Yep, I's-a-braggin', ain't no doubt... We do have a much longer growing season out in Canada's banana belt, but it never gets that hot, so growing things like tomatoes for instance requires special attention to ensure as much heat as possible be available to those plants to maximize the fruit harvest. And yes, it can be damp this time of year. But that's precisely what keeps thing green around here. It's been unseasonably warm here though, courtesy of El Nino. Seems to me I heard from someone this is the warmest winter in a hundred years apparently. Heck, we've already done the first cut of the front lawn! Pieter

Lookin' forward to meeting you, too, WWW, and seeing Vanessa again! She's such a sweetheart, and her property is fantastic! You'll be guaranteed of some plants, I'm sure, no matter what you are able to bring to this swap. And by the time you go to your next one, you'll probably have lots of cuttings or seeds to share. So you'll pay it forward, as someone mentioned in another post recently. Yeah, the zones are good guidelines, but the plants don't read the books, after all. Sometimes they surprise you. For instance, my grandmother, who was the finest natural gardener I ever knew, planted a small florist's bird of paradise in her backyard in JACKSONVILLE. Back in the days when Jax got reallyreally cold every winter. Several freezes each year. People told her she couldn't possibly grow this plant outside, but it DID grow. And grow and grow. It ended up being at least 10' wide and about 7' or 8' tall! It would have dozens of "birds" on it each year. She had a special canvas covering made for it which she put over it during every cold spell, and it was the focal point of her whole backyard. Go figger! I say use the Zones as rough guidelines, but if you want to experiment with something "iffy," go for it! That's my plan, anyway. Once I get the basics of my landscape established, I plan to do a lot of experimenting with a whole BUNCH of Iffies. Marcia

I sat in court last week (haha, they issued a bench warrant for BM's arrest because she didn't show up for TWO hearings... the first for DCSS ~requesting an order that she seek work since she has not paid in over 6 months, the second ~ a contempt DH filed for her not paying her half of SD's medical bills) but being so close to Christmas... lots of the cases were about that. It was really pathetic to watch two people fight over how to split up the kids' Christmas day. One mom wants until noon, the dad wants them at 9am. I remember splitting it with my son's father & once, his wife came outside & assaulted me during the exchange... cops were called & of course nothing happened because she told them I hit her... they offered to take both of us to jail or do nothing. It was NOT the way any of the kids should have to spend the holiday... my son or the other five kids in the car that witnessed it. It is just so much better for the kids to spend the day with one parent & celebrate the holiday with the other parent on a different day. After the 'cops on Christmas' incident, that is what I did. and of course we had to get an order for every other year so we no longer split the holiday at all. We had to do the same for Thanksgiving but now that he's in his 20's, I look back and it was more harmful for HIM to split up his days. When the parents get along, I think it can work out fine.. but if they don't, it will ruin a kids holiday so what is the point of even getting them? I see many parents doing it for themselves, because THEY have an expectation of how they want their holiday to be. They are not thinking about what's best for the children. The sad thing is when one parent is going to see relatives for a holiday or vacation, that may be getting together from far away & they only have that one opportunity to see them but the other parent won't let them go.. it's the children that suffer. I see lots of that too. For that, there is no answer except that sometimes we have to sacrifice so the child isn't placed in a situation that makes it worse for them... and know that when they grow up, they will see through it. And there's no guarantee that they ever will see the truth. My son is almost 24 & is trying to plan part of his Christmas weekend with his dad, whom he hasn't spoken to since before he was deployed. We don't even know if he's incarcerated or not (he's been in & out of prison for many years) but my son has the hope that his dad will step up to be a dad to him & a grandpa to DGS. I had to talk to him when I was getting guardianship of DGS... he actually told me that he's fine with it as long as I allow him to see DGS when he wants. I said that's fine, anytime you want to see him just give me a call. That was several months ago.. not one call. (well, first he wanted me to agree to an every other weekend visitation schedule... and I said "you're going to come get him every other weekend?" and then he changed it to "let me see him when I want." I think he just wanted to see if he can engage me in a battle but when I refused to fight over it, he went away.) My stepmom always said, "kill 'em with kindness" because they thrive on conflict.

Glenda- You must be a pro at packing by now because you travel a good bit. Aren't you going to Ireland and England - or do I have my travelers and trips mixed up? And where are you and your girlfriends cruising to Ms. Rita?