merry, the chap on the right could almost pass as English! A couple of books I just finished: Two Feet Four Paws by Spud Talbot-Ponsonby (a 'she' despite the odd name) who, with her dog, walked round the coast of England/Scotland/Wales starting and finishing at Tower Bridge in London. She covered about 4500 miles and raised money for a homeless people's charity as she went. Using family and friends as 'back up' she slept/ate in a 'mobile home' and took about ten months to complete the journey. Not a great piece of literature but it gives a good account of the odd people she met, the terrible weather conditions she faced and the sheer determination that helped her overcome aching limbs and exhaustion. I had earlier read her later book Small Steps with Paws and Hooves about a trek through Scotland she undertook with her toddler strapped onto a horse and the same dog. This journey was made after a diagnosis and treatment for cancer, which sadly did for her soon afterwards when the disease spread to her lungs and brain. It seems the walking even while having chemo gave her something to cling to. On quite a different note . . . I picked up a paperback The Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George. Probably a mistake as it turned out to be a 'teen read'. I suppose I learnt how US young people speak/behave, or maybe how Ms George thinks they do. I doubt that the average young person would have stuck with this book for long as, although the premise was 'promising' with a girl who can 'hear' people's thoughts, the plot rambled all over an island in the Pacific NW (where EG lives in 'real life) each road, highway, lane was described in detail, what house was near what store/school/church etc. A map could have been provided to save reading-time. I kept going to the end only to discover it is the first book of three and I don't care enough about the heroine to read the rest. Question. Do US teenagers of both sexes refer to girls as 'chicks'? Somehow it seems dated. And does everyone live on fast-food and endless 'snacks'? I wont ask about drugs as most of these teens seemed to be 'high' from snorting, sniffing, swallowing illegal substances.

Not always drunks or cell phone users drive the wrong way. My dad, year before last, just before Thanksgiving had his car worked on. My brother took him to pick his car up and then left to go home. My dad headed out of town and took I 80 on the wrong ramp! Thank goodness he didn't hit anyone. A cop found him before anything bad happened. My dad has dementia and should never have been driving. They finally took his keys away. It took almost killing him or someone else for my brothers to do it, though.

It was neat to see the crested/cristate ones in person. I had heard of Michael's Sword, so it was cool to see it in person. Believe was too much for me (looks-wise that is, I have no idea if it was for sale or for how much) - and the color was really blah to me. I think this place had other ones too, at least in their catalog, but I don't recall seeing others blooming - but I was on overload, so might have overlooked them. Signet, I know I've seen Bee's Bettie Sue in the past online and liked it. Kay, I don't know about Opportunity Knocks, if that was normal for it or not - the pictures in the garden.org database don't show that weirdness. I'm glad you ladies liked the Cat! Mantis, it was hard to decide which places to hit. The gardening friend I met there went to one other one after I left, she said it was kind of a let down after the first three we went to. I was just too tired and mentally exhausted to see much more after the first two gardens. If I could find an inexpensive hotel in the area, I might make a two day visit of it next time... assuming my husband won't mind me leaving him home dogsitting.

HIghway 1 is the main Highway out of Vancouver to begin the trip to the interior. It takes you to Hope where it then splits into 3 highways that go in slightly different directions depending on where into the interior of the province you want to go. This part of highway 1 shouldn't take too long to repair once the water recedes. The other 3 highways are the ones that have the mudslides/rockslides at various points and are the ones that are essentially broken. The goal is to get whichever one is broken the least opened asap for transportation of people and goods. The engineers will decide that. The destruction of this main transportation infrastructure system is unbelievable.