I think I would keep it steady at the stage where the individual plants are just touching each other. I am not quite at that point yet as I only started landscaping my house when I bought it three years ago. I have to mulch because of the climate where I live. Many of the plants that keep their foliage around where you live lose all their foliage here and winter is so long and so cold, I wouldn't be able to get away with not mulching (three inches of pine needles). I, too, would only intervene if they really started to threaten each other, blocking out the sun, root competition, etc. But I already have a plan for when they fill in too much. What I intend to do is to place stepping stones in strategic spots that will allow me to stand on them without stepping on plants and without the neighbourhood being aware of my little jungle path. During the summer, the stepping stones will have potted plants on them, which I will only move when I need to step on the stones. This way, the spot where my stepping stone is is always nicely filled and since there is dense vegetation around it, no one can tell there is actually a pot there. Needless to say, the plants that will be in pots will be those that I would need to bring inside for the winter - this might allow me to have calla lilies, gladioli and lilies of the Nile and show them off, too! You know, have your cake and eat it too? If any of the plants planted directly in the soil take over, I can remove some pots around them to let them roam. Does anybody see a problem with my idea? It sounds pretty good to me, but somebody here might see a problem I didn't think of.

Regarding the slide idea: In my elementary school which was newly built when I was there, the architect decided to include as a bit of whimsy slides going from the 3rd floor to the 2nd and from the 2nd floor to the 1st. Originally the idea was that students could at their option use the slide when going from one class to another, rather than the stairs. Well right as the school was finished, the school board was touring it, and the wife of the school board president decided to try out the slide. She flew down the slide, got to the bottom and broke her tailbone. So with that a decree was passed stating that the slides were off-limits except while under direct supervision during a fire drill, and even then only if the preassigned evacuation route for your location designated that you should use the slide.

I knew there was a such thing as Children's Day. I just never thought of it as a gift-giving-celebrating-with-family kind of thing. Not like Mother's Day or Valentines Day. I thought it was about awareness- like Earth Day. I didn't think it was about me and my children, but children's issues. Awareness of the issues around children's health/well-being, like disease, poverty, abuse, homelessness, disasters. I would have associated Children's Day with something like a fundraiser, safety fair... a drive for awareness. Not dinners and gifts or family outings. But, I didn't know it was yesterday, or even in June. ;o) So what do I know? Obviously, I didn't do anything out of the ordinary with my kids yesterday. I didn't even take them to the community pool. I did their laundry, and fed them. I left the house for a while so I could come home and be nicer. ;o)

I was mostly taught to cook by watching, but Mom did pass a couple recipes on to me. Not that my family cares all that much... she never was the best cook. Too Irish I suppose. My Gran, on the other hand, took her recipes with her to her grave. Dad is still bummed nobody can make her rolls or cinnamon buns. Regarding working in a restaurant... I suppose I learned more there than I did at home. Especially about prep and food storage. It taught me new methods that my Mom would never attempt. It also taught me to rely less on salt and to use actual seasonings instead such as herbs. ... And I think a stint as a prep kid should be mandatory for high school graduation. Kids here have to have volunteer hours to graduate and while that's great there's no comparison between shelving books at the library and learning how to feed yourself.