hey even with trees... each has its own season .... when it is in full glory .... and i treasure them.. FOR THAT SEASON .... IMHO .... the tri color's season .... is spring and early summer ... mine ALWAYS starts looking ratty in late august ... by which time.. i either have... other things to look at... or just dont care ... and mine has been in the ground for 10 years ... short of every single leaf turning brown and falling off.. i wouldnt worry about it .. yours is younger.. so extra water wont hurt... but i wouldnt worry about it too much .. as to the others.. are you sure a gallon of water is worth the effort???? ... if you have 7 trees .... e.g. .... i might prefer you gave one tree all 7 gallons one night .. and a different tree the 7, each day of the week .. rather than giving them all a little bit.. all depending on your soil, etc .... it is better to water DEEPLY and infrequently.. rather than otherwise .... sounds like you have a great collection going.. keep up the good work ... ken

After Wes and I married, I jokingly asked my new MIL if I was to call her "Mom" now. (I could never call anyone but my mama "Mom.") She looked at me and said "H3ll no; you will never call me 'Mom'." Ooops. Step away from the crazy lady! LOL I call her by her first name, as does DH (her son) most of the time. For some reason he's called her by her first name since he was a child. Odd, but it seems to work for them.

Someone asked if people still embroider. Yes, we do, but it is one of those fine slow skill things that most people don't teach to kids and kids don't want to learn. I was taught as a child by my mother who was taught by her great grandmother. It is something that takes time, and artistry to do well, and sadly, most do not know what is done well so a machine can do simple stitches and patterns easily enough. Anything more on sheets, is a big luxury. In our disposable society, the time to do even simple hand edging on sheets or pillowcases, or a full design on cases is simply not what anyone wants to invest in. Truly good sheets and cases are very expensive and putting that together with the skill required to do the embroidery and the time to do it, is cost prohibitive and not what most people want. Embroidery is a labor of love these days, and ends up being framed if it is done really well. I have done pillowcases that took dozens of hours to complete, but they were for gifts to those that really knew what they were seeing. It isn't easy to put a price on something that takes so much time to create. Practically speaking, hand embroidery is also not something that stands up well to modern washing machines, dryers and detergents. When sheets were washed by hand or were much more substantial an investment and they were treated delicately, it was more achievable to keep embroidered linens. If you really want this kind of thing, look at estate sales and garage sales, but know that the sizing will probably not fit a modern bed. I buy embroidered linen pieces at garage sales for a quarter because I cannot stand to see such love, effort and skill, sent to a dump, or unappreciated. For me, it is heartbreaking to see pieces that took months of work, sitting in a pile on a card table, heaped in with machine made dollar store items. Hardly anyone knows the difference or cares. Sorry! Rant over. :)

Elmer, you said, "...times have changed and I suspect views and practices of the modern day aren't what you assume them to be." I don't live in a cave, Elmer! I'm not assuming anything! I know my DD and DS still call the parents of their friends and my friends Mr & Mrs. My daughter uses a dear friend of mine as her broker - she's known him all her life and she still calls him Mr. I have not lived in Los Angeles in over 34 years, but when I did, I never heard a child in my neighborhood or at my church, call an adult by his first name. And my CA friend's children still call me Mrs... I know what my children's grown friends on Martha's Vineyard call me and what my children call their parents. NEVER by a first name! My DGS informs me that only one of his professors at his Ivy has suggested that his students call him by his first name; he's quite young. All the rest are Professor.... One of the professors there is his godfather and he calls him Uncle Professor... and he loves it! He was a groomsman in my DD's and DSIL's wedding - he had been their professor - and they still call him Professor...and he has never suggested that this change. Elmer, I could care less where you've lived and worked. Clearly we move in very different circles, I would suggest that you not assume you know the social norms in mine. I do know them. The use of honorifics has nothing to do with being stuffy or not being casual; it's a sign of respect. We could use a bit more of that these days.