Marie, these are just sublime photographs. I love this time of year,past the peak of summer, the time of coneflowers and joe pye weed and soft sunsets at the end of warm days, coming noticeably earlier than they did a month ago. And even with some weeds and some bare spots in the garden, it is still a time of wonderful bloom. Wish those G*D* japanese beetles would disappear though, they eat the roses and lots of other plants into oblivion. It was so great to see you at IU3! Wasn't it fun? Maybe next summer we might come to Ontario again -- in the garden season! David

There is only one place where I got picky. In the rest of the house I put in "off the shelf" ORB. In the kitchen, after renovating, we had a dark green marble backsplash installed. Being a kitchen, there were literally 8 switchplates on that backsplash. Moving them was not in the budget. I knew it would really bother me if I saw all those sticking out. I looked on line first for paintable ones but we had some odd combinations I could not find. Plus the round phone jack. On a thread here I found instructions for taking a common plastic switchplate and painting it so the paint will not scrape off. After that (light sanding, degreasing, and spraying with a dark green plastic paint to use as a primer) I faux painted them to match the backplash. The prep took some time (more the waiting for the coats to be dry), but the faux painting was all done in the time it took my husband to make dinner. I topped it with maybe 4 coats of clear spray lacquer. We couldnÂt paint the actual sockets and switches, so I ordered dark brown for those, which pretty much fades in. 5 years later and they are still perfect, IÂm glad I took the time to do it. I can even wash them. I was inspired by that and went on to do the ugly yellow plastic lids to my glass canister set.

After napping in the car during the 24 hour jaunt down to NC from Ontario, beginning Fri. evening, I had a good sleep last night (after doing some email stuff and posting here after most Korea missionary reunion folks had gone to bed, I was up rather early (for me), waking at 7:20 a.m. (didn't know how to set the alarm on the bedside radio). Had to be in the dining hall for breakfast before 8:00 ... and I'd neglected to bring my razor from the car prior to lock up, so it was a fast clean-up. After breakfast there was a presentation for upwards of an hour about the various international and voluntary organization activities to help the people of North Korea have food (there was terrible flooding last fall, with three plantings of the crop that they use to make one of their staple foods - kim-chee, for those familiar with Korean cusine, and the final planting only growing to about a third normal height). They were telling also of bringing medical and educational supplies, capital goods, as well as food - generators to bring light to hospital operating rooms, and power the equipment, as much of it did not last long on the low-voltage current from the mains. There is increasing trust and cooperation among the foreign-based agencies working there, and a build up of it between them and their Korean counterparts - North Korea has been substantially isolated from most of the rest of the world for so long. When various missionary agencies agreed to work in various areas of the country about a century ago, the Presbyterians in Canada (later the United Church, after several denominations united), were assigned the north-east section of the country and some in Manchuria. Though none of us who were there 50 years ago had ever been to the North, we havbe long held a soft spot in our hearts for that area, and we are especially pleased to see the thawing that is taking place there. Then we had a hynmn sing for a while and a worsip, including reading the names of colleagues who had died within the three years since the last gathering - two pages, smallish print, with two or three descriptive lines for each. The offering to go to assist the various upgrading projects in North Korea. I was able to meet several of my friends, though I was only here for a short part of the program - with some of the Canadian group having come whom I hadn't expected. A good supper last evening, breakfast this morning and a delicious lunch has fuelled me for a time ... and I'm crying the blues over gas being $3.99 and $4.00 in this area - but not too large tears, as I filled at lower prices earlier and my little Mazda sort of sips gas (enhanced by my turning off the key and coasting sometimes on downhills - when there's no one close behind). And they have quite a few of those downhills in Kentucky and NC ... I felt a sense of respect for the folks who'd chopped off the large volumes of rock in the hills to dump into the vallies to build the roads, years ago. After yakking to you folks, I'm off across country to visit my niece in n-w GA ... and, leaving hastily, I forgot to bring her address, but I do remember the name of the street. I wrote her family in Alberta to ask them to send it ... but they appear to have not received the message. Anyway - missionaries (and former ones) have to learn to fly by faith (don't we all have to do that, a good deal of the time?). Last trip, I had a bit of a job finding their location, as Gainesville seems to be spread all over the map. Anyway - wish me luck. Plan to return to Ontario just before next weekend ... and Pooh Bear's to be vacationing, so won't see him. Have a lovely week, everyone. Start planning for your retirement - remember, every retired day is on (hopefully, prepaid) vacation. If it isn't prepaid, and one chooses to retire, or has the choice made for them, there's likely a problem down the road, for lack of food tends to make one seek re-employment at an advanced age (unless one plans to die within a few months/years of retirement - improbable with clergy or missionaries, as they tend to live to advanced ages. ole joyful

Not sure, homemade pizza or burgers and dogs... I've been tiling my kitchen back splash today..and have to limit my "washing" and cooking so I don't splash on my handiwork..I'm in the adhesive curing stage...In a few days, I'll be in the grout curing stage. lol So dinners will be simple, until the project is complete!