p.4 of WHO POSTED THIS?

The crocuses are a bit past their peak here,and now the early tulips are starting to open. Haven't yet figured how to adjust the f-stop to get a suitable landscape picture; should do so by the end of today. Irises are at the top of my favorites list, _______.

thumbnail from last spring. Happy gardening one and all.

P.S. : Through trial and error I've concluded the limitation of a hi-res (3.2 megapixel) is it's similar to that of a low ASA Kodachrome film of yesteryear. A tripod is needed for low lighting conditions for landscapes. f8 is as low as this camera (Canon Powershot S30) will go.

Shaping of the scots pine out back continues. Final thinning is shown in the April 2003 (the middle one) photo. This year's growth was trimmed back just last week,and annual clipping should suffice for about three or four more years to achieve a desired bushy bonsai-like appearance.

Well -- I guess you're not the only one. My ex and I divorced two years ago after 35 years of marriage. Had a great time and stored away a lot of fantastic memories. Haven't been on a date other than her since 1964. We're still friends but I don't delude myself that we'll get together again. Many friends and family continue to ask about her and I know they think that's the reason I haven't found or looked for a replacement. Anyway, my first and only other love from the teens recently popped into my thoughts. The theme from "A Summer Place" will always call up a vision of her. But the vision is her then and not now. Maureen is no longer my Mavourneen but a grown woman who I'm sure would laugh at the thought. I have no wish to chase a dream which I feel has little or no chance for fruition. The memories will do and I'll always have that soft spot of her left intact.

Merlins are one of the species we catch and band then release. There are three falcons we expect to catch during the banding season. Peregrine, Merlin and American Kestrel. You are certainly right in describing them as beautiful. I saw last month for the first time in my life a gyrfalcon. Went right over the yard where my daughter the beautiful Nina lives with her husband and two daughters in Swampscott Ma.

I just got back from South Carolina. 1,000 miles in 18 hours. Anyway we stopped for breakfast on the North/South Carolina border. There was a black family eating in the next booth. I stepped out for a cigarette before continuing as did the father of the family. I'm a blabber so started talking to about travel. His Mom's bithday was the reason for the journey. I was going down to see my son and grandchildren. I'm one of nine kids. He was one of eleven. You should have heard how warmly he talked of his family. Like me there was not a bad one in the group. We talked for about 20 minutes and it left me with such a pleasurable feeling. People are people wherever you go. Serendipity.

I have read many letters today, both here and elsewhere, regarding Blairs speech and his skills of oratory. In contrast I've read letters regarding Bush and his lack of oratory skills. For many Americans, it is said, Bush has made them cringe with his public speaking. Whatever the subject, the political orator has to present his speech in a way that will grab the audience and hold them. Blair & Bush are salesmen, selling their ideologies and our futures. Congress has had great orators in the past. Charasmatic men & women.

Has American politics, via the greater use of campainging on TV, lost it's skill of oratory or is it merely taking a long term sabbatical ?????

Always hit 'em with the truth, even if you have to invent it.

To setanta; you should try "kippered" herring, a Scotish specialty where the herring is sun dryed in salt, and when resurected with a little melted butter has a wonderful flavour, and is actually reddish brown in colour.

Secondly, and perhaps a little more to the point, we should look at the foundations of our institutions, most of which came from the distant vestiges of instinct which kept our extreme semihuman ancestors alive, but have virtually no value in the cybersociety of today. We must discard the missguided notion that only our traditions can keep us safe, before we sink into them as into quicksand and slowly suffocate.

All is Polarity:
"something" is defined by "nothing".