Those kids sure are wonderful. A few now live out of state, but when home to visit, always come by to check on the garden and see what new plants have been added off the list. The extra marigolds from the originals found homes in my daughter's apt back porch. Yellow and orange that my mom used with her tomatoes to keep the bugs from gettting them. My son, who lives in Kentucky, has some chinese forget me nots, malva zebrina, and a few others in pots on a patio garden. My sister and brother prefer to just buy from the nursery, but they do buy some of the plants that my mother grew. Linda, the funny story with those victorian ornaments is that I would never in a million years have had them in my yard. I always thought "it just isn't me", yet I have my own craft business that is mainly hand thread crochet victorian Xmas tree ornaments. I would put out things like the ducks, the bunnies, a cat, but nothing like those. In the spring of 2002, I took them all out of the cellar to put in the memorial garden and their wasn't really enough room for the one with the gazing ball, so she got moved to another spot. They grew on me over that summer and now I love them. Must be that I'm just getting old or something strange. Alberta, you could do what I have done in memory of my grandfather. I grew up with my grandparents on a summer veggie and flower farm. He would plant at least 100 tomato plants. Nothing including severe water bans would stop him from watering those toms of his. One summer, we had such a severe drought that all water usage outdoors was banned and you could be arrested for using any. He was jumping out of his skin over those tomatoes of his. So he rigged this elaborate siphoning system from the bathtub to hoses that went out the bathroom window and long enough to reach all the plants of his. Every time someone took a shower, and there where 7 of us, we had to plug the tub so water would collect in the tub. then when it was full, he would drain the water and water his tomato plants. He rigged another hose to the line from the portable dishwasher to a huge rain barrel and a syphon in there too. All the water from the dishwasher was used on those tomato plants as well. He didn't loose a plant and we had an abundance of tomatoes, but nothing else. So what I have done since I started gardening over 30 years ago is put an American flag in one of my pots that have my tomatoes in them. He was an Army vet from World War 1 and worked with the military during world war 2. It makes me feel close to him all the time. Put a flag beside some of your bleeding hearts. Fran

Jean001 - Nearly so for two plants. The tops were bad enough that I thought at first it was regular spiders. (I've got a resident population that helps me with the mosquitoes.) :>) Anyhow, when I looked thru the microscope, in an area that was less than 3/8" square, there were 6 six legged, 5 eight legged, 2 adults, 6 dead, and about 15 little white eggs. I actually only had the aphids (in any numbers) on 3 plants. The siberian plant in the picture was the worse case. I am still fascinated with the tiny size of all of these critters that can do so much harm in so little time. Anyhow, I will be spraying again this evening because of the rains we've had for the last two days. I was outside just a moment ago and saw an aphid on the plant in the pictures. I intend to do what I can to save it. I'm angry about this whole thing - mostly at myself.

Luckygal, where in the world are you? Somewhere near a beach obviously--but which one. Sorry no good luck on the TS shopping, do keep trying! Jeanne, I have two baker's racks outside, one is a corner unit--but neither look nearly as cute as yours with your collections and vignettes. I need to work on mine I think. That is so neat that you do the Farmer's market too. Candy, I'm another one who does tablescapes for my "imaginary" friends. DH will only eat at the table when we have company--rest of the time he prefers to eat in front of the tv. Karen, I didn't do a table, but I did glue a little cheese tray and glass dome on a pedestal and decorate it--can I get any points for that? ;o) Kathleen, the rooster napkins like in your photo that you shared with me are some of my favs. We don't do sit down breakfast often, but I like to just sit the table and display them on the plates because they look so cute.

Thank you everyone. It's always fun to cook with a theme. Ann and Annie, the stand that holds up the serving dish for the blueberries was made by me with some scrap metal I had in my shop. Teresa, It is interesting that if you cut some veggies a different way, it shows up a different kind of hidden beauty. "Stunning - as always dcarch. Now a chicken or the egg type question for you. Do you have visions and then cook accordingly or do you cook and let the food guide you? Jane" Jane, thanks. I am not sure whether it is the chicken or the egg, or may be it's the rooster that comes first. I look at what everyone here is making, take a quick look at the recipes, and then when I come home from work, it is what I have in the refrigerator at the moment which will guide me. Until the very last moment of cooking, the natural shapes, colors, and textures, of all the ingredients in the pot or pan, they seem to want to fall into some kind of geometry that will provoke a unique sensation beyond taste and smell. That kind of spontaneous geometry, which does not cost any money, is highly satisfying because it adds an extra dimension to eating. I do encourage all to focus a little on "food play". It is easier than you think. dcarch