here. So we had some excitement to say the least.
I look out at Sean's old swing set which got a workout yesterday and miss the little ones. They had fun out here and I'd wish they'd visit more often.

Thanks for the blog extra Mindy : ) This doesn't seem very flattering in some things, but if you check out any other month for the 19th, I bet it says the same thing. I do believe I am 'an original' and may not like the same thing the majority of people like. I am alone a lot which is true. I do not feel I am an angry person. Wonder if Jodie Foster and Meg Ryan would like this intepretation of our shared birthday?

Your Birthdate: November 19

Your birth on the 19th day of the month adds a tone of independence and extra energy to your life path. But at the same time, it poses a number of obstacles to overcome before you are able to be as independent as you would like. The number 1 energy suggests more executive ability and leadership qualities than your path may have indicated. A birthday on the 19th of any month gives greater will power and self-confidence, and very often a rather original approach. However, a somewhat self-centered approach to life that may be in conflict with some of the other influences in your life. This 1 energy may diminish your ability and desire to handle details, preferring instead to paint with a broad brush. You are sensitive, but your feeling stay somewhat repressed. You have a compelling manner that can be dominating in many situations. You do not tend to follow convention or take advice very well. Consequently, you tend to learn through experience; sometimes hard experiences. The 19/1 is a loner number and you may experience feelings of being alone even if you are married. You may take on a tendency to be nervous and angry.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Stitching Blogger question

A little late...
"Do you feel the need to stitch a specific design from a specific designer just to say you've experienced stitching one of their designs?"
This is a difficult one to answer.
I collect certain designs that I love like The Prairie Schooler charts.
I get the yearly Just Cross stitch ornament magazines which contain lots of designs from different designers. I would say they make me curious to stitch from them because of their different styles. I definitely wanted to stitch a Teresa Wentzler design and did her 'Celtic Cross' from one of the Christmas issues and saw how difficult that was.
I may shy away from designers if they use all overdyes or too many 1/4 stitches.

Little squares for eyeballs

Sean rented 5 DVDs this week. One or two seems to be enough for me in a month's time. A few of them I watched from the corner of my eye like the one called 'Team America' with the foul-mouthed 2 feet tall puppets. I really don't need to see puppets 'in the act' in various positions. I am sure Sean learned a lot from that one. The other was a Bill Murray movie called 'The Life Aquatic'. He was like Jacques Cousteau and the marine life were computer enhanced enough to look like they were swiped from 'Finding Nemo'. The funny thing was seeing Owen Wilson playing Bill's long lost son from Kentucky.
We watched the last one tonight 'Secret Window' (based on a Stephen King short story) starring Johnny Depp (I'm a big JD fan) and it wasn't too bad. A 'mild' thriller. JD had that longer hair with the blonde highlights and the Clark Kent glasses.

We are still getting ready for the party picnic. Yesterday I did 1.5 hours of weed whacking and went grocery shopping in the early evening. Today I was tidying up the family room. I am all 'tidied' out. I am so tired of trying to get things in order and the guys leave newspapers on the floor. All Brian does is complain about having people over and he doesn't even ask what he can do. I would have more parties if I had more help.
More to do tomorrow-cooking corned beef and making potato and pasta salad. I have to get lunchmeat, tomatoes and rolls for hoagies too.

Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum

Phantom of the Opera & Cape May

Ok, I have a little more time here. Heck, I'm tired.
I watched the movie 'Phantom of the Opera' last night and enjoyed it almost as much as I did the actual stage show that I got to seen back in 1992 in Philadelphia. Nothing really compares to seeing a stage show and the excitement of sitting in great sets and seeing the director Hal Prince a few rows ahead of us is a special memory for me. I just love the music and I was singing all evening. The costumes and scenery were spectacle too. Emmy Rossum made a sweet Christine. The Phantom, Gerald Butler was a little too good looking even without his mask. There was a little more to the story line. I'd recommend it for all the above.

The Jon Stewart show is on and a 'reporter' just did a story out of Cape May, New Jersey, one of my favorite spots. But he was talking about men being able to wear speedos there again. And he had a 'ball' camera in his speedo (tacky) to get people's reaction to his 'pair'. When they came back to Jon, his face was red as a beet.

Here I am...but a quick note

I do not recommend having events two weeks in a row. The graduation was one thing, but getting the house ready for a party is another. I will never have my house in 'apple pie order' because there is just too much in it at this given point in my life. I did an excellent cleaning job with the bathroom closet. I hauled out 4 bag of old stuff-first aid, old reusable razors, towels and sheets (and tons of junk). I didn't do the tippy top shelf yet. Yesterday was the kitchen, and I still am working on that. I did toss out some old plastic stuff though.
Bri and I got the bloodwork donethis morning and it was a problem not having 'orders' first. The lab tech got pissy, but I told her we'll do an appt for next week. I don't think they tested me for my liver enzymes. I can see another trip in for that.
My schedule is screwed up, but I have to food shop later and get gas for the can and van. Yesterday some guy who said he was our neighbor asked if we had gas as he had run out. I had Sean check and we had half a can and he took it and brought it back empty! I know it's only a few dollars of gas, but that wasn't cool. I didn't tell Brian as we went against his rule of opening doors to strangers. First, I had a locked screen door, then I had Sean get the can and watched him while the guy stayed around the front. If either of us were alone, we wouldn't answer the door. I couldn't see out the peep hole in the door, so I probably wouldn't have opened the door. It was around the time Brian comes home, so I thought he was just coming home early. I learned my lesson, but I also was the good Samaritan too.

Heck of a lot to do

We are having a belated birthday party/Father's Day/Sean grad party this Sunday coming up. It's a very small party-probably around 10 people. That means I have a lot to do to make the house presentable for those in attendance who do the 'white glove test'. I doubt my brother reads this, but I am talking about you Ken! : ) I am actually going to clean out my bathroom closet tomorrow to make room for 'extras' that accumulated on the floor. And the kitchen is another story. I see my plastic containers are multiplying again, so I better go through them. At least it's a good way to get the house cleaned up.
Brian and I are going for bloodwork Thursday morning to get our triglycerides checked out. I am surprised the doctor's receptionist let me make the appt without an exam from the doctor (or a paid office visit). I hope it's not a different story Thursday morning. I need to get my liver enzymes checked every year (thanks Lyme Disease, I think). This is unnerving to me. I just compare how I feel from this time last year, and it's about the same I think. I am having some nights where I am up and down all night and finally fall asleep around 5-6 am. That's happened about 3 times in the last month and a half. It doesn't really make me feel too terrible the next day.
Sean's first 'free' day today. He rented about 5 videos! I asked him to get 'The Aviator' and
'Phantom of the Opera'. We started to watch 'The Aviator' and it's not bad.
Are you really surprised about the Michael Jackson verdict? I'm not. I think he won't be letting any non-family members ever stay at his house again. That would be a wise thing to do. Too bad he made himself so weird looking.

Is it just me...

...or are people hopelessly tacky? Like at Sean's graduation last night people were asked not to hoot and holler when their child went up for their diploma. Did they listen? No, it was like a 'I can hoot and holler louder than you' contest. Some people even had air horns! The last graduation I attended, not being the graduate, was my younger brother's graduation in 1978. This one family there must have started the hoot and hollering through the decades tradition. So no one hoot and hollered when Sean went up to the podium, though his dad and grandfather were there and went and gave him a more private 'shout out'. So there! And we have some awesome photos of Sean too.

I have a disorder

Found this on Abby's blog:

Doctor Unheimlich has diagnosed me with Dianne's Disorder
Cause:	mosquito bite
Symptoms:	tongue forking, sudden hyperactivity, seizures, vague breast pain
Cure:	bleach

Father and Son. This photo gives me the warm fuzzies. 

Coming down the steps in the front of the school. 

Sean at his graduation with dear ol' mom. It was a steamy day, but very memorable. 

It's not photo shopped! This photo is taken through a steamed up lens. The house is cool, the outside is humid. 

One of my planters on the front step. I love the coleus! 

Books I have read...

Snagged from Mindy's blog... highlight the ones read (not sure if I read the entire book for some of the ones listed. I read some in high school which was a long time ago!) I also took a course to write for children and read some of the books listed here for that. This is a good list to have because I see quite a few books that are classics that I would like to read someday. This post did a number on my eyes and my brain. I just can't remember everything that I have read in the last 35 years. There were a few books missing like 'A Separate Peace' by John Knowles, and books by Susan Howatch who is a great author. Even James Joyce has had a ton of other books. Why all the Roald Dahl and Jacqueline Wilson books?Well, I have seen a lot of the movies or tv specials of the books-does that count too? Movie I have seen will have a * next to it.
1.The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien *
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee*
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. 1984, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte*
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier *
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger*
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott*
19. Captain Corellis Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy*
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell*
22. Harry Potter And The Sorcerers Stone, JK Rowling *
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling *
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling*
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien *
26. Tess Of The Durbervilles, Thomas Hardy*
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck *
30. Alices AdventuresIn Wonderland, Lewis Carroll *
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl*
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson*
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert*
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery*
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams (maybe)
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald (not sure)*
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh*
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell*
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens*
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett (maybe)*
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King (maybe)
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy*
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell *
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (maybe)
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough*
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding (maybe)*
71. Perfume, Patrick Susskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl (maybe)
75. Bridget Joness Diary, Helen Fielding*
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo *
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnights Children, Salman Rushdie
101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker *
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth *
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 1/2, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo*
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde*
119. Shogun, James Clavell *
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray*
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle*
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaids Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck*
134. Georges Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker*
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan*
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque*
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King (maybe)
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl*
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King*
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere*
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick OBrian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Ken Kesey*
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon (I'm reading her 850 page book Outlander right now!)
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville (maybe)
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving *
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlottes Web, E. B. White*
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (maybe) *
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophies World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr. Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery (maybe)
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens *
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Gross-mith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri (maybe) *
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells *
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans*
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews
201. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
202. The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan
203. The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan
204. The Dragon Reborn, Robert Jordan
205. Fires of Heaven, Robert Jordan
206. Lord of Chaos, Robert Jordan
207. Winters Heart, Robert Jordan
208. A Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan
209. Crossroads of Twilight, Robert Jordan
210. A Path of Daggers, Robert Jordan
211. As Nature Made Him, John Colapinto
212. Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
213. The Married Man, Edmund White
214. Winters Tale, Mark Helprin
215. The History of Sexuality, Michel Foucault
216. Cry to Heaven, Anne Rice
217. Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, John Boswell
218. Equus, Peter Shaffer
219. The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten
220. Letters To A Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke
221. Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn
222. The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice
223. Anthem, Ayn Rand
224. The Bridge To Terabithia, Katherine Paterson
225. Tartuffe, Moliere
226. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
227. The Crucible, Arthur Miller*
228. The Trial, Franz Kafka
229. Oedipus Rex, Sophocles
230. Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles
231. Death Be Not Proud, John Gunther
232. A Dolls House, Henrik Ibsen
233. Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen
234. Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
235. A Raisin In The Sun, Lorraine Hansberry*
236. ALIVE!, Piers Paul Read*
237. Grapefruit, Yoko Ono
238. Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde
240. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
241. Chronicles of Thomas Convenant, Unbeliever, Stephen Donaldson
242. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
242. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
243. Summerland, Michael Chabon
244. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
245. Candide, Voltaire
246. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, Roald Dahl
247. Ringworld, Larry Niven
248. The King Must Die, Mary Renault
249. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
250. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L'Engle (maybe)
251. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
252. The House Of The Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne *
253. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne (maybe) *
254. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan *
255. The Great Gilly Hopkins, Katherine Paterson
256. Chocolate Fever, Robert Kimmel Smith
257. Xanth: The Quest for Magic, Piers Anthony
258. The Lost Princess of Oz, L. Frank Baum (not the Wizard of Oz?)
259. Wonder Boys, Michael Chabon
260. Lost In A Good Book, Jasper Fforde
261. Well Of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
261. Life Of Pi, Yann Martel
263. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
264. A Yellow Rraft In Blue Water, Michael Dorris
265. Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder*
267. Where The Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
268. Griffin & Sabine, Nick Bantock
269. Witch of Blackbird Pond, Joyce Friedland
270. Mrs. Frisby And The Rats Of NIMH, Robert C. OBrien
271. Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt
272. The Cay, Theodore Taylor
273. From The Mixed-Up Files Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg (maybe)
274. The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster
275. The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
276. The Kitchen Gods Wife, Amy Tan
277. The Bone Setters Daughter, Amy Tan
278. Relic, Duglas Preston & Lincolon Child
279. Wicked, Gregory Maguire
280. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
281. Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry
282. The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum
283. Haunted, Judith St. George
284. Singularity, William Sleator
285. A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
286. Different Seasons, Stephen King
287. Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk
288. About a Boy, Nick Hornby
289. The Bookmans Wake, John Dunning
290. The Church of Dead Girls, Stephen Dobyns
291. Illusions, Richard Bach
292. Magics Pawn, Mercedes Lackey
293. Magics Promise, Mercedes Lackey
294. Magics Price, Mercedes Lackey
295. The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav
296. Spirits of Flux and Anchor, Jack L. Chalker
297. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice*
298. The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices, Brenda Love
299. Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace.
300. The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison.
301. The Cider House Rules, John Irving.*
302. Enders Game, Orson Scott Card
303. Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland
304. The Lions Game, Nelson Demille
305. The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars, Stephen Brust
306. Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh
307. Foucaults Pendulum, Umberto Eco
308. Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson
309. Invisible Monsters, Chuck Palahniuk
310. Camber of Culdi, Kathryn Kurtz
311. The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
312. War and Rememberance, Herman Wouk
313. The Art of War, Sun Tzu
314. The Giver, Lois Lowry
315. The Telling, Ursula Le Guin
316. Xenogenesis (or Liliths Brood), Octavia Butler
317. A Civil Campaign, Lois McMaster Bujold
318. The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold
319. The Aeneid, Publius Vergilius Maro (Vergil)
320. Hanta Yo, Ruth Beebe Hill
321. The Princess Bride, S. Morganstern (or William Goldman)
322. Beowulf, Anonymous
323. The Sparrow, Maria Doria Russell
324. Deerskin, Robin McKinley
325. Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey
326. Passage, Connie Willis
327. Otherland, Tad Williams
328. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay
329. Number the Stars, Lois Lowry
330. Beloved, Toni Morrison
331. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christs Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore
332. The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon, I mean Noel, Ellen Raskin
333. Summer Sisters, Judy Blume
334. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo*
335. The Island on Bird Street, Uri Orlev
336. Midnight in the Dollhouse, Marjorie Filley Stover
337. The Miracle Worker, William Gibson (maybe)*
338. The Genesis Code, John Case
339. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevensen*
340. Paradise Lost, John Milton
341. Phantom, Susan Kay
342. The Mummy or Ramses the Damned, Anne Rice
343. Anno Dracula, Kim Newman
344: The Dresden Files: Grave Peril, Jim Butcher
345: Tokyo Suckerpunch, Issac Adamson
346: The Winter of Magics Return, Pamela Service
347: The Oddkins, Dean R. Koontz
348. My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
349. The Last Goodbye, Raymond Chandler*
350. At Swim, Two Boys, Jaime ONeill
351. Othello, by William Shakespeare
352. The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas
353. The Collected Poems of William Butler Yeats
354. Sati, Christopher Pike
355. The Inferno, Dante
356. The Apology, Plato
357. The Small Rain, Madeline LEngle
358. The Man Who Tasted Shapes, Richard E Cytowick
359. 5 Novels, Daniel Pinkwater
360. The Sevenwaters Trilogy, Juliet Marillier
361. Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier
362. To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf
363. Our Town, Thorton Wilder*
364. Green Grass Running Water, Thomas King
365. The Interpreter, Suzanne Glass
366. The Moors Last Sigh, Salman Rushdie
367. The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson
368. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
369. A Passage to India, E.M. Forster*
370. The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux
371. Pages for You, Sylvia Brownrigg
372. The Changeover, Margaret Mahy
373. Howls Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
374. Angels and Demons, Dan Brown
375. Johnny Got His Gun, Dalton Trumbo
376. Shosha, Isaac Bashevis Singer
377. Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck
378. The Diving-bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
379. The Lunatic at Large by J. Storer Clouston
380. Time for Bed by David Baddiel
381. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
382. Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre
383. The Bloody Sun by Marion Zimmer Bradley
384. Sewer, Gas, and Eletric by Matt Ruff
385. Jhereg by Steven Brust
386. So You Want To Be A Wizard by Diane Duane
387. Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
388. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte
389. Road-side Dog, Czeslaw Milosz
390. The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
391. Neuromancer, William Gibson
392. The Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
393. A Canticle for Liebowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr
394. The Mask of Apollo, Mary Renault
395. The Gunslinger, Stephen King
396. Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare*
397. Childhoods End, Arthur C. Clarke
398. A Season of Mists, Neil Gaiman
399. Ivanhoe, Walter Scott
400. The God Boy, Ian Cross
401. The Beekeepers Apprentice, Laurie R. King
402. Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson
403. Misery, Stephen King *
404. Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Waters
405. Hood, Emma Donoghue
406. The Land of Spices, Kate OBrien
407. The Diary of Anne Frank *
408. Regeneration, Pat Barker
409. Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
410. Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina Garcia
411. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
412. The View from Saturday, E.L. Konigsburg
413. Dealing with Dragons, Patricia Wrede
414. Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss
415. A Severed Wasp - Madeleine LEngle
416. Here Be Dragons - Sharon Kay Penman
417. The Mabinogion (Ancient Welsh Tales) - translated by Lady Charlotte E. Guest
418. The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown
419. Desire of the Everlasting Hills - Thomas Cahill
420. The Cloister Walk - Kathleen Norris
421. The Things We Carried, Tim OBrien
422. I Know This Much Is True, Wally Lamb
423. Choke, Chuck Palahniuk
424. Enders Shadow, Orson Scott Card
425. The Memory of Earth, Orson Scott Card
426. The Iron Tower, Dennis L. McKiernen
427. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
428. A Ring of Endless Light, Madeline L'Engle
429. Lords of Discipline, Pat Conroy
430. Hyperion, Dan Simmons
431. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, Jon McGregor
432. The Bridge, Iain Banks
433. Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit, Daniel Quinn
434. Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner
435. The Gold Coast, Nelson DeMille
436. Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
437. Angels and Visitations: A Miscellany, Neil Gaiman
438. Mortal Prey, John Sanford
439. Sarum: The Novel of England, Edward Rutherford
440. Murther & Walking Spirits, Robertson Davies
441. Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel (not finished it)*
442. Princes of Ireland, Edward Rutherford
443. The Vanished Man, Jeffery Deaver
444. Vancouver, Eric Nicol
445. Dragon Prince, Melanie Rawn
446. Are You My Mother?, P D Eastman
447. Enchanter's End Game, David Eddings
448. Night, Elie Wiesel
449. Gilgamesh, Anonymous
450. The Exorcist, William Peter Blatty*

Strange coincidences

So this was Sean's last day of high school-he had one final today. Rehearsal for graduation is tomorrow morning. On my last day of high school, my grandmom Ruth came to pick me up in the old Rambler. We were almost home from the 10 minute trip when something went and we lost control of the car on our road! We weren't going fast and went across the road near our driveway. We didn't get hurt, thank goodness.
So today Brian's dad is going down an escalator down at Caesar's in Atlantic City. You know he's been on it dozens of time. Today he reaches for the side to hold on and slips backwards and bumps his head and skins his arm. Blame it on his new sneakers. He wouldn't let security take him to the hospital, but the in house nurse wrapped up his arm. He has a pretty big bump on the back of his head. We are worried about him having a concussion. He's by himself and he's almost 82. I sure hope he will be okay not only from falling, but for Sean's graduation on Friday.

These are some sunflowers I grew about 4 yrs ago.

My favorite flower shots can be found here: Di's Yahoo Photos
Sadly, many of these plants are gone like the beautiful iris. It was just too wild where they were planted. I should have dug them up last year and never did, so I lost all of them. I did dig up some pretty daffodils and hyacinths that were in the old pond area. Hopefully, I can save them and enjoy them again.

Sunflower savvy

Got this in an email from Burpee which is right out of Warminster, PA (I've driven by the place. I have to make a point of taking a daytrip to see it sometime).
- Sunflowers can grow up to 12 inches a day during peak growing season.
- During growth stages, the sunflower heads face and follow the path of the sun.
- Once the flowers are fully open, most sunflowers face East.
- The sunflower is the state flower of Kansas.
- Kansas state motto is "The Sunflower State".
- Sunflowers are one of the easiest seeds to grow.
- The highest point in the Sunflower state of Kansas is called Mount Sunflower.
- The national flower of Russia is, you guessed it, the Sunflower.
- The Aztecs worshipped the Sunflower.
The SECRET to summer long sunflower blooms and fantastic cut sunflower displays is to follow the advice of the pros. Professional growers and cut flower specialists have practiced these simple but effective sunflower techniques for years. Try them in your gardens and we guarantee you’ll be amazed at the results!
1) Plant as many different varieties as possible. Different forms, colors and heights add visual interest in the garden and vase.
2) Stagger plantings over the early summer weeks, succession plantings will ensure that you have blooms all through the summer season and into the fall, and also that your sunflower gardens remain vibrant looking all season long. This is the single most important tip to follow!
3) For medium and large beds plant taller sunflowers at the rear of the bed and the shortest sunflowers near the front, medium height sunflowers go in the center of the bed.
4) As the name implies, sunflowers need lots of sun. Sunflowers grown in full sun have vibrant color, great foliage and strong stems.
5) When designing sunflower gardens, keep in mind that when mature, sunflower heads will almost always face East.
6) Cut spent blooms and plants. Spent blooms can weight down the plants, shading the still growing, remaining flowers. Also if the entire plant is spent, it's best to remove it- if you have followed our "staggered plantings" tip, there will be plenty of new plants to fill the spot. Hint: when removing old plants, do not pull them out, this could disturb the roots of neighboring sunflowers. Instead use a knife or shears to cut the stalk at the base.
7) Create a barrier or focal point with a hedgerow of tall sunflowers. Giant varieties reach heights of up to 15 feet! With their large leaves and bright yellow flowers, you will have an instant living fence in no time at all!
BURPEE'S TOP SUNFLOWERS FOR 2005
THE BIGGEST
American Giants– up to 14' tall with huge yellow flowers. During peak season, it can grow up to 10" a day! http://www.burpee.com/features/american_giants_tues.html
THE SHORTEST
Elf Sunflower- just over a foot tall with perfectly formed 4" yellow flowers on long blooming plants. Great for the front of the border and ideal for containers and windowsills.http://www.burpee.com/features/elf_tues.html
THE DEEPEST RED
Chianti Sunflower- as the name implies, the flowers are stunning deep wine red flecked with gold atop purplish branching stems. Just 4' tall.http://www.burpee.com/features/chianti_tues.html
VIEW ALL OUR SUNFLOWERS HEREhttp://www.burpee.com/features/sunflowers_tues.html
Fun & Happy Gardening,
Your friends at Burpee: http://www.burpee.com/

I'm an angel...

Found this on Mindy's Blog...

You scored as Angel. Angel: Angels are the guardians of all things, from the smallest ant to the tallest tree. They give inspiration, love, hope, and positive emotion. They live among humans without being seen. They are the good in all things, and if you feel alone, don't fear. They are always watching. Often times they merely stand by, whispering into the ears of those who feel lost. They would love nothing more then to reveal themselves, but in today's society, this would bring havoc and many unneeded questions. Give thanks to all things beautiful, for you are an Angel. Angel 83% Faerie 75% Mermaid 67% WereWolf 33% Dragon 25% Demon 0% What Mythological Creature are you? (Cool Pics!) created with QuizFarm.com

My first rose of the season! Isn't it lovely? I took the photo before a storm, so I bet the poor thing looks terrible now. : (

The decorated mantel for the almost graduate. 

My nature sampler A Walk in the Woods. See- I am making progress on this one!