they are plants, at least that is how the website describes them. They have been in the ground since the first week of April. What I was trying to say is it was not long after that that I started to notice these white marks on the walla walla's.. They did seem to start a bulb but then the green top started looking like the pictures and the bulbs quit growing.. It has been very hot and humid here, very unusual for this early in the summer.. We also had 4 inches of rain in 2 weeks...

When I first posted a response to this thread, I hadn't read the snippety remarks at the other forum. Maybe this thread should have been called the Queens with Brooms up Their Bums? lol! Kudos to the people on the other forum who said they liked bottle trees and penny bowling balls! I guess some people just don't appreciate folk art the way I do. Or don't respect creative recycling and repurposing. Maybe you have to grow up in a family that didn't have much to truly appreciate the beauty and passion that goes into simple folkart. Why do I have the feeling that the worst of the worst on that other forum don't live paycheck to paycheck? When I was a kid, my mother and I went to Old World Wisconsin, which is an outdoor museum of rural life in the 1800s. The memory jars and jugs in so many of the homes fascinated me. People would add bits and pieces to an old jug or jar using plaster or putty. They were made up of buttons, broken pieces of china, little figurines, broken jewelry, seashells ... well you get the idea. They weren't all fancy or elaborate but I found it interesting that someone thought of a simple way to store memories of little things they collected throughout their lives. I bet those things could tell a lot of stories if they could talk! Another type of folkart I think is gorgeous are the "sailor's valentines." They are simple boxes mosaiced with seashells of all shapes, sizes and colors in elaborate designs. Sailors would bring them home to their sweethearts when they returned from a long voyage. And don't get me started on my love of face jugs! My point is, so much of this folkart is now worth BIG BUCKS! On eBay, there was a sailor's valentine from the 1860s with a bid of $1,380 and there was 14 hours left! Face jugs ... new ones not antiques ... were selling for hundreds of dollars. An antique memory jug was going for $650 with 10 days left for bidding. Apparently some people with big bucks appreciate this primitive art as much as I do. And thank goodness for people like the Kohler Foundation (yes, the toilet people) who support folkart and other primitive art. They have done an awesome job saving and restoring folkart sites like Grandview, Prairie Moon Sculpture Garden & Museum and James Tellen Woodland Sculpture Garden (all of which I have visited). So when I see a GJer's beautiful garden interspersed with primitive art that took good ol' ingenuity, creativity and imagination, I have to stand up and applaud them. That childlike creativeness has spawned some beautiful things. But I gotta agree with tennesseetrash, people should have a right to voice their opinions. I am a bit upset that the original post in question was removed from our forum. I thoroughly enjoyed reading our responses to it! Signed, OOTP (One of THOSE People) P.S. lindasewandsew, I just love that flea!

"I really love this guy." We always do. Men are addictive. like drugs. The longer we're around a man, the less it matters if he's a decent person or not: the longer we're around him, the more we will accept the unacceptable & believe the unbelieveable, *& it's always disastrous for us*. Had someone walked up to you & said, "Hi, there, you seem like a nice person. I've been married twice & I have 3 children & one of my wives took out a restraining order against me. Wanna go out?" you'd have picked up your jaw off the sidewalk, laughed hysterically, & sent him on his way. & your smarter self realizes this. To think clearly, unfogged by love & all its trickery & your boyfriend & all his trickery, you need to "get clean". Call a timeout for *at least* a month. no visits, no calls, no presents, no emails, nothing. Don't go to the places you 2 went, don't stop at the fragrance counter & sniff his cologne, don't listen to "our song". The guy misled you until he figured you're so smitten that he can tell you the truth now & you'll stay with thim anyway. He's shown bad faith from the time he met you; he conned you, he fooled you, & *it never was about caring for you or loving you; it was about how he could get you to act in his best interests & against yours*. I wish you the best.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to check out Duluth and Crazy Shirts for sure. He's the WORST shopper-he will shop for clothes only if it means the sun will continue to shine and the world won't come to an end. He only seems to shop for shoes, and even then he doesn't try them on in the store-he takes them home and then decides if he'll keep them or not. His late mom used to find him tee shirts at yard sales, she had the time to go pick and chose and hunt. In the past I've bought him Carhart and other working brands, he's just not a fan of the stiffness. Have I mentioned he's picky? LoL.