The simple charm of British wild flowers has enduring appeal

Did somebody sneak down & take a photo in my garden? I'm so fortunate, the woodlands surrounding my very informal garden look just like that at the moment. I think in an earlier comment I described the sunlight coming  through the scarecely-leaved trees & illuminating the carpet of flowers beneath. More later. So, depending on where you are, good morning/night.

all the colors of the flowers in that piece,why, I would have to press my EyE balls with my thumbs to see that many....

I have a black thumb. Anything like flowers or veggies in my garden have to be very hearty and thrive on neglect, but I compost all my kitchen organic matter and last year had some wonderful volunteer tomatoes...cherry and heirloom. This year I bought a couple of plants, so I'll see how well they do, but I may have to stick with those willing volunteers. ..
 
I pass a house occasionally that has a sign in the front yard that says, Food Not Lawns
...and everything in that yard is edible. I like the concept.
http://www.foodnotlawns.net/  ;
 
A friend planted some lovely flowers for my birthday... the snails ate the flower heads off the ranunculus, but the daisies. marigolds and geraniums are doing fine and continue to flower. Some flower petals are tasty sprinkled in a salad....dandelions, sweet sour grass, bachelor buttons, marigolds, carnations... I use them all the time in mixed greens....very rich in vitamin C.
 
There are flowers blooming all year round in this area. What I really love is the wild jasmine, with its heady aroma, which has spread all over the back yard coming up through the Mexican sage. ...two more volunteers!  and the sage is a draw for hummingbirds.
 
Hazel, I remember your earlier description and your garden sounds lovely, and if it's at all like the above photo, you're indeed very fortunate. 
 
RoadYacht, wouldn't you be seeing stars if you did that?

The Countryside, in Coventry, is breathtaking ... Beautiful colors, and smells so sweet that it is almost cloying ... First time I'm ever there, I went quickly in search of BeeKeepers and the Amber Nectar ... Delightful Produce ... None of it made it back to the Embassy with me ... I was reading and noshing during the nites, in my Hotel Room ... Fortunately, Room Service had been extended for us (Political Hacks, you know) and I was able to get a Pot of Good Tea whenever i wanted it ... I like English Breakfast Tea, any time of day, and it is marvelously accompanied by Bisquits and Wild Flower Honey ... A fabulous way to spend a quiet evening, after a day of blasting thru the countryside in a Bristol Condition '47 Jaguar Drophead Coupe ....... An absolute Symphony ... with the throaty rumble of that Big Six reverberating thru the Trees ... Seamless Downshifting at the Top of a Hairpin Turn, powering out onto the Straightaway ... Day Dreaming ... "If Moss could only see me now ..."  "Eat your heart out, Fangio ..." and back to reality approaching a Cross Roads ... Ignition cut, and we're stopped at a Private Home for Sunday Dinner ... and the sweet smell of the Wild Flowers is suddenly challenged by the aroma of fresh baked Bread ... Out the door after a pleasant afternoon, Homeward bound, and greeted pleasantly again by the Sight and Smell of the English Countryside ... I was sometimes sorry that I couldn't carry a Camera .......

Awash

     In sunlight

         Windflowers chime:

"Home is where

     The wind flowers,

          Chimes,

Awash in sunlight"

good saturday morning!  have a great day all!  i love flowers.

Great to see you up and around, Cuukoo !!!
 
Have a Great Day, and a Better Day Tomorrow !!!

 
56°, fog and we're off to northern Illinois to say one last goodbye to a golden boy.

When death comes so near, everyone seems a little more dear.

Take care of yourselves. 

In a recent motoring trip from Raleigh to Nashville, I was amazed at how the Interstate system in NC is lined by spaces filled with wildflowers native to the Appalachians. I love Ashville and its panoramic views and took I-26 through the mountains where Davy Crockett first settled. I put on a rock station that played oldies and rolled the windows down and took some hits of fresh air. It was therapeutic. Wildflowers provide such a fresh natural look to the landscape.   

ahhhhhhhhhhhhchoooooo! !

Good morning Hazel, Jane, Jalopkin, Paolos & Cuuckoo!
I dont get much chance to talk 2U all as I'm already asleep when it gets into full swing. Tonight's quiet for me tho as my 15 year old, who lives with me, has been packed off for a 3 week school exchange in Beijing. Apart from immersion classes with the host school, there's calligraphy, martial arts, tea houses, paper cutting, the Great Wall, Ming Tomb, Hutong exploring (the narrow alleyways of Beijing)....wish I had such opportunities in school!. 
 
Jane, I hv the same problem as you! Can't get anything to grow even if I played it classical music or talked to it.

Tommy Typical- I must say a hearty thank you from Asheville as that is my home town. I now live in Crossville TN but a big part of my heart will always be in Asheville. Years ago in my youth-filled days the Highway Beautification Act, part of the Lady Bird Bill was passed. Seeds were literally sewn at by as many of the interstate highways as possible. (Here is a link to an 2005 article about its 40th anniversary : http://www.wildflower.org/pastissues/?id=87 ) There is one interchange on the new I-26 corridor in particular, not too far from my childhood home, that passes through to the north that has the most amazing display of red poppies - breath taking. But don’t stop to pick even one, its a $500 fine.

Stoney - I am sorry for your loss.

Yes, Asheville with its blend of "hippies and hillbillies and philosophers" is such a multifacted cultural and arts center. Grove Park Inn is my romantic getaway place. Cynthia, Here's one more piece of irony. Recently my mom and I took the backroads from her home in Norris to Rugby not far from you now. Rugby is a delightful mystical place. We love to count country churches and visit old graveyards together. It is a study in local culture. 

Jal~ Do you keep bees? Or just enjoy honey? Did you spot the bee keeping link on the Telegraph page?
Yesterday, wandering round my garden, I located the source of a low-pitched humming sound. A large rhodedendron with really vulgar knock-your-eyeballs out magenta/shocking pink blooms had a bumble bee in almost every flower. The honey bees are not interested, must be the wrong sort of pollen for their liking.
janej78~ who needs flowers when they have humming birds in their garden? Little flying jewels.
 
Many years ago, in my art student days, when it seemed safe to hitch-hike as a lone & 'tho I say it myself, pretty 17 year old girl, (CRAZY!) I met a man who managed the equipment that sprays grass seed mixed with slurry onto the void spaces on the sides of motorways (freeways?) & I casually said, why don't you mix wildflower seeds  in with it? Two years later, this man calls me at my parents home (OOOps!) to say he stole my idea, got a promotion & the wildflowers were doing great. He did send me a nice bunch of flowers as a thankyou gift.
The "spare" ground along our rural road systems provide a great wildlife habitat, wildflowers enrich it.

Words like eclectic and eccentric are illustrated boldly by the people of Asheville. When I visit my family there I always take the back roads. Newport to Asheville is a nice trip. A section of the Appalachian Trail passes just north of Hot Springs.

Growing up in the mountains of western North Carolina I was truly blessed with the most amazing childhood. My grandmother was one of the few people licensed by the state of North Carolina to grow and collect medicinal plants for the state; a lot of which were wildflowers. One of the many projects I have been working on lately has been with my dear friend Patricia Lanza author of the Lasagna Gardening book series. She has a new book coming out: ‘My Grandmother's Aprons’. A collection of stories from her readers and friends. I have two stories in the book. With her permission here is one regarding collecting herbs and wildflowers with Granny:

'Ever had the pleasure of chewing on a twig from a birch tree? Granny kept a small twig of a birch tree in her apron pocket to chew on and rub her teeth with. “Makes your breath fresh,” she would say. Oh how I loved going with her to cut birch twigs. She had a small box on a shelf in her bedroom where she would put the birch twigs. When she ran out twigs it meant a trip down to the spring in the ‘bottom’ were the birch trees grew. The ‘bottom’ was the lowest part of my grandparent’s thirteen-acre farm we shared in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. We had to walk down a steep hillside through trees, evergreens and hardwoods alike, to get to the spring. Granny would take her time bringing the forest floor to life sharing with me all the herbs and wildflowers that, if I didn’t know better, I would have tromped into oblivion. Every so often she would take the end of the tobacco stick she was using like a cane to walk with and point to a plant telling me, teaching me how to harvest things like penny royal. She would tenderly place leaves, bark, etc. in bits of cloth, folded then tucked them into her apron pockets. I would be busy looking down, mesmerized by Lily of the Valley spread far and wide growing in the rich humus soil under the trees when she would start telling me about tree bark. When we would get to the spring in the ‘bottom’ Granny would hand me some roasted pumpkin seeds to eat from her apron pocket while we sat and enjoyed a sip or two of spring water from a gourd dipper Granddaddy had grown then hollowed out and kept hanging in a tree by the spring. Granny would lay out the scraps of cloth, unfold them and take stock of all the herbs, bark and leaves we had gathered so far. Once enough birch twigs were cut and stowed safely in her apron pocket she would lead me on a return trip that took in most of the rest of the thirteen acres. Exhausted after the trip, I would lay on the couch watching her go through her apron pockets carefully unfolding the bits of cloth revealing the healing treasures we had collected. Years later after her passing I learned my grandmother was a root doctor; an expert on healing plants and herbs. One of a handful of people licensed to buy, sell and trade healing herbs in Western North Carolina.’

HAZEL:  I just like Honey ... Never had the time to devote to learning how to properly keep Bees, or I probably would have ...

Stoney - quite profound and so true -- sorry for your loss.

Jalopkin,  as  soon  as  I  saw  "Coventry"  in  the  first  sentence  of  your  posting,   I  was  certain  that  you  were  going  to  work  something  about  Jaguar  automobiles  into  your  comments.....lol    The  new  XJ  ragtop  is  a  sight  to  be  seen,   nothing  like  the  classics  that  are  familiar  to  you.....but  at  least  you  could  put  the  top  down,  and   fully  concentrate  on  the  sights  &  smells  of  the  English  countryside,   the  car  practically  drives  itself.....

Can't hear a word I'm saying as I'm munching pate on crackers.
Cynthia~ What a great story about Granny's apron pockets.
I stopped my car to congratulate two men who were clipping a splendid Yew hedge around a English country churchyard. They told me the clippings were baled up & sent to Germany, to be processed into Tamoxifen, a drug used to treat breast cancer. Thanks for the reminder that it is illegal to pick or dig out wildflowers without a license.
 
Andy~ aaaaachoooo to you, too, Bless You! I have hayfever/pollen allergy & it's no fun.
 
Language! My typing finger dithered over the keyboard as I hunted my briancell for the American word for big roads & I still didn't think "Highway" Dithered even more over the hitch-hiking story- over here, you get a "lift" I think you call it a "ride", but that means another thing over here.

I still remember the pleasure of the first time I found a weed that turned to a flower in my mind.....

The late Pinky and I have a garden of indigenous native Illinois flowering plants...wild flowers & weeds,in a fenced area, fed daily the seeds,stems,peels,shells and grounds of my consumptions...I don't actually compost it,just dump it,along with ashes from the varioius woods I use in the grill for smoke...in the center is a birdbath...it is hard to keep it from becoming scummy-so a blast of the water hose is needed, but the flowers attract birds,bees,and flutterbys (that's what we always called 'em as we sat at the patio table and ate)...last year we had the Jap beetle infest...they must have sent invitations to all their friends....I dint poisen 'em, but I squished a lot...if anybody knows a benign substance to offend them, please share....

to be surrounded by the sight, scent and the silent song of flowers and tree reminds me to be grateful for the gift of being here to experience these wonders

The  beauties  of  nature,  collectively  as  well  as  individually,  are  my  natural  alternative  to  serious  antidepressants.    Cities  have  their  dark  underbellies,  the  parts  that  never  expose  themselves  to  the  readers  of  Conde  Nast,  and  that's  where  I  have  chosen  to  spend  my  professional  life.   Once  evening  comes,   it   is  well  worth  the  hour's  drive  to  put  all  of  that  behind  me,  even  if  only  for  a   few  short  hours.    The  amazing  thing  is  how  few  of  my  contemporaries,   professionally  or  socially,   have  discovered  a  natural  elixir,  a  way  to  hug  my  daughter,  watch  my  feeds  of  national  &  international  news,   and  somehow  know  that  things  will  manage  to  work  themselves  out....      Peterman  is  right,    if  we  haven't  discovered  our  own  place  of  escape,  the  moment  is  at  hand  to  start  searching....carpe  diem!

Cynthia~ I collect vintage aprons for the stories and history in them and books about them. I love your remembrances of your Grandmother and will treasure that story and buy the book when it comes out.

RY: Hopefully what we do for Japanese beetle will work for your and Pinky's garden: There are hanging "traps" that consist of a yellow crosspiece of plastic on the top of a windsock type bag. You just hang them on a branch within 25 feet or so of the plants you're trying to protect (further if you put more than one upto protect a larger area, spaced apart). They contain no poison, just a phernome that attracts the beetle, which then slides into the bag and can't crawl out. We've had them protecting our grapevines, tomatos, wisteria and hydrangias since the bugs blew into our area suddenly a few years ago. It's amazing how fast they find the bag. You just throw the bag away when it get's full and snap on a new one. Cheap, effective, green. Hope it works for you.

Hazel~ I love the wildflower by the motorways story. Ladybird Johnson, on of our First Ladies and a famous conservationist and wildflower expert was behind a movement to do the same with the Texas roadsides and there are hundreds of miles of breathtaking beauty every year. It's a sure sign of Spring to see people pulled over to the side of the road and photographing their families in fields of Bluebonnets, Indian Paintbrush, Poppies and Black-eyes Susans.

Jane~ Me too-->Black thumbs for anything delicate or needing more than minimal care! All of my plant were established when I moved in or were volunteers (I love that expression!).

Hazel~ I just uploaded a picture of my kids (from the mid 90's when we lived there) in a patch of Bluebonnets.

I second what JaxZ says about the Japanese beetle trap.... they probably saved my back yard last year and I've got 'em up again this year.

Tommy T My maternial grandfather was born in New River and went to school in Rugby in the late 1800's. He had fond memories of the area and talked of it often.The first time I got to visit Rugby was in 1998 and found it to be picturesque and interesting. Having grown  up near there and having played in the forests ,swam in the streams and camped in many places in the vicinity and generally not fully realizing the beauty of the area and how spoiled I was when it came to appreciating the natural beaut y of that part of the country. When you are young I guess that is  acceptable?
Cynthia, your grand mother sounds much like mine when it came to using herbs in food and for cures.
On their small farm there was a little creek flowing through part of where the land became something of a hollow as is pretty common in that part of the country and in the shadows of beach gum trees there was a spot where Lady Slippers( a form of orchids ) grew wild.It seemed a magical spot to a youngster. To this day Lady Slipper is my favorite orchid, none seem to br as beautiful as those I in that I remember In that small bit of heaven.
Also I have a cousin with whom I grew up and her husband that was a dear friend growing up now living in Crossville and enjoying retirement there.
A great weekend to all.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Here’s a great website with suggestion on which wildflowers grow best in ‘your’ area http://www.wildflower.org/collections/

Hello all, being late to the table I got some catchin' up to do.

Ivan: As always your references run the gamut. From honey to Formula 1, both of which in enjoy to excess.

As to the hills of North Carolina, Asheville is one of my favorite places in the world. The Biltmore Estate, the Blueridge Parkway, the Grove Arcade (fantastic piece of architecture and all the other things too numerous to mention, make Asheville a destination for almost any taste.
My mom is from Myrtle Beach, S.C. We would drive US25E through eastern Tn. and western N.C. on our way to the coast from central Ky. The smell of honeysuckle pervading the countryside as we cruised through in our '62 Olds Ninety Eight. What a drive and what a car. Our children and grandchildren are missing the simple pleasures. Now we whiz down the road at brakeneck speed, windows up, a/c on and in doing so can't smell the aromas of this fine earth God has made for us. It's no wonder we're confused about many things these days. We've lost our connection to what's real.

KC: I'm 'bout ready to jump in the car for a roadtrip now.... I may have to rassle one together. I could drive down there in about 15 hours...:)

Cynthia~ thank you for the wonderful resource! I just sent it to my daughter and daught-in-love who were asking about what wildflowers they could plant last week. I even was able to identify a couple of formerly unidentified plants in my yard by looking at the photos.

 
Cheese and crackers! That funeral dwarfed some held for heads of state. That guy apparently never met anybody who didn't become a friend and he kept them all.

A strong, close and religious family, they were holding up pretty well despite the loss of their forty-nine year old superstar.

The line to sign in and greet the family was one of those serpentine deals that doubled back on itself and  its tail was outside.

As we got closer to having our words with his widow and family and things were getting a little close to the bone, it was a bit of relief to marvel at what the younger brother of one of my high school friends would have called: "The long luxuriable eyelashes," on the backlit children of our fallen friend.

That friend, nicknamed "Skin," to the chagrin of every other mother and no doubt his own, had three brothers we called: "Two Skin, Three Skin and Jeff."

It was nice to learn that our late friend had understood how much he had meant to us and we to him.

I don't know... I already greet everyone in our close circle with a hug and "I love You," but maybe the time has come to increase the diameter of that circle... before it is too late.

 

 

Stoney: I wish we could circle round you and your wife right now, look you in the eyes, tell you how much we do care and hug you enormously. I hope you can close your eyes and picture that. Love, J

Stoney: Your words have me speechless...a warm virtual hug to you my friend.
 
 

Cynthia--I loved the story of your granny's apron.  She would definitely be a gran that all would want to spend time with.  I would also like to know when the book comes out--Now, off-topic:  I have relatives who live in Crossville and I've visited there--once during that insane "garage sale" all along the highway!  That event is sheer madness.... Stoney, well it seems like the line to offer virtual hugs is snaking around like the one you experienced in reality.  A hug comes right along with my compliments on your thoughtful, insightful and entertaining posts.  

RY: Becky (wife) and I took our camper down to Asheville last summer and had a peach of a time. I say peach because the main reason for going was to buy some fresh peach's from across the border in S.C. She likes 'em fresh from the field and they have them in spades in every roadside stand within 20 miles of the state line.
 
It was August but in the high country of western N.C. the temps are a few degrees cooler. Although the humidity is still heavy. We set up our 30ft. travel trailer in a campground near Black Mountain, N.C. For the next few days we visited Asheville, drove up the Blueridge Parkway, walked to the summit of Mt. Mitchell (highest point east of the Mississippi river) and generally drank in the peace and quiet that camping affords. I know that you can fill in the blanks being a fellow rv'er. Some of the blanks are pleasant some not. It all depends on how well the drain hose is connected.

It bit off topic but scenic non the less. Here's a link to one of my favorite websites.
http://www.nps.gov/glac/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm

Stoney~ I'm in line to give you a hug. Consider it sent.
 
It looked like it was snowing today, so many dandelion and willow seedlings drifting in the breeze. Nature is so prolific, given the right conditions.
Today's top of page pic really does look like my garden. The trees I have are oak, ash, beech, birch & more, here before & after me, the wildflowers the same, they faithfully appear each year, in their season & bloom with no intervention from me. I don't even attempt to "manage" the woodland, the area I do manage is planted with flowering shrubs which, once established, need minimal care. Despite that, the woodland is tidier than the garden, as self-seeded things pop up everywhere, and wild stuff. The only consolation is that it would be worse if I left God to look after it, & God is hopeless with vegetable gardens that need constant attention, His only contribution is to give one the health & strength to keep hoeing, watering, composting, digging, planting, harvesting. And he never organises the right ammount of rain- don't take my word for it, ask any farmer!
 
 
 

JaxZ:    After  reading  of  your  willingness  to  help  virtual  friend  Roadyacht's  Japanese  beetle  problem  in  his  garden,   I  checked  out  the  technology  online.    You  are  correct,   designers  figured  out  how  to  use  sex  to  trap  the  little  parasites.    I  understand  full  well  how  that  concept  works,  in  several  variants  that  affect  humans.   Heck,  I'll  plead  victim  to  allowing  my  testosterone  allow  my  body  to  ignore  obvious  red  flags  sent  out  by  my  brain,   after  which  time  I  was  trapped  myself.....
 
Cynthia:   Best  of  luck  in  your  postgraduate  work,   I  went  to  school  nights  as  an  adult  to  get  my  professional  degree  while  trying  to  manage  a  challenging  day  job  and  cobble  together  a  personal  and  family  life  at  the  same  time.   By  the  way,   you  may  find  your  thoughtful  interest  in  this  chatroom  to  be  of  great  assistance  in  studying  the  subtle  nuances  of  human  behavior.   See  my  response  to  JaxZ.....lol 

We removed lots os shrub honeysuckle and I'm planting an organic vegetable garden in 4 raised 3x6 raised beds. I also planted shade wildflowere for beauty and flutterbys. It has been 15 years since I gardened anything except shade plants! I'm EXCITED!
I will transpant some roses and peonies to the sunny spot we created. Any suggestion for a Chicken coop? My family craves fresh eggs!

Sorry  about  my  awkward  sentence  in  my  previous  post.    Getting  ready  to  head  out  for  the  evening,  trying  to  make  sure  my  daughter  will  be  in  a  safe  harbor  until  I  return,   and  posting  here  at  the  same  time.    Walking  &  chewing  gum,  walking  gum,  many  others  less  promising  than  me  master  the  basics  of  multitasking  all  the  time,   I  can  do  it  as  well.....

Bert: What awkward sentance? I understod everything you said. Hug your girl for us. :)

Brigid~ Oh my husband will drag me away if he sees me posting about chickens. I got chicken fever very badly about 4years ago and have been at him about it ever since. {{laughing}} There are SO many plans for coops online, it just depends on how many birds you want. We're urban so I could only have 4 hens so we would need something small. Plus even though we're in the middle of town we have a lot of foxes, fishers and raccoons plus a few coyotes, so it had to be protected and moveable for fresh grass. I finally found one that was pest proof (I have some disability so I couldn't scrub down a regular coop the way they need it, easy to clean and moveable, Eggsactly what I needed, but it was freekin expensive. So I'm still working on him. Here it is: https://www.omlet.us/shop/shop.php?cat=Eglu
(the other nice thing is if you travel, you just pick it up and take it to your chicken-sitters yard.)

On the other end, if you don't want to build from scratch, believe or not there's some very nice one's on eBay. :)

Brigid~ Gosh I love that term flutterbys, did you coin that? It's such a good word picture. :)

Are your peonies leafed out that you're transplanting? I need to "emergency" transplant a lot of hostas, peonies, wisteria and lilacs from my to my children's yards but I've never done it before (and the idea is to hopefully not kill them all).

Lucky me---I live where I can easily and affordably (for me) get free range small poultry farm organic  wonderful eggs!  I make a special weekly trip to the Merc just for eggs (and, of course, usually find many other things I "need.") and will have a very difficult time if I ever have to buy large-scale commercially produced eggs again.  I know that I'm spoiled, but hey!  at my age?  I think I've earned it!!  Have a real bird phobia so could never ever ever EVER! farm my own, thank you very much!.  But-----would have no problem consuming your pets' endeavors should we have a chance to have breakfast (or lunch, or dinner) sometime.    It's the details, details that get me every time.

Back to topic:  many years ago, right before graduation and subsequent wedding, my husband   (to be shortly, then) visited the dean of his college at her home.  Something you could do at  a small mid western university.  She was very welcoming and gracious and extremely proud of her yard of idigenous wildflowers and gave me a bouqet to take home.  As we all know...wild things never last.....but they were beautiful and I've not forgotten them after all this time.  As a wedding gift she gave a silver cake server which evokes many fond memories of her and her beautiful wild flowers every time I use it or even open the silver chest!  Wild is always fleeting, isn't it?  

 JaxZ - RoadYacht also used the term earlier in this post!
"but the flowers attract birds,bees,and flutterbys (that's what we always called 'em as we sat at the patio table and ate)..."
I made the term up when my children were little. It so describes what a butterfly looks like in flight. Thanks for the chicken coop leads. I think I'll need something sturdier - we live in Champaign Counry and have lots of marauding wildlife. It's nice to own one of God's Little Acres...maybe I should upload some pictures?
 
information on hostas, peonies, wisteria and lilacs
http://www.creativehomemaking.com/gardening/peonies.shtml
http://www.creativehomemaking.com/gardening/growing-lilacs.shtml
http://www.creativehomemaking.com/gardening/dividing-hostas.shtml
http://www.creativehomemaking.com/gardening/planting-wisteria.shtml

http://www.creativehomemaking.com/gardening/planting-hostas.shtml
 

Brigid~ Thanks for the info, I'm sure it'l help me not to murder these poor flowers while I transplant them. :)
Yes please upload pictures, I've always wanted raised beds so I could sit on the edge, I'd love to see pictures of yours.

Cynthia: Do you know the film "Where the Lilies Bloom," set in high western NC mountains? It's a tear jerker. There is something so special about backcountry in the NC mountains that I swear if you were blindfolded and parachute dropped in, you'd know where you are when removing the blindfold.

Stoney---I am sorry to learn of your friend's death. I cannot help but think however that your own wake (still far off) will be an even grander affair because of how you touch lives here and the enormity of respect that you earn for yourself.

JazZ:   I  forgot  to  insert  the  word  "to"  in  one  of  the  sentences  in  my  post  to  you.   That's  the  obsessive - compulsive  in  my  personality,   kicking  myself  for  missing  on  proofreading  something  that  wouldn't  get  picked  up  by  spellcheck....    On  the  plus  side,  paying  attention  to  detail  has  literally  saved  my  arse  on  multiple  occasions,   I'm  the  only  guy  who  notices  that  some  little  detail  in  the  restaurant  just  doesn't  seem  right,  then  just  before  the  excrement  hits  the  fan  I'm  able  to  get  out  of  the  line  of  fire....    Hey,  one  more  thing,  maybe  somebody  should  talk  to  that  husband  of  yours.   I'm  certain  he  loves  you,  but  I  would  respectfully  suggest  that  he's  two  bubbles  off  plumb,  refusing  to  buy  his  wife  the  easy  to  clean  chicken  coop,  while  at  the  same  time  knowing  that  you  can't  do  the  existing  one  yourself.....   I  work  in  the  city,  but  I  live  in  the  country,  and  I  understand  full  well  how  godawful  of  a  mess  a  chicken  coop  becomes,  without  regular  maintenance.    Got  rabbit  hutches  outside,  4H  project  size  &  virtually  new.....my  kid  welched  on  her  promise  to  deal  with  the  mess,  not  just  with  the  "cute" .....  and   that  task  was  a  walk  in  the  park,   compared  to  chickens.....

Stoney, I'd like to offer a hug to you also..and I love it..Skin, Two Skin, Three Skin and Jeff....perfect. I wonder if Jeff felt like he was tagging along. That has to be the ultimate  tribute...>he never met anybody who didn't become a friend.< I can't think of anything nicer I'd want said about me.
 
Cynthia, what a delightful story. Thanks to your friend for letting you share.
 
JaxZ, I too have an old fashioned apron collection. I love them. There are some good websites for patterns. Here's one link, but there are many. All you need is some vintage fabric or whatever suits your fancy.
http://www.candleonthehill.net/store/catalog.php?category=12
 
We have local farmers' markets everyday of the week in one lpart of town or another during the summer, winters cut back to just 2 a week....so I never buy large-scale commercially produced eggs....and you can tell the difference. 
 
I love all the descriptive trips through the south. I haven't been in that direction in a very long time, but it feels like home to me, coming from Tenn. originally.   
 
Peter Lake, it is a stop and smell the roses scenario every day for me.
 
Bert, Jaguar is one of my favorite cars. In 1969 I bought a 1960 Jaguar Touring Saloon..  ...beautiful car, with such a rich interior...leather, woodwork...plush carpet...fold down tables in the back, cigar lighters..smooth ride....oh man...wish I had it now!

Hazel M.; A preacher was traveling a rural part of the country when he cam e upon an extremely well kept and lovely farm, and as he was admiring the field of well organized rows of vegetables, corn ,root  plants etc the farmer came by on his riding plow . The preacher  got the attention of the farmer and started to comment on the beauty of the farm. You and God have made a place to certainly br proud of he stated. The farmer thuoght for a moment and replied that you should have seen it when
God was taking care of it by Himself.This in response to your last post and in agreement with you sentiment.

Hazel L . Sorry about the misprint of your last name initial. Growing we had a Dr. i n our small town whose last name was Meese and his wifes first name was Hazel. At least I didn' t call you mom. My mothers name was also Hazel.

what lovely things we talked about today, including the hugs for Stoney,and the appreciation we have all expressed for his good friend. R.I.P., "Skin".   Bridgid,JaxZ,and whoever else enjoys the whimsey Pinky and I so did; not only did we enjoy the flutterbys, but when we saw moths,we called them "mirths" and described them as "little flying hearts"...we loved describing shapes in clouds,and took many pictures of trees....and wild flowers,though we'd tried telling them to behave,or we would put it on their "permanent record"

KY, Bert:  On that particular occasion, I was transporting my Charge to a Luncheon (Dinner in the South) at the Home of one of the Lyons Family, who for over half a century produced the Jaguar ... The Car I was driving him in had been Gifted to him years before by Sir William Lyons, the Founder of Jaguar ... The only reason I volunteer'd to drive the old Bugger, was so I could drive that Car of his ... otherwise we'd have taken the Limo and I'd have been along to protect him ... There are, evidently, some very dangerous Bird Watchers and Gardeners, and aging Cricketeers living and lurking about in Coventry ...
 
JAX:  "Flutterby" is what Butterflies were originally called ... Can't remember at the moment when the word was rearranged ... (Prolly a subversive plot, in Coventry)

 
Geez, to awake from a dozy dog pile ( I was on the bottom) to find that your friends have been tossing roses is a very nice thing indeed.

The hug circumference has been expanded to include the Village, it's environs, thesepia train; everywhere it goes, thinks about going and everywhere it doesn't. You're all in and there's no escaping... or citizenship requirement.

They didn't save my place but if I make a new bottom, they'll make a new top.

Good night my friends and thanks for your attention to things that I mostly don't say to anyone else.

STONEY...... I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. 49 is way too young. You are in my thoughts.........