She was a truly fine human being.

A friend had an album, ? Trio? Dolly, Linda Rondstadt, Emmylou Harris.

In My Tennessee Mountain Home

I'm 81 and don't remember receiving any gifts for graduating from high school. None for college either. Did all of you?

I'll just chime in with one more thought. I have a few young people to whom I give birthday and Christmas gifts. In general, I stop giving them gifts when they graduate from high school as that seems to me to be a logical, if somewhat arbitrary, age to transition from childhood to adulthood. I don't give adults gifts for the many reasons that have been discussed here before. Therefore, a high school graduation gift is really celebrating more to me than just an accomplishment. It's a key life transition and so my gift is sort of a last hurrah, if you will.

High School grad parties/money gifts are super common where I live - I used to think it was a strange thing to celebrate (of course you graduated from high school) but having been to lots of these parties now, I see that it's more of a "end of an era" celebration

At the parties, all the kids hang out and get to see each other + parents/families reminisce about all the freezing soccer games, marching band performances in a gale force winds etc.. many of our kids have been in school together since kindergarten - kids who graduated earlier years will often come back and hit all the parties to see friends from the younger grades all in one place.

so my opinion has changed and now I think the celebrations/gifts are super sweet. We give $50 or $100 depending on how well we know the graduate - most kids put the money in their college account to help with tuition/expenses - where I live probably only about 25% get all of college paid for by parents

Okay, this one is controversial. Please scroll on by if you are easily offended. I'll check back later and delete it if people find it too offensive to see the humor in it.

Yes, funny and extremely clever.

That was hilarious! Just the giggle I needed this afternoon.

Loved it Annie! I had to watch it a second time so that I wouldn't miss any of the comments.

I agree. Time to chuck them out.

It is my understanding the skyrocket junipers do not do well in humid climates.

I've had the most enormous cucumber harvest from just two plants, have given away and am still giving away gallons and gallons, and have gotten myself addicted to tzatziki. Oh my, it's good.

“…and have gotten myself addicted to tzatziki.”

YES…really good!

As a palate cleanser, this is my favorite cucumber salad to make:

The smallest setting on the paddle mandolin, or the thinnest you can slice, best if the slices are translucent. Let weep using whatever method works for you--samll Persians or Armenians barely weep, but are delicious this way. Enflish seem not to weep, but sprinkle a little vinegar to mak sure.

Dressing, good olive oil to taste (i.e., EVOO but you can thin it with regular or lite olive oil if it's too intense) and sharp red wine vinegar (I use Pompeian--my "good" red wine vinegar is too mellow for this), herbs and seasoning to suit. I tend to just use Fines Herbs or Herbs de Province or a similar blend, but you can put in whatever you think goes well. I don't use garlic just so not everything is soaked in garlic, but it goes very well otherwise.

Use a bowl or container with a tight cover. Mix the cucumbers well with the dressing, but just enough dressing to spread the herbs around--the cucumbers will weep more when they're exposed to the vinegar. Let settle for about 10 minutes (i.e., while you clean the kitchen) then invert the lidded bowl, and refrigerate overnight or at least a couple of hours.

Now that made me laugh, FOAS (foodonastump)

So, the whole brood could be BIDET. Barron, Ivanka, Don, Eric, Tiffany.

Donald

I am a lover of Edith Wharton's work. Everyone my age read Ethan Frome in high school, but it's nothing at all like most of her work which focuses on the old aristocracy of New York. She simply skewers it. I just reread The Age of Innocence.

I am a sucker for any article about books coming soon.

The Calamity Club - Kathryn Stockett Wow! I’ve just now finished it. Every bit as good as her book The Help. Excellent book for book club discussion. Especially interesting to read the ’Author’s Note at the end. If I knew about this part of women’s history I’d forgotten & this was a scary reminder of just how backwards and terrifying things used to be in the arena of productive rights of women. It is a reminder of the reality of the risks we’re facing today.

An earlier comment by another says the audio book is too long. The book does look like a doorstop sized book but it is a very fast read.

Also adding if that bit of walk and step is the path to the house it seems to be much too narrow to be inviting or attractive. It should be 4-5 ft wide.

Create a focal point with decor and natural elements. Here are my ideas I prompted to AI so adjust as needed

Thanks for the like.

It's hard to have AI adjust an image without going overboard.

The pots are supposed to sit on the flagstone with the birdbath, which should have a wider bowl to balance the lamp. I'd like to see a bit more groundcover among the stones and rock.

Flowering perennials should not be planted next to the walkway or the flowerheads will bend over and block the path. Plant groundcover in between them and the walk.

I do like how AI left the front of the rock circle open to be seen from the curb. I like how AI widened the path visually with a strip of rock or gravel which should be on both sides for the entire length. 4 feet as mentioned is a good for total width.

Too late in the season to be pruning! Wait until late winter.

My word, trees get huge in England.

I'm not convinced that's a big one.

There is an old tulip poplar near me that lost at least half of its height after a bad storm. It is still taller than the oaks and maples nearby. I occassionally run into a baby one weeding my beds. I'd like one, but dont' have a good place for something that gets 200 ft tall.

What a coward that little weasel is, putting his own safety above others.

Redbuds are native here in WV--and when I moved here in the 70s we were a clear zone 5A. The coldest temperature I've ever been in was Christmas Eve 1982, I think, when it was 30 below zero. Not wind chill.

The key to a successful redbud in colder zones is to get one grown from northern seed. One grown from southern seed will not handle the cold. It's the genetic selection.

Update: I finally got one! I brought an eastern redbud home with me yesterday, along with another river birch (I have a deep-seated love of river birch). The redbud is not a named cultivar. Got them planted today.

Beautiful specimens, porkchop! Very nice indeed. Good luck with them. River birches are really quite beautiful.

:)

Dee