I agree. Take spring time when most everything is leafing, there are more green hues/shades and colors than I could possibly invent or imagine.

Thanks, all. I've narrowed down my confusion to the question: when does one plant the culinary Allium family and when does one harvest them? Are they annuals or perennials or biennial? Seeds vs. plants? I get conflicting info. Plant Onion seeds in Spring, but plant Garlic bulbils in Fall. I've decided to go to the library and get a good book on the subject, but meanwhile it's an interesting thread. I hope to get a good understanding of the Allium family lifecycle/big picture, so I can weigh my options. For instance, what would happen if I cut the top off a grocery store red onion and planted it? Well, I tried it, and it's growing! Sounds better than planting from seed, but is definately unorthodox from what I've gathered (or not gathered) so far.

Joanie, while I've read that several times before I still laugh at it - so true! As someone who has a dog and is owned by 3 cats I can totally relate. We really did buy a king size bed several years ago when our little dog slept sideways on it and I was crowded in our queen size. Hard to believe a 17 lb. dog can stretch out 36" long! We've now banished them all from our new queen size bed! But I still have company in the powder room. One of our cats will scratch on the door, just like a dog, if the door is closed! *rolleyes*

Thank you for the kind thoughts-Christmas was bittersweet at times, and there were some group tears moments-but over all it was fun-DD and DS-in-L were in from the West Coast and we enjoyed our half of their visit. After an autumn of comfort rereading, I am moving on-first I read Sister Queens by Julia Fox-a tandem biography of Catherine of Aragon (1st wife of Henry VIII) and Juana of Castile, queen of Aragon and Castile in her own right and mother of a Holy Roman Emperor. Interesting parallels even though they met only once after Catherine left for England at age 16. Now I am treating myself with Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson. Charming, light, a bonbon. Work has started up again-deadline on the 3rd-so reading time will become slim and precious. For BookClub in January we will be reading Killing Lincoln