kidsmoke

You? A "little" giddy? i think not.

Those would go nicely together. In my house!

I can't see your picture, Michelle, but I would love to see the photo you've posted, just from your description of it! I know the Black Hills are gorgeous, and I remember how pretty Wyoming was when Brennan and I drove through it late last June! As for the Yosemite photo I posted (2nd post in this thread), I can't see that either! Haha, I thought I was getting a still photo from the webcam, but I noticed as today wore on that the picture looked different, and darker & more shadowed. Seems my "photo" is connected to the webcam itself, so now that it's night, you get nothing to look at but

Has anyone read Jetta Carleton's The Moonflower Vine? What a deeply beautiful book it is, about life and family. Nothing I could say would do it justice, but I recommend it wholeheartedly. It's the kind of a book you wish you could walk inside of. That cover looks cheesy, but don't let that stop you. The book is incredible.

Camp Mather looks fantastic! Enjoy every minute. Bring bug spray.* * Based on Brennan's and my experience hiking to the Devil's Postpile (in nearby Mammoth) last early July....the 747-sized mosquitos made it the fastest visit ever, and our hike was more of a run, slapping at each others' backs as we raced for the protection of the car. Beautiful scenery though! Blurry, but beautiful!

Congratulations!

Sample picture:

I was looking at these webcam views of Yosemite and craving a long visit there. Take a look, although it doesn't even barely scratch the surface of how lovely the area is: http://www.yosemiteconservancy.org/webcams We really are fortunate, despite all the hardships life flings at us, to be surrounded by so many gorgeous and inspiring places...whether it's the Grand Canyon or your local undiscovered fishing spot. Where do you go (or where do you wish to go?) for that sustenance that only comes from a peaceful location in nature?

Brave Louie! That's on my "eventual" list, too. Let us know how it goes. I've just finished reading this: A heartbreaker, for sure...but also a beautiful testament to the human spirit, and to friendship's power. I found it a bit hard to get into at first because so many people were introduced and I couldn't keep them all straight. But if you try it, stick with it. The story winnows down to the main group of characters, and their story is amazing and absorbing. History at its best.

It's huge, for one thing...I don't like to see the band looking like tiny little matchstick men!

Hahaha.

Good luck, Tony. It's a deserving photo. I always like your photography.

Ok, that made me laugh! I had sent him a complimentary message about 2 weeks ago, and he responded with a nice note back and then offered to autograph a book for me and mail it to me...how sweet is that? In the course of emailing about sending the book, I mentioned our reading thread here and all the great book recommendations I get from this thread, and said I was going to mention how much I'd enjoyed reading "Ladies and Gentlemen" here. Then you posted that you realized you knew him from college. I hadn't mentioned that to him, so my guess is he must've read your post here. He'd told me he

Happy Mothers Day to you too, Michelle, and to all the hard-working moms out there! That last paragraph you wrote totally speaks to me! I had my first at 31, middle child at 35, and my last at 40. I wouldn't change it, for so many reasons, but I'll admit that sometimes it's a real struggle keeping up with their energy levels. I was reminded powerfully of their younger days last night, since yesterday Brennan (now 21) brought home a tiny black-and-white chihuahua he'd found running loose on a busy downtown street. Collarless, of course. Then daughter Alissa went to spend the night at her olde

That rainbow SG is a pretty one!

I just bought this cool stacking planter from my local 99-cent store....each level is about 8" deep, shaped like a 3-leaf clover. The layers interlock with the leaves going alternate directions. I bought 6 which makes it a nice height, with 18 planting pockets. I plan to plant it mostly, if not completely, with basil. I love my fresh basil! I got one of these sets for my dad too, and we've planted it with "Lady's Paintbrush", a wonderful little flower that has a wander-y growth habit and these brilliant little vivid red-orange flowers. Little tufts. Just gorgeous. Want some seed? They are my

So are you getting overly ambitious out there? Hundreds of tomato plants, way too many zucchinis? I am puttering around slowly myself, with nothing yet in the ground other than an artichoke from last year, which is getting huge quickly. I noticed today that my Red Flame seedless grape vine, planted last year, has its first tiny clusters of grapes. Elsewhere around the yard I've got loads of sweet, sweet oranges and more Meyer lemons than I can keep up with. Oh and one overwintering Marconi bell pepper, which I just realized has 3 almost full-sized peppers! That's way at the back of the yard &a

I will be reading that as soon as it arrives in the mail! Good to hear that you loved it. Here's something fun, guess who just happens to be a huge Wilco fan? Yep, Adam Ross. Good taste abounds.

This is so great. Rest in peace, Maurice.

Is anyone here familiar with Adam Ross? I've just finished reading his short story collection called "Ladies and Gentlemen", and while I generally prefer full novels to short stories, these fascinated me. They tend to be on the darkish side, but the characters are so fully realized that the brevity of the stories isn't a problem...you feel as though these might be people you met on a bus bench (or airline seat!) who had only so much time to tell you their tales, yet still left you with their imprint wandering around in your head days later. I really loved the book. Tore through it in about 2 d

Aw, Sarah, that's lousy! I hope you can find some way to continue. Maybe someone on the board will have some useful advice.

Thanks, Oil Can Boyd!

Well, what do I know, but the book seems to think Tyson (the chicken, not the Mike) has a big presence there.

Ft. Wayne is mentioned several times in the book, Wendy. It has to do with the chicken packing plants, which hire a lot of hard-to-track Mexican illegals (not to start up that whole immigration debate!) who make it easier for the Mexican drug trafficking organizations to place sellers within that setting. I wondered that too.

Impressive setlist!