Ink, I don't think this garden has more Wow than a good japanese garden necessarilly. I think it is much bolder in its delivery of some of the same goods. Those goods are what I view to be the wow in a japanese garden (in a much less subtle way). That is the fight between unity and divergence until a balance is built that makes it calm. If you think about it, calm or peace is more noticable when viewing things that we expect to be the opposite. Usually, we describe someone as calm when they are in situations where we expect them not to be. You don't look at someone in a coma and say "Jim sure is calm today". But you might say Jim sure is calm when some punk runs a stop sign, smashes into his car, flips him the bid, and takes off while Jim calls 911 and explains the situation to the police in a matter of fact way. That is what I think is the great mystery in japanese gardens that is overlooked. They give off such a powerful sense of peace because they are calm in the heat of battle. Calm without that battle is not powerful if you think about it. A lawn should be more peaceful than a japanese garden, but it lacks the battle and so becomes less impressive. Many of us look at the planting above and think it has to be chaos and it has to be too busy because you just can't mix that much stuff. Look at Alan Bloom's gardens with heath, heather, and dwarf conifers. It is the same battle between unity and divergence that puts the funk into that. Don't underestimate the importance of the lawn and the heather that freezes chaos into calmness in his work. That is a wow and a half. It is the same set principles - contrast, hidden balance, lack of a supreme focal point, and strong unity from unexpected sources that tend to go unnoticed.

I've submitted three counts so far - one of my yard for Friday, Feb. 12, one for the local marsh on Saturday, Feb. 13, and one more of my yard for Saturday, Feb. 13. These reports are as submitted (emailed back from GBBC) First Report Locality: 02360, Plymouth, Plymouth County, MA Observation Date: FEB 12, 2010 Start Time: 6:45 AM Total Birding Time: 1 hour Party Size: 1 Skill: good Weather: excellent Snow Depth: Less than 2 in (5.1 cm) Habitat(s): deciduous woods coniferous woods scrub rural freshwater salt water Number of Species: 17 All Reported: yes Checklist: Wild Turkey - 15 Mourning Dove - 23 Downy Woodpecker - 1 Blue Jay - 5 American Crow - 4 Black-capped Chickadee - 1 Tufted Titmouse - 1 European Starling - 3 Song Sparrow - 2 White-throated Sparrow - 4 Dark-eyed Junco - 6 Northern Cardinal - 9 Red-winged Blackbird - 13 Purple Finch - 1 House Finch - 3 American Goldfinch - 15 House Sparrow - 20 Second Report Locality: 02360, Plymouth, Plymouth County, MA Observation Date: FEB 13, 2010 Start Time: 2:30 AM Total Birding Time: 15 minutes Party Size: 1 Skill: good Weather: excellent Snow Depth: Less than 2 in (5.1 cm) Habitat(s): deciduous woods coniferous woods scrub rural salt water Number of Species: 5 All Reported: no Checklist: Canada Goose - 125 American Black Duck - 3 Mallard - 2 Green-winged Teal - 3 Hooded Merganser - 1 Comments ---------------------------------------- Drive by sightings at Shifting Lots Preserve (adjacent to Ellisville Harbor State Park) ------------------------------------------------- Third Report Locality: 02360, Plymouth, Plymouth County, MA Observation Date: FEB 13, 2010 Start Time: 7:15 AM Total Birding Time: 1 hour Party Size: 1 Skill: good Weather: excellent Snow Depth: Less than 2 in (5.1 cm) Habitat(s): deciduous woods coniferous woods scrub rural freshwater salt water Number of Species: 17 All Reported: no Checklist: Wild Turkey - 13 Mourning Dove - 17 Downy Woodpecker - 1 Blue Jay - 13 American Crow - 3 Black-capped Chickadee - 3 Tufted Titmouse - 1 Hermit Thrush - 1 European Starling - 5 American Tree Sparrow - 1 Song Sparrow - 3 White-throated Sparrow - 6 Dark-eyed Junco - 12 Northern Cardinal - 7 Red-winged Blackbird - 5 American Goldfinch - 16 House Sparrow - 25 ***************************************************************************** I have another neighborhood count almost ready to submit for today, but I've emailed a few photos to a local guru for identification. There are some birds I've never seen before and I'm not sure if I've identified them correctly. Claire

I've never used coconut oil, but I've been using agave nectar lately because I'm avoiding sugar and other sweeteners which spike blood glucose. I've had trouble finding recipes. When I googled it, I got many hits for a recipe book using it, and also tips for using it to replace other liquid sweeteners. I was hoping for a few real recipes, ones that would probably otherwise use sugar. It is hard to sub a liquid for a granular sweetener, so I was hoping for some T&T ones where someone else had done all the trying and testing. I ended up on a lot of sites for vegans and raw foodies, but I'm neither - I just want to avoid sugar. So, I have assembles a few recipes like the oatmeal cookies above, also a decent chocolate brownie (OK, I like it, but then I also liked the 5 min microwave mug cake....). I've done my own experimenting with muffins, since I don't like them too sweet anyway, and they seem to be very forgiving when I mess around with liquid/dry proportions. Anyway, I'm able to do a bit of baking now without sugar, but nothing that requires a whole lot of sweetener (I don't like to use more than 1/2 c. of AN), but I think I'm better off just avoiding really sweet stuff - there is still a lot out there that I can eat and enjoy.

I started a thread this morning about AI.. it fell to page 2, but here are the posts from it. American Idol last night Posted by lydia1959 (My Page) on Wed, Feb 18, 09 at 10:09 What did you think? I really liked Danny Gokey and thought both Anoop and the Braddy kid were good. The girls were mostly awful IMO... sadly I thought Tatiana was about the best of them. Follow-Up Postings: o RE: American Idol last night * Posted by danihoney (My Page) on Wed, Feb 18, 09 at 10:15 Same here. I love Danny, he's nice looking too. Sadly is exactly the word I would have chosen with Tatiana. Unless one of the other girls loosens up and really shows something, Tatiana has the better voice. But man that girl is just not 'right' if you know what I mean. She seems a little off and I can't see her winning this thing. I think she even creeps the judges out a little. o RE: American Idol last night * Posted by matti5 (My Page) on Wed, Feb 18, 09 at 10:52 Danny is my favorite, he has so much heart and soul in his music. I like Anoop dog as well. I thought the guys far out shined the girls last night. I agree that Tatiana did well, but she definitely creeps me out. o RE: American Idol last night * Posted by happy_go_lucky_gayle (My Page) on Wed, Feb 18, 09 at 10:57 I don't know the Blondes name (with the red tips), but we like her best of all the girls. Tatiana's just to creepy. I agree Danny and Anoop are very good. o RE: American Idol last night * Posted by samkaren (My Page) on Wed, Feb 18, 09 at 12:40 I agree with Happy go lucky. Don't know the names yet but #3 with pink and blonde hair was the best. Tatiana did well but Simon said it best.."you are a drama queen". Still she did a good job with the Whitney Houston song. Didn't think much of the guys last night. Can't wait to see who gets picked tonight. If Tatiana doesn't make it through I wonder if she will have a melt down on stage. SamKaren your resident DJ