Happy to be back look at my photo bucket now, pic of yard work and mackinaw island last yr lilac fest. some family pic. Most of the flowers are our yard and the fenced in lot is our yard. let me know if you get to see it anyone email me, You have to wait to load and slide mouse over black page to see all the wonderful flowers. Here is a link that might be useful: http://s927.photobucket.com/albums/ad120/homegardenbon0/

This spring I had 2 variegated weigelas that died. Later, just as it was about to bloom (late May), I had a rose of sharon that died. A section at a time. Now in July another weigela, red one, is dying. A section at a time. All of these bushes had been here for more than 10 years. The weigela that is dying now bloomed profusely this spring. What is going on? All were in my back yard. None with any direct north wind. The 2 that died in early spring were right off the patio and the rose of sharon and other weigela are along the back fence some 20+ feet away. Makes no sense!!

Such happy news, Fran! Congratulations! You sound so happy in your post. Good to hear you're getting back into quilting... it's hard to find time when so many changes are taking place. That special man might just need a special quilt just for him! Hope to have you more involved here, again! You were definitely missed!

As a southerner we have a history of telling stories and it was very much a part of my upbringing though trying to fit all those tales into some sort of coherent history is another matter. We practiced our own history with my mother starting "remember whens" My mother was a spoiled only child and most of her stories were about how special she was to her doting father. My father did not talk much about his childhood though I know they moved frequently as my grandfather was a mason and builder. I spent a good deal of time with my mothers step-mother-my Grannie- and learned as much about her life as I could. She was a child of the depression-something that for her on a prosperous farm in the south was just something they heard about happening elsewhere. Grow your own food and make your own clothes and you only need money for taxes and coffee and salt. I loved hearing about her life. she was one of a big family of girls and they had to work like boys. Their father did not want them to leave home so for each of them it was an adventure to leave. I don't have children and have always lived all the way across the country from my kin so I have had no one to pass on what I know nor about my own life but there you are. I love social history and yet historians will use the lives of the rich and famous thinking they are telling you how people lived in the past-the one tenth of the one percent.