Julia, I forgot to add one more variable above concerning coloring of some DtS photos. So much depends on the lighting conditions when I snap a picture. A cloudy day is the best time to snap a picture. But sometimes the coloring also varies during the day! More white may show in the morning, and a creamier color may show in the late afternoon. tsbccowboy's photos above are a perfect example of three different colorings on the same plant. Pam, I find it very interesting how your EZ shows more red-violet, while mine shows more blue-violet. I just looked up the properties on my photo, and saw that I snapped it at 8:21 A.M. when the sun hadn't yet risen over the trees to the East. Now you all have me curious, and wanting to experiment next season by taking some morning and evening shots to compare them! Chris, Thanks for the compliment. You may use the photo. I don't have any of mine copyrighted. Gee - maybe I should look into that. Spring of 2008 brought us lots of rain. I think all the extra micro-nutrients falling from the sky add to the richness of the bloom. Also, I can't remember for sure, but I may have "saturated" that photo about 10% or so. I often do that, as my printer doesn't show the same good quality as is seen on my computer screen unless I saturate a little. I have some photos from 2007 that look more like tsbccowboy's first photo, and Debra's. Julie

Syb, The last time I was in Santa Barbara, I visited a garden shop that sounded much like what you described: "unique & antique artifacts, local craftsmen items, and combine that with plant offerings, pots, bird & bee houses, water gardens." Nice unusual specimen plants in unique pots outdoors, and lots of handmade and salvaged big garden furniture, fountains, and ornaments inside. It did not have a wildlife/organic focus or a big demo garden, though, or if it did I missed it. It's called Eye of Day, located next to a hotel in Carpinteria. I think the best part of it was the one-of-a-kind benches and other furniture created from interesting blocks of wood and stone -- very sculptural. But to have a store like that, you need enough customers that can afford it, so SB was a good location. Or you can host lots of workshops and get a lot of traffic and some income that way -- a reason for people to go out of their way to visit you, if you are out of the way, and as long as they are there they will browse and maybe buy. Search terms that may help find more of these are "garden boutique" and "garden gallery." Here in the SF bay area, I don't know of anything similar, but we do have quite a few artists who incorporate their artwork into gardens, for example -- * http://www.conversations.org/cevan.htm * Marcia Donohue in Berkeley * a garden sculpture gallery * an artifact/recycle warehouse focusing on garden art -- and also some nurseries that have wonderful display gardens and events -- * Annie's Annuals -- and there is a store called Wild Bird that focuses on attracting birds. -- and at least one of the local landscape designers who focuses on native plants also puts artwork into the gardens that features native-plant themes (urns decorated with mosaics picturing wildflowers, benches made from massive manzanita trunks, fountains in the shape of acorns, etc): Middlebrook Gardens. -- and some independent nurseries feature sculpture and hand-crafted items. So maybe it would be useful for you to go through the process of writing a business plan, or at least the part that defines the competition and what you would offer that is unique or compelling. (My fantasy business would feature a bookstore of used and new garden books, a compost demonstration area, a huge demonstration garden featuring natives, edibles, and herbs, and regular workshops in organic gardening, vegan cooking, botanical medicine, ecological design, and individual plants [would anyone else be interested in an hour seminar on kale?].)

Thank you guys! Mtn- please dont apologize i asked for the crazy. I loved your suggestions we are kindred travel spirits. I just have a tendency when sick to push all reasonable boundaries. The best part is I now have 2 remission trip destinations-- feel free to add a third or fourth. Heck les go crazy 4 or 5 more. I'll be able to pick up books to keep me dreaming should a match come up and I'm once again in hospital isolation for 3-4 weeks. Not to mention the first 100 days post transplant where life is so very very different from well life! Travelogues, guidebooks, maps and national geographic videos help me pretend I'm anywhere else! I get the worst wanderlust when a patient! Great memory! you do have our careers correct. However, just because I know what limits are, doesn't mean I think they apply to me. I may be the worst patient ever? All told, I think this will be a perfect escape. Julie, Hawaii made the short list but we decided on Nevis. The deciding factor is my best friend, her husband and her daughter (who now live in Sao Paulo) will be able to join us for the 2nd week! my son is over the moon about our traveling companions. I'll file away the hotel rec for a later time. Thank you. Now I can obsess over what to pack :) Have a great day everyone! This post was edited by iheartgiantschnauzer on Sun, Feb 23, 14 at 11:57

Nanny you might want to look into the pants that are made of wind resistant fabric as they are very light. Also the wool and silk underwear at Sierra is weightless and very warm. You wouldn't need jeans as they aren't warm anyway since they are cotton. I found that the convertible pants are essentially wind resistant fabric and therefore are very warm while taking up no room and drying in minutes. When it got really cold I put on a pair of tights under them and they were exceptionally comfortable..and I am a person that is ALWAYS cold. Heavy tops take up a lot of room and instead if you layer several light tops you get way more warmth and less weight plus more options. Just a thought to help you with your plans. Good Luck and have a wonderful time ! c