Honalee - l'm looking forward to seeing your 'forest'. I've thought about making those tomato cage trees for years but so far haven't as I always use the ones I find at yard sales to prop up perennials. Thanks for the smartjane link which I've bookmarked and will look at later. I'm not sure what normal is but it sounds a bit boring so let's avoid it! LOL I actually love winter - the snow is beautiful and there's a respite from gardening. Occasionally I make "a snow angel!" I love decorating inside my house even more than I like decorating my garden and from March to September my house gets little decorating attention. In fact this year I had spring decor on my mantle until fall! The last few months I've been more serious about editing my house so have given away lots of decor accessories and things I no longer need or want. I have 45 years of accumulated "stuff" so there is lots to go thru and many decisions to make. It's an ongoing project but hope to finish by spring. With Christmas coming I've been shopping for gifts and need to wrap and send them, cleaning my house more thoroughly, and will be doing Christmas decorating starting today. It's taken me the last few days to pack away all the fall decor. Other than that I occasionally volunteer, read, 'play' online, talk on the phone and email, occasionally lunch with friends, attend a few social functions, only watch TV a little as there is not much that interests me on the hundred+ channels I get, and shovel snow and haul wood. I've been shoveling the few inches of snow we've gotten onto my perennials which takes more effort but I want them to survive the colder temps to come as I didn't winterize anything this fall. I heat my house mostly with a wood stove so that takes a bit of work. I do have a good and seldom used gas furnace but prefer wood heat. Oh, of course I cook and make almost all meals from scratch which takes time. Occasionally I do crafts, knit, and crochet altho haven't done much recently - have one knitting project on the go and hope to get it finished soon as it's boring me and I want to start something more interesting. I have 4 indoor pets who require care and attention which takes a bit of time. After Christmas things will slow down and I'll spend time planning, and re-planning, my garden. Plan will then go in the trash and the garden will continue to evolve as usual! LOL It's a lot of fun to plan tho and occasionally I discover something I want to implement. There are a few new craft projects I want to start but won't until the new year. I occasionally travel and have a short trip coming up soon so have to prepare for that. I always make to-do lists which helps me finish projects as I love crossing things off the lists! I love days like today when there's nothing scheduled and I can do only what I want. I will start Christmas decorating but will do it at my own pace so I enjoy it. Plan to finish by the weekend. I think most gardeners are probably creative people who do other creative things when they are not gardening.

I've got somewhat of a split personality when it comes to wishing wells. Most of the time I don't like them, but for some reason, usually at first glance they *always* catch my attention and make me catch my breath. Especially when they are on the grounds of an old house (100+ years). But once that initial "Oooh!" is over, I tend to think that I don't really like them after all. Weird, I guess. I also seem to like them - and this I guess ties into my liking them at old houses - I really like them when they are *real*. When you see a 200 year old house and there's a well in the front yard, you know it was once a working well. I looked at a house for sale recently, built in the early 1800's, and there was a well there, complete with the roof and all. Obviously it was sealed up, but had the pail hanging there, which was used as a planter. Looked really nice. Believe it or not, the well, like the house, was not in the best of shape, but that only added to the charm. Another thing that looks nice is when the open area between the wall of the well and the roof is filled in with lattice. There is an old farmhouse down the street, with its original well, that is like this, and they have annual vines grow up through it in the summers. I think since you have an old house, your well will look charming. I would definitely paint it to match the house, and personally think either the pail/planter thing or the lattice would look nice. Good luck, and let us know what you decide - and show us some "after" pictures! :) Dee

Dianepa...I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm sure that while you are at ease that he is not suffering you still wish he was with you. I'm newly married and can not imagine how it would feel to lose my husband. I'll keep you and yours in my thoughts and prayers.

He was career military and when he was sent overseas four times for a full year tour to countries which were not stable, I of course worried very much. That is now behind me and I don't dwell on those times anymore. Now he is retired from the military and has begun an entirely new career which is not at all dangerous, however the freeway driving he has to do twice a day freaks me out. It's a very dangerous piece of highway for driving. He found a nice, quiet back way to get to work, I feel SO MUCH better and the driving stress for him is now gone - he was doing 40 miles each way in bad traffic. He is much more relaxed going the back (and pretty) way to work. He will only do the freeways now if there is black ice or a lot of snow predicted. I'm so sorry you have this stress, I remember what it felt like. It's just always there, even on very "good" days. I'm much more content and far less worried about him now.