really! stacey, my (poetic) muse went on a long vacation and i don't know where she went or when she's coming back....

she probably went to the French Riviera... that's where I'd go if I had a long vacation coming up. How's about you be your own muse, Wolfie?

amazing how quickly six inches of snow melts... it's over half gone (all gone in the sunny parts!) Man, I love Colorado. It's as moody as I am!

now there's a license plate slogan!

not as complimentary as some... but a slogan nonetheless!

"Moody as Stacey" - might even become a proverb. I think I read it somewhere already, guys, drag out the copy of the Good Book y'all nicked in the motel last time and look! I'ma looking into The Poet's works...

Remember all the seed that ended up in a puddle in the corner of the lawn??? Well I threw out more (on top of the snow one of those weekends) and it's going to town. My sunflower seedlings are coming up too and my cosmos!!! The tulips are done but the hyacinths are still popping up hither tither and yon! This'll be the first nice weekend in awhile so I think I'll spend sometime sowing!

I worked a lot - besides finishing the next issue, our #13 - on cleaning up the garden. There was still all the trash and wooden beams and boards from tearing down the old construction, that stuff had to go. NOW. So I told it, and it went.

wish my weeds would listen to me that well.

no kidding! alex, you have a house? i don't know why i thought you lived in an apartment! i've been working on my husband to buy a camp. you know, a delapidated old place on the water. nothing big or fancy nor expensive. i told him about growing up with my opa's weekend house and how nice it was to go there. so, that part of me i inherited from him. I WANT A WEEKEND HOUSE *stomp stomp stomp*

oh, while i'm here, i guess i could update my garden. the hostas in the backyard are being eaten by something. the hostas in the front yard look sickly. the salvia is going to town as well as the cannas and roses. my pansies are still heavily blooming so i'll not dig 'em up yet. the iris still has that one bud and it hasn't opened yet! AND i found a slug on it the other morning. my hydrangeas are blooming nice and pink (was worried they'd be blue and i'd have to put pickle juice down next time i watered- the vinegar provides acid which brings out the pink blooms) the fuschia kept dropping leaves (which actually looked like they were suffering from black spot). the blooms are spent and hopefully i'll have seeds as i deadheaded the flower part only and the seed pods are starting to swell. new growth is spurting and hopefully more blooms in time for the hummingbirds. speaking of which, i have four or five feeders up for them (one of which you suction cup to the window). can't wait to see them arrive! AND, the oxalis came back again and is sprouting leaves. i have two sunflower seeds that have sprouted along with yellow cone flowers (black eyed susans i call them). am waiting for the forget-me-nots to sprout as i killed the last batch. my columbine sprouts all died (have to get more of them). however; i have five rooted african violets working on having babies and 7 pots of gesneriad seeds waiting to sprout. you can say that my garden is doing quite well indoors and out!

Had the most brilliant editors meeting yesterday! I've invented a "layout-brunch", where production staff would pop in, eat and drink, listen to some nice music, chat all kinds of talks, and then - KAWOOM! - suddenly explode into high-efficiency mode, and hack the mag's structure together, and plan the whole issue #13. In the end, we all were really happy, slightly tipsy fromm all the Sekt we had (slightly after sobering up a bit, that is), and have spent a great day! Today, I've filled up the container with all left-over bits, little boards, old branches, broken bricks. Shoveled away for another 4 hours. Will go to a concert later as due rewards (New Orleans finest: Mr. Quintron and his charming wife, Miss Pussycat). (Wolf, I LIVE in a house. Don't have it, though. But I work in the garden. Don't worry, most people would guess me living in a cheap dingy flat full of trash and old mags, too. Which is actually not far off from my general style and level of income, but THIS place is something different. AND will stay so.)

no one could "work" in a garden...what's the point of having one, then? i putz around in mine (was gonna use piddle, which is closer to truth, but was afraid y'all would think that had something to do with answering nature's call, which, in a way does, but nothing to do with direct fertilzation, if you know what i mean). OK, i don't pee in my garden, but i do piddle! *laugh* alex, cheap dingy flat full of trash and mags, no, not quite what i thought. i figured something retro, a studio apartment with lots of black, glass, and chrome. isn't that the style all music mag editors own? glad your brunch went well. sounded quite productive!

yanked dandelions from the yard yesterday... sunflowers about 3 inches tall now cosmos sprouting everything looks to have survived the winter with the exception of the marigolds... oh well peones are growing well columbine going NUTS in the side yard -- not blooming yet of course but the best part??? the grass seed I kept throwing down is really going to town!

woohoo!! (peonies, i'm so jealous *smile*)

yea... but you've got hydraganeas!!

haha!! went by wal-mart today and they had gallon pots with peonies in them. i was tempted but a local nurseryman told me they don't do well here.

"Grass going to town" - Stacey, WHAT business ARE you in? Is that growing weed on the side, or genetic engineering? Wolf, "something retro, a studio apartment with lots of black, glass, and chrome" is not what I live in. But I have been asserted it's not half shabby, either. "Isn't that the style all music mag editors own?" - perhaps those whose magazines have great circulation or record company bosses. I just rent, and sales of #12 were not what I hoped for. A direct hit into my worst-case-scenario calculations. Just got some info from distributors today.

oh, i'm sorry sweetie! it'll pick up, i'm sure!

Thank you for your kindness. I only wish you were right. But summer is always worse for mags than spring, so what's to expect? Got no funds to advertise, but without promotion, I'll have again several thousand copies of yet another issue lying like lead at the newsstands. Ad-sales will not be too hip, either. Might be some people gotta find a serious job by early fall... It's hard to do quarterly publications, because you can't really afford a single bummer, and the next chance to catch up is always long time away. You only got four tries per year. This *IS* harder than I thought when the others and I volunteered to keep the mag running. But let's enjoy the ride while supplies last. In August, we'll do a night in a club during the biggest music expo in the world, PopKomm! Got six bands booked in a great R'n'R-club, and we'll SHAKE the place! Perhaps this earns a bit, too. (I'd love to webcast that, or our radio shows, but until now, I didn't get anything to work... Part missing hardware, it seems, part complete ignorance of the basic how-to)

is advertising on the web an option? BTW... if I were in the BUSINESS of grass growing I would hope my success rate would be a bit better... I've been trying to grow the same patch by the driveway for nearly a year now!!!

*hahahaha*

"advertising on the web an option?" - difficult. I need to reach the people in my focus areas, Frankfurt and Berlin - where the stuff is at the newsagents and needs to MOVE. Move B I G T I M E !!! Gotta get some very cheap or free advertisement there... The web thing might help to reach people who could get interested in a subscription (which isn't bad, but doesn't solve my core prob; anyhow: growing on subscriptions is great in the long run, too). Only bad we're limited to a readers with german language skills (we also have *some* English content...). Still: Any ideas? (Maybe you should get into grass growing, Stacey, and we'd run a sample in the mag. Bet THAT would do it - everybody would have a nice summer! Your accountant, my accountant (=me), the happy readers...)

always thinking Alexander, you're always thinking!

Huh? Explain, please (and let's use http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/read/screwed/157 , because that is dedicated to the noble task of explaining stuff to me).

And for the subject that started this, please take a look at http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/read/business/2 , maybe you or Wolf or any of the other folks have some ideas that might be good to hear about.

and my garden looks good too!

(self-editing the comment I oh so much want to make here!!!) can you do fliers or pamphlets and distribute them at the clubs, universities, coffee houses, street corners, newsstands, bookstores, music stores, et al, Alexander?

hey... yer posting in the wrong section (except the terribly obscene comment you wanted to made about my garden!)

I posted other suggestions there... (it wasn't terribly obscene...)

too bad...

clarification: obscene=yes terrible=not

and that is certainly what I figured...

just so there's no misunderstandings...

there are ALWAYS misunderstandings

forever and ever, amen

hey george!

hey ringo!

did no one get me funny???

I lost the reference somewhere...oops...

Say again, Paul?

alright guys... I'll walk you through it (sad sad sad) "forever and ever amen " is a line from a george strait tune WER said the line, I called him george. Nothing to do with the Beatles and nothing to do with gardens so I'm changin the subject now My garden is grooving! Poppies blooming, irises blooming sunflowers about5 inches tall cosmos coming up snapdragons blooming violas still blooming gras has sprouted in the previously weedy bald spots and is green green green! columbine is going strong, I've even got some early bloomers roses are coming back! lilacs are kicking butt! oh and my vege/fruit garden... tomatos and strawberry plants for now. I'll think about the eggplant and arugula in a coupla weeks.

oh did i forget to mention that the dandelions are thriving in certain sections???

What can I say? You're extremely witty - as you always are -, and we're the dimwits we always are. Good to know one's place, though. Right, John? ;=} Gotta get the lawn-to-be ploughed up. Next month, after the baby's at the printers...

certainly good to know one's place so you know where to direct the taxi after that night of binge drinking

my columbine hasn't sprouted at all. the rock cress is going, the pansies are gone, the roses and african daisies are doing well along with the hydrangea and my gardenia bloomed for the first time and her perfume was almost overwhelming! woohoo!! bought a new rose and she's in the back yard (a climber--red blaze) and the ginger plant is coming back this year. maybe she'll bloom!

anyone got any tips for Brugmansias or Brunfelsias?

Hello all, I hope you don't mind that I just jump in. unfortunately, I don't know what brugmansias are. is there another name for them? I'm new and my garden is doing pretty good. We have floods of rain one day, then go through 3 weeks of draught. I've seen a couple roses bloom, the others will be late in August/September. I weeded a patch of ground and planted what was labeled 'wild flowers', a brew I got from the home depot. Little marigolds and wild green grass shoots are growing. Anything to replace those weeds with other better looking weeds.

i'm so happy to see you here, roark! wer: i don't know what those things are, but i'll do some looking for you. my garden looks horrid. i mean, the roses are into their third or fourth bloom but are getting rather leggy. i prune them back a bit but nothing severe to encourage more growth. which they're rewarding me with. the irises are still leaves, no blooms yet. my salvia is leggy. the hydrangeas are putting forth new strong growth. the gardenia is taking off like a madman and growing more buds. my fuschia is awful. the hoya has one flower bunch growing. pineapple is actually growing (and i just lopped off t e top of a pineapple fruit and put it in dirt). columbine is sprouted and getting bigger. rock cress died the day after i transplanted them. on a happier note: i made my first batch of hummingbird feeder sans red food coloring and it is a success. in fact, i was weeding the rose garden and i coulda sworn what i thought was a huge bee was going to land on my head. instinct took over and i waved my hands only to look up and see this small hummer looking at me as if saying "why did you do that?" *beams*

Hey roarksmuse! Welcome! I picked the fourth of what will surely be metric tons of tomatos from my garden this morning. the corn is growing, growing, growing but it looks like one of the stalks is not going to produce much. The zucchini's are a bloomin' but no sign of squash yet... All the flowers are looking great except I let my violas go to seed and my peones are just puttering along. They're VERY green and lush but no flowers...

wolf - when to you prune your roses? It seems a bit late in the season to me. You should cut them back very early early spring, or even late late fall just before the cold. my daylilies have bloomed and gone on. they were very early this year for some reason. my peonies bloomed and went on to sleep too. oh how beautiful the were. they were are deep ruby red with yellow middles. so beautiful I have had them for about 5 years, and this is the first year that they bloomed. I had a lot of cutting to take in the house. Stacy, I love corn. send me some. (smile) Question: can word wrapping be put on these postings? later.

I think if you just type there's word wrapping (up to like 200 characters) My peonies are pink... pale pink. My day lilies are red and orange and yellow... they are going to town where are you from roarkmuse?

roarkmuse: i prune my roses every fall and spring but during the summer, i prune as needed (i.e., dead branches, dead head, and crossing branches) i wish i could grow peonies. i've read that they're good in zone 8 but local nurseries don't recommend them. my mom's were pale pink and beautiful! no daylilies, but i think i'll get some bulbs this fall (they're perennial, right?) my corn stalks died. so stacey, send some my way too!

wolf, try looking around for them in somebody's yard. Begin begging now, and in the fall, plant them and see how they do. nothing hurts a try. heh heh who knows, after they are there a few seasons, you may get lucky. mine were given to me by a friend. I have had bad luck with the mail order house - Burpee for roses and bulbs. their roses never did anything and their bulbs only gave me leaves (gladiolas).

my store bought irises are only giving me leaves! why is that? the tulips and daffodils bloomed nicely and they were purchased at the same place. jackon and perkins has a website and you can order catalogs for free. i've purchased a couple of their roses from local stores, but am thinking about ordering some. they also have perennials (bulbs and plants).

Hi Wolf, Honestly, I am not quite sure. Sometimes they can be planted a little to deep. That is what I have heard. I'll look at the Jackson and Perkins site. thanks

you're welcome, sweetie!

I gots a sprinkler system! I gots a sprinkler system!

braggart!!!

We got one too, but ours is called God, and He does not want me to grow roses. He maketh it too wet for them no matter how and where I planteth them. However, He adores ferns..they are growing in cracks in the driveway and in the drain holes of other potted plants...*sigh*

you took my thought, marcia!! roses, nope they can't stand wet feet. have you thought of planting them in raised plots? you know, put the crown a foot above the ground (maybe two) and fill in around it with bricks, retainer wall blocks, or landscaping timbers? this may keep them happier. also, lots of sun. mine love the all day direct sun they get here.

I have thought of lots of things, but the reality is they will go where O'O wants them to go. That means where they look good right now, but the sun will be far from them for 6 months and the ferns will take over. The only real way I can think of to do it is to get rid of lots of the Bouganvillas and put the roses in huge pots which drain well and have a lot of loose planting material in them. He mulched the day lights out of them, and they hat itO.

They hate it, too *scowl from telnet goof*

roses can be grown in pots but i've not tried it. if it looks good to have a rose somewhere will it look good when the leaves fall off and it fails to grow because of the location? perhaps the OO should forget about roses if not willing to give them what they need. bouganvillas are really pretty and bloom profusely. and if you want something exotic, try orchids, they'd love your environment and can stay outside all year with shade during the hottest part of the day.

You're right, of course...I have orchids of various sorts blooming right now in the most unlikely places...like my aloe vera pot into which O'O stuck a rooted cutting just for lack of other places to put it. They are already growing and blooming in my trees and plumerias. They are ridiculously easy to grow in Hilo. They just need a place to hang onto and lots of gentle rain.

Wolf is right Marcia: try to grow roses in pots. They can get really large in them, if the pot is big enough...and it should be deep! Roses on stems look quite beautiful in pots. If you have any questions on roses, just ask me, I grew up with them.

99 was the greatest garden-year around here for decades...and I couldn't plant ANYTHING, because this place is a construction site since three years now! NADA!

Where is "around here?"...it was great for ferns and moss and epiphytes, but not roses. I grew up on the East Coast, and my father grew the most incredible roses which were so fragrant...*sigh* But, in Hawaii, I guess we must be content with bromeliads, orchids and gardenias. Up the mountain, they grow lovely camellias and hydrangeas. But, no one I can think of grows roses which look very good. They do not even sell them here - they import the ones for special occasions at a ridiculous price! Thanks for the suggestions, though. I have had the best luck with miniature roses...think I will stick to them, and they like my pots!

mini's do well in pots, marcia, though mine died. the roses got really ugly in mid-summer and have pruned them back for the fall. they've got new shoots coming up and will have beautiful flowers in october. my gardenia went through it's second bloom after shooting up all over the place. really didn't expect that. the hydrangeas are busy growing leaves and won't bloom again until spring. my peacock orchids are coming up and they always bloom during the fall (oct and nov) and smell heavenly. (not real orchids, named so for the shape of the flowers). i tried a pineapple this year (took the top from a friend). it's actually growing beautifully. unfortunately, it will be several more months before she bears fruit and i'll have to find a space in the house to winter it.

For pineapple, the rule of thumb is 18 months from the rooted crown to harvest of ripe fruit. You may need to prop it up as the fruit matures, which is better than letting it fall over and just ripen on one side. You should have good success. I have never lost one due to neglect or over indulgence with nutrients. You will need to keep it where it can see sunlight and is warm over the winter. How cold does it get in your neck of the woods?!

normally we see the 20's but it doesn't last long. do you think it would respond well to plant lights? oh, and i have good southern exposure and could put her next to my patio doors (inside)

The patio doors is the perfect solution. Enough light and protection from the sub 40� weather. It should do very well, and you can admire your "bromeliad" as it blooms and fruits. They are very pretty potted plants!

Did you know pineapples bloom with royal purple tiny trumpet flowers? There is a hummingbird which likes the nectar of same, but it pollenates the flowers. When this happens you end up with a pineapple full of large seeds. There are no hummingbirds in Hawaii...yet!

...When it rains in Germany, you can be sure it must be summer, if it would be winter it would snow...people "around here" make jokes like:"This years summer was on a tuesday". So in normal german summers you don't have much fun in your garden, this years summer was great, lots of harvesting, but unfortunately not for me. The craftsmen, who are painting the house killed my 50 year old vine last week...Nearly everything that was left from my grandparents in the garden was destroyed in three years of constr ction...and I am really sad, they've spoiled my new lawn with cigarette-ends and garbage and I can't do anything but wait till they're gone and see what's left afterwards...

A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose is Found some help for us rose-lovers. Look at: http://www.ars.org/experts/experts.html The American Rose Society offers you lots of informations about roses. There is something about roses in pots and they even offer you climate zone informations PLUS maps! (Hawaii included!) http://www.timeless.com offers information about a special rose that is able to live with wet feet- It's called "Swamp Rose" (rosa palustris scandens) and looks quite beautiful!

Oh, that's right...Germany (you bought stuff at a flea market for a few marks...I am remembering...). My sympathies on your old vine. Was there no way to save it? No cuttings to be taken and nutrured? I am heartbroken for you! Thanks for the info on the swamp roses - they sound like the kind we need in Hilo. My dad used to make a dry white wine out of our Dr VanFleet roses which to my childhood palate tasted "sour" but smelled just like the roses. (I got to do the stirring and pushing under of the rose petals as I harvested and washed them.)

I cut it back, so their work wont be disturbed. One morning I came out of the house and the vine was...gone! They sawed it away just above the ground. Do you have the recipe for this rose-wine? I would love to have this! My mum has a secret recipe for a rose-bowl (tastes funny and has much alcohol in it): You need rose petals (from about 10-15 blossoms), soak them in half a bottle cognac over night, then strain them out and add a bottle of champagne and a bottle of white wine to the liquid that has gotten a rose smell and color. Add a rose pedal to every glass you serve. You'll get drunk within minutes, but my mothers guests love it. My brother used to call it "Metasistox-bowl" ( a remedy against rose-diseases)!

It involves yeast and water and loads and loads of rose petals out of which the yeast gets the sugar it needs to grow. I believe we began with a little sugar added to aid the propogation of the yeast. The net must have wine recipes - alas, my Dad is gone to the sacramental wine in the sky, and it has been since I was 10 years old that I have done this. You will end up pressing and decanting and straining and filtering the wine before corking, but it is such lovely stuff. It is worth the effort...and i is slightly pink, just like the roses. I have recipes for cordials and "bowls" in Henley's formulas (1907), but nothing for making the wine in the first place. He even has the recipe for a form of your Mother's intoxicating brew!

i remember roses in germany. i figured the states just didn't have the right climate. *haha* as for your vine, check the bark still poking out of the grown, scrape it with your fingernail. it should be green underneath. if it is, it's still alive and will live to grow again. just put something around it to protect it from further abuse.

Roses were exquisite in suburban New York City (Westchester County, to be precise.) We had a very large 3-storey house and there were Blaze and Dr VanFleet roses climbing all over one side of it. My father always took great pride in his roses, even when he retired to Arizona. Must have been something genetic he inherited from his father, a graduate of The Royal Horticultural College at Kew...!

Kew! Are we talking "Kew Garden"-Kew?

As in London, England?

Indeed, yes!!!

My first trip to London had a pilgrimage to Kew Gardens...I could feel the atmosphere and his presence. Most phenomenal experience...it was a lovely day and I was seated on a bench which well may have been there when he was. I liked the thought that he might have sat on that very bench...so I sat quietly and absorbed the atmosphere and told my son quietly about his great-grandfather. That is one of the reasons one should always travel with one's children - having taught them how to behave beforehand, o course. David was 14 at the time, and he was amazed at everything we experienced, and all the ladies loved him! His lasting impression was hefting the innocent-looking block of lignum vitae and almost dropping it (I was prepared to catch it, knowing that he was unaware of its extremely heavy weight.)

ahh... my garden is beginning to awaken! A bit early I might add. Under the comfort and insulation of fallen leaves, my mums have begun to grow again. I had to water the lawn on Saturday... it's been so warm I'm afraid the grass will come out of its hibernation and die of dehydration!

Wow! This is a little early, for sure, Stace! Even if the green stuff gets frozen again, at least the roots will be happy and healthy!

Spring is arriving in England too! My daffodils have set heads and are looking quite decent now, crocuses are in flower, and there are lots of other small signs. Unfortunately it's also almost continuously raining. However, now I'm reminded of the end of last season tidying that I didn't do, and the rose arch has fallen in the huge winds we had earlier. Oh well ....

In February? Is this not a little early? I though it was March at the earliest and more probably April for daffodils. After all, they do not bloom in Wales till then and it is their national flower! I hope you have full leather outfit to tackle the rose arbor. They can bite back when you tackle them.

Do you need to hear about my garden today? I noted that my one large staghorn fern now has a medium-sized neighbor on the next plumeria tree from the parent one. They are so odd-looking that I am delighted to have a new one. Funny thing about them. I just about killed my original one and it did blow away in a gale we had. Several months later I noted the baby one growing on the plumeria tree. It was so cute and much appreciated. They are doing just fine without my intervention. The grass you can watch grow - anyone want outrageous plants? Plant them in Hawaii on the windward side of any island.

We have plenty of ferns on the bank opposite my house, but not fancy ones! I do see staghorn ones (or something similar) at the garden centre. Yes, I do definitely have buds on my daffodils and they're about 6-8 inches tall already. I know it'll be a while before they actually flower. They're starting to arrive in shops now, although they're still very expensive. the birds think it's spring too by the way. I have blue tits in my nesting box. I pruned one rambling rose back hard last year ready to pull the rose arch down for rebuilding (before the wind actually brought it down) and it hasn't recovered. Pity, it was a lovely red flower. Actually, I'm the garden planner I have a 'handy man' (mine!) to do the hard work.

Do your staghorn ferns have large plate-shaped "leaves" (fronds, actually) as first greenery followed by large antler-shaped fronds which emerge from a notch in the original plates at right angles? They are very pther-worldly looking items and grow to great size in our trees in the wild. Treat that handyman right. He will save you from looking like you were the loser in a cat fight! Mine does that for me, too. Then, he remains outside and continues on with what he thinks would be a good idea and plants things where they will starve, desicate or otherwise look wretched and die. Oh well!

Our birds are nesting, as well. Cardinals, lace-necked doves, barred doves (both of which nest in our huge Poinciana tree (delonix regia) and Chinese thrushes and rice birds, too. The territorial songs of the thrush is magnificent and other-worldly.

I think our staghorns are different - much smaller about two foot high I think, and they're grown as houseplants. I got excited this winter as I've had nuthatches visiting my birdtable. they're quite delicious to look at - grey blue on top and salmon pink underneath with a black band from eye to tail. I never tire seeing them. I have to tell the 'handy man' what is a weed and what is not, other wise the poor dear just keeps on pulling up plants until the soil is bare, and then can't understand me getting upset because my seedlings are all gone! Still he's very good a constuctional gardening.

LOL, Maggie. Handymen start out life as Handy Boys. Mine carefully uprooted a flowering plant from a vacant lot and repotted it for me and presented me with it for Mother's Day when he was very tiny. It was one of those weeds which never seems to run out of generations. I thanked him and hurried it to a corner of the yard where it would not seed the rest of the garden. We are still pulling the things out 30 years later!

got stuff coming up all over the place. the birds are taking over the birdhouses again (started right before our "snow" storm too) roses have new stems coming up, will need to trim the canes back soon. glad to know everyone's garden is doing well!

Wow! Spring is really returning to the rest of the world. Seems a tad early, but that is just fine with you, I would imagine!

that's a great story Marcia!! generations of weeds for you to remember your son's sweetness by!! Ours will get covered in snow many more times but that is actually fine. The snow insulates the little green guys and then, when it bounces between freezing and thawing, they will be safe.

Stacey, that is exactly what it does - especially now that he lives in California and I do not see him very much. I miss him a great deal...it has been almost 2 years since I last hugged him...and I am a need-to-hug person! It took me a few years of weeding to achieve this enlightenment, however!

My winter pansies have finally started flowering. I bought them in as plug plants last autumn and they've slowly been growing. The primulas are looking good and I cut a little yellow bunch today to keep near my computer to cheer me up. I think Spring makes us all feel better. I like the lighter mornings too.

I love pansies and they do not do well at this latitude. Up on the mountains they are stunning, and leis made from them look like velvet!