I'm very pleased that you all are enjoying all the happenings here on the 'farm'. One day I hope to put photo essays on my web site with a progression from before-to-after for various aspects of the place. This is yet another item on my horribly-long To Do list. For now, my husband (the computer guy) has put up links to some newspaper articles about our house and barn. The link to the site is on My Page. The credit for the Tiki Hut goes to my handyman/contractor. I gave him a picture with some scribbling on it, and he did the rest. The inspiration came from my visit to Heritage Rosarium this spring -- Nick's garden pavillion is absolutely incredible. We were struggling with our design for a structure in this space, and I used his as inspiration. (Thanks, Nick) The ironic part about this is that it's sited where it is because it gets absolutely no sun at all. It's nestled under the branches of a huge pecan tree, where it's always much cooler than the rest of the yard. This spot can barely grown anything besides shade-loving weeds, so roses are completely out of the question. The sunshine you see in my photo is the really low-angle evening sun coming in under the tree branches. We're practically having a plague of toads here right now. They're loving the cool dampness of my mulch pile, and I find one in about every second wheelbarrow load I haul. The little guy you see above was only about the size of the end of my thumb. We found a much larger one while we were working on Thursday morning. The barn has been finished structurally since spring. We had to wait until now for the weather to cool and the rough-cut poplar siding to dry before I could bring in the painters. It's really great to see the old girl standing tall again. She was in rough shape. I inventoried the driveway roses yesterday morning, and tallied up the extras -- there are a whole lot more than I thought there would be. *sigh* More later, Connie

I had to laugh yesterday - I thought I'd planned my garden orders pretty well, so that the daylilies would arrive in early May, and I'd be able to plant them myself, right away. SO, guess what arrived yesterday? A box of daylilies. I forgot that I'd done a small order from GHWild quite a while ago, for a few things from one of their great sales. Here I am, unable to bend down to pick up things I've dropped, with a box of daylilies to plant. Phooey. Fortunately, my friend Becky was coming to visit that day, and she planted them for me. I pointed, she planted. Aren't friends great? My little box contained: 'Route Sixty Six,' 'Black Friar,' 'Moorish Beauty,' and a bonus of 'Alice in Wonderland.' They were decent divisions of 3-4 smaller fans each, a little dried out but healthy otherwise. I doubt they'll bloom this year, but I might get a pleasant surprise. Laurel

Awww, thanks for all the well wishes, you guys! Just stopped by to take a quick peek around before heading to bed. I'm so tired out from ironing clothes and packing and running last minute errands all day, I can't stay awake any longer. I have spent whole days doing yard work and not gotten this tired! Hmmmm...maybe I'll sleep on the plane. That would be good, since I really hate flying. I can just take a nice long nap, wake up and I'm there! Yeah, that sounds like a Plan, to me. See you all soon!! Hope I get a few good pics to share. Byeeeee! Marcia

I hope you have a lovely time! That is one of my dream trips. Take lots of pictures you can share with us! Trish