Shirley,
A very Happy Birthday... and here I am about 30 minutes late for your special day. I hope you got a little chance to celebrate even though you didn't feel great. So sorry you have been sick.
It has been crazy here with my husband retiring on Friday and then my younger daughter and son-in-law being here for the weekend.
So, have a happy year ahead and a big birthday hug from me!
Jeanne

Happy birthday Shirley! Hope you're feeling better and can get out and celebrate today!

Becky

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHIRLEY!!! :D

So sorry to hear your not feeling well. Sometimes those "24" bugs love to linger.

Hopefully, today is a better day!

Happy Birthday! Don't count the candles...just enjoy the party!
Heidi

Melissa, your package is on the way. Here's the DC # 0312 0090 0000 6166 4475.

Thank you for the B-day wishes, Ladies! Today was 100% better! Worked outside all day, it was beautiful here again, today. Hoping the sickies were just a 24 hour thing!

I wish you could all see my Jack Frost Brunnera! After years of longing for one, I bought one last year, would you believe, on sale for $5. Bought two. The squirrels got one of them but the one that remains is just beautiful, with loads of tiny, blue flowers! The leaves are silvery with a deep green edging. Just stunning!

And in honor of the beautiful day, you get two, yes, two words, again tonight!
The first, a type of poetry styling is defined as the continuation of a thought from one line to the next, or from one verse or couplet to the next. Kind of like a run on sentence. And there is no way I could find a word that rhymes with it, so here it is: Enjambment!
Your poet for the night is an American poet who, in his lifetime, won 4 Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry! His last name rhymes with "tossed."

Bingo words chosen so far:
Yeats
Doggerel
Sonnet
Hughes
Limerick
Longfellow
Allegory

Hoping for another great day outside tomorrow!
Shirley!

Shirley, glad you are feeling better. Sorry I missed your birthday, Happy Belated one!

Worked in the gardens yesterday for about 5 hours. Managed to get my herb garden, coneflower garden, miscellaneous garden #1 and half of #2 weeded and mulched along with weeding and adding more soil to the vegie garden to get it ready. Also planted two new raspberries and two more lilacs. The wind has been horrendous the last two days. I was going to go out tonight after work but just couldn't face that wind again after yesterday. Today I ache like no other from all the gardening. I am really beginning to feel my age coming on which is truly frustrating.

Not doing very well with Bingo either. Oh well, I did receive my box from Heidi today. It was full of seed packages, mini hershey candy bars, yum and had two pot cute frog pot hangers as well. Here is my poem from her.

ODE TO A NEWBIE
A meeting for work, I'll have to go
Out of town, so boring I know.
But I'll get to stop at that place, oh my
and window shop their blooming buys!
I found a trophy! Orange, pink, yellow-so hot!
I saved 25 daisies from dying un-bought!
I dug fresh holes, I watered well.
All summer long, daisy stories to tell.
Fall floated in, then winter froze over.
Spring sprung again, with sprouting clover.
I watched for my babies, impatiently stamping.
They would arrive, they were only napping.
More clover grew, then dandelions sprouted.
I didn't want to, but I suddenly doubted.
I Googled my babies, to find plants congenial.
The tags on those plants told me they were perennial.
Google however, reported it better.
In my neck of the woods, they were only an annual!
Those liars! Those cheats! I spent big money.
I put in time and care, on my little honies.
How dare they tag 'em as herbaceous perennial,
and not add a line, "in Zones by the equator"
Oh, the memories are sweet, they were so fragrant!
Why did I buy so many? Now to buy replacements.

I enjoyed my box Heidi as well as your poem. Thanks so much.

Margo

Sounds like a great package, Margo!
Thanks for the belated B-day wishes!
Heidi, how frustrating! But I think we can all relate to your poem, especially the last two lines! And it was a very good story/ballad!

Here is an update on the swap:
Margo sent to Shirley - Rec'd
Heidi sent to Margo - Rec'd
Vina sent to Becky - Rec'd
Becky sent to Melissa
Shirley sent to Corrine
Melissa is sending to Heidi
Corrine is sending to Lisa
Annie is sending to Vina
Lisa is sending to Annie

Another pretty day here!
Shirley!

Happy Birthday week, Shirley! I'm glad you're feeling better & you have sunshine. That helps everything, doesn't it? Going through a chronic illness flare myself, so moving slow & carefully as everything hurts and takes more effort because I'm fatigued without doing anything. It will pass, so I'm keeping my spirits up though my body isn't cooperating. The birds are singing no matter what, so I'm joining them. :o)

I received an amazing package with creative poem from Shirley. (THANKS!)

First, the PINK card made me smile since my favorite color is pink. She crafted it nicely with arabesque cut white paper boarders around her 5 stanza poem on lighter pink paper and included a 3-D silk flower in the inside corner. It's a keeper!

~~ How It All Started ~~
There once was a little seed
And Oh! the seed did need
A space of it's own
Where it could be sown
In ground, with nary a weed

So I gave the seed a home
And no longer would it roam.
He was happy and glad
And I would not be sad
To give it some water and loam

But Then!
I found that seed's brothers,
His sister, friends and others
In stores here and there,
From friends who would share
And in gifts from everyone's mothers!

I saw seeds in my sleeping;
Yes, they would come creeping
In from the roadside
And in on the next tide
Wafting and waving and leaping!

So, yes, I am addicted
Oh, who could have predicted
That one goodly deed
To that one little seed
Would leave me as seed conflicted!

Shirley, I love the way you described the seed having sisters & friends and the term you created -- seed conflicted. Going through my seed box(s) sorting what to plant when is a task because of so many choices from my Garden Web friends.

She stuffed the bubble envelope with 10 packets of flower & herb seeds that will bring on the color & fragrance here and are all new to me. One pkt that made me laugh was called Hummingbird Haven and said, "Calling all hummingbirds! If this mix of showy, bright blooms doesn't catch their attention, they haven't arrived in your town yet. Eighteen different varieties, each an irresistible invitation..." I love hummers & want to take a photo of one here. I'm sure they will love that spring - frost blooming mix of A, B & P plant seeds!

Thanks, Shirley for your thoughtfulness & creativity. It was a fun package!

I'm working on my package for Lisa & have been in touch with her. I plan to send it out next week.

Corrine

Vina, on Wednesday I will be sending your bubbler out,
Today, TAX DAY, long lines at the PO, I do not doubt.

Shirley, belated Happy Birthday wishes I send your way,
So glad your feeling better, have yourself a glorious day.

Happy Tuesday!!

Annie

Corrine, glad you liked the package! I had fun with the poem, and yes, I do have all that seed's "sisters, friends and others!" Hope you get to feeling better, and thanks for the b-day greeting! A whole week!

The Hummingbird Haven mix is my all time favorite seed mix! Really pretty and mostly perennials.

Annie, great poem! Hope your Tuesday was great too!

I'm going to post the Bingo word early; I am subbing for Bunco tonight and won't be home til late.

Your bingo word for tonight is, and I quote, a poem or verse having a regular correspondence of sounds, especially at the ends of lines. And it rhymes with "time"

I'm going to check out everyone's lists to see how we are doing with bingo, will post that tomorrow!

Have a great evening!
Shirley!

Margo, so glad you liked the box and that it made it safe. I have been transplanting some of my flowers to a flower bed in a local park and trying to stay on top of the weeds. My wintersowing tomatoes came up and are about 1" tall. I'm excited. Trying to figure out where to put each winter sown sprout. I had a plan, but not everything came up and some seeds ALL germinated--oh my! ha
Heidi

Hello, did everyone have a good day? I did.
"I had a plan, but. . . . .!'
Heidi, that's the story of my gardening life!

Well, I sorted through the bingo lists and we have two people who are already halfway there, with 6 words! Yo!

Hopefully, this word will help some of the others! Tonight's word is, and again, I quote, a lyric poem of some length, usually of a serious, meditative nature; typically addressed to a certain person or thing. And it rhymes with "load."

Bingo words chosen so far:
Yeats
Doggerel
Sonnet
Rhyme
Sonnet
Hughes
Limerick
Longfellow
Allegory

Have a great night, talk to ya tomorrow!
Shirley!

Good Morning!
Happy Birthday, Heidi!
And on this day of your birth,
I hope you have fun and love,
and joy, lots of cake and mirth!

Yeah,it's still way too early!
Shirley!

Happy Birthday, Heidi!

You know I really need to put a small calendar near my computer so maybe I can remember to post birthdays on the right day... LOL
Hope you are now feeling better, Shirley.
Wow, this month has been lots of fun. Look at all the posts we have!
Jeanne

Heidi ~~ Here's a happy flower burst for you. Happy Birthday!

(This is a photo of Primrose Wanda blooms from last year, but they are all blooming right now. I got the first plants over 12 years ago from my Aunt Dolores whom I called Aundie. I want to call them Aundie instead of Wanda all the time and catch myself. My Aundie is in assisted living now and no longer gardens, so I'm glad I have a piece of her lovely plants divided & multiplied many times here plus shared with dozens of other NW gardeners at free plant swaps. It puts up with clay soil, but needs division every few years to keep it looking good because of the root weevils who notch the leaves. When I'm bothered by the withered looking leaves in late summer or late winter I cut them all back & there are new leaves soon enough. Slugs don't devour this one like the common grocery store type primroses pinks, yellows, & blues. It is reliably perennial in my zone & blooms again in fall, but not as showy as now.)

I saw the hummingbirds again yesterday near the blooming cherry trees. They also were going to the ground again, so I think they pick up mud from the sides of the driveway & tiny pieces of fibers from the mulch to build their nest high up in the trees. I'm intrigued by them.

Off to do poultry barn duty at the spring fair today for the youth show that opens later at 2pm. We've been involved with the youth show spring and/or fall for over 10 years & now I'm on the board, so doing my part. I anticipate setting up displays & making it look good, but not any heavy work. It's chilly in the big barn, so I'm wearing full long johns, 2 coats, gloves, thick wool socks, etc. My son will come, but he's not showing any birds this spring. He's helping out the younger kids instead.

Corrine

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEIDI!!!

Woohoo! I have 4 Bingo words :)

Melissa I got it! What fun to come home to.

Melissa's Poem

It started with iris
This silly fixation
Then came the daylilies
In endless succession.
I sowed and watered
And weeded with glee
Until I discovered
I had drowned my seeds!
I pouted and whined
Like an overgrown child
But then I remembered
GILBERT H WILD!
An endless assortment
Of daylilies fair
New varieties and old
All were found there
No more sowing and waiting
For seeds that don't sprout
My blooms are now instant
My cries are a shout!
So, goodbye my difficult seeds
Forgive me for being lazy
From now on I shall sow
Only sunflowers and daisies!

Other people read our poems and say, "I think I understand." We read your poem and say, "Been there, done that, felt that way, don't want to go back!" ha I love it.

Melissa also sent great seeds:
Hollyhock 'Hot Pink'
Morning Glory 'Red Picotee'
Tulip Tree
Milkweed-pink (yeah! I hope I can talk these into germinating for me--either now or after a vacation of stratification in the fridge.)
Oyster Flower-will have to look this up. Oysters was one of those things my parents got excited to eat and we wished it was hamburger helper night!
Tithonia Torch (for my sunflower patch)
Daylily-orange & black
Helenium-decorative sneeze weed

She also sent sweet tweets, notes with candy AND
Seven Color Crystal Balls (the tiny beads that soak up water and you root your plants in it or use it for houseplants).

Today at work I had a big project. Myself, and two deputy sheriffs went to 4 elementary schools to "swear in" all 3rd graders to be Litter Deputies. They each get a certificate, badge and recycled pencil. They have to take an oath before they are officially a Litter Deputy. It was wild and crazy, but lots of fun!

Thank you again Melissa!
Heidi

Happy Birthday Heidi! What a wonderful package to get on your birthday.

I love your poem, Melissa! Although I have to admit, my story is the total opposite!
Heidi, hope you had a great B-day!
I agree, Becky, wonderful package!
Corrine, those flowers are beautiful!

All righty, here is tonight's Bingo word: This poet was among the most prominent literary figures of the Victorian age. The name rhymes with "clowning."

Bingo words chosen so far:
Doggerel
Yeats
Sonnet
Enjambment
Ode
Longfellow
Hughes
Rhyme
Allegory
Limerick
Frost

See ya all tomorrow!
Shirley!

Glad it made it there, Heidi! :)
I am horrible about growing things from seed. Either I am too generous with my watering or I fry the poor things. What's funny about that, is my oldest daughter (she's 8) can just throw seeds anywhere, and they grow into the most beautiful flowers! I had an entire bed of poppies a few years back from her doing that! In fact, this year I've got sunflowers & some other (unknown until they bloom!) plants growing because she did the same thing. But the snapdragons & zinna I planted 3 weeks ago haven't even sprouted! Huh!! :P

ANYWAY....I received a GREAT package from Becky today! Her poem is so cute! And she wrote it on the back of a decoupaged card (with pics of flowers!).

"Seed Buyer's Remorse"
What was I thinking?
What have I done?
I spent my money
It sure was fun.

But now the bills
are coming in.
Please forgive me
For I have sinned!

It was so beautiful
in the catalog,
but that photographer
should have been flogged.

It grew nothing
like it was shown
So now all I do
Is shudder and moan.

What was I thinking?
What have I done?
Why do I cling to
the seeds I shun?

Time to pass these
to someone better fit,
And get rid of some
of this bull......MANURE!color>

LoL!
She included several seeds (which I'm thankful to say are EASY to grow! :P )Sunflowers (several varieties!!), poppies, zinnia, runner beans, bachelor buttons, rudbeckia, cosmos & nicotania.
All of which are GREAT, because we have honey bees that we're trying to plant flowers for and they love the sunflowers. We had the mammoth ones last summer, and could barely see the flowers through all the bees! LoL!

Becky also included a cute metal froggy windchime & a pair of garden gloves! Wonderful timing, because the girls lost my gloves last week. So now I can go deadhead my roses, which is GREAT, because they surely need it...they've been blooming nonstop for 2 weeks now. I have such sensitive hands that I can't do any yard work without gloves and I've been forgetting to pick up another pair (you'd think I'd have an extra pair stashed somewhere, but nope!!).

Thank you so much, Becky, for a wonderful package! :)

What a great package, Melissa! I wish your little girl could teach me how to "just throw" poppy seeds, I CANNOT grow them! Although I think I have two clumps coming up from last year, won't know until they bloom. Probably not!!

I love the poem, Becky, especially the 1st and last verses! I can really relate!

The swap is moving along quite nicely, we only have three packages left to be sent out! There is still plenty of time.
Corrine is sending to Lisa
Annie is sending to Vina, and
Lisa is sending to Annie.

I'm going to start giving two bingo words each night. For tonight we have:
An Irish poet, playwright, lecturer, and translater who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. His name rhymes with "zany_
Also, a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. It rhymes with "salad"

Here are the words chosen so far:
Limerick
Frost
Browning
Yeats
Doggerel
Sonnet
Enjambment
Ode
Hughes
Longfellow
Rhyme
Allegory

It is raining here, and I'm really glad, everything was bone dry. AND I won't have to water first thing tomorrow morning! I got my WSed echinacea planted today, well, 6 of the 12 jugs. Going to wait awhile on the "Amado", not quite big enough. Hope to get a good planting day in, tomorrow!

Have a great weekend, everyone!
Shirley!

Glad you received the gardening package, Melissa. I hope the seeds make some pretty blooms for you.

As all of you now know, I definitely wasn't an English major in college. LOL!

Vina,

Your package finally made it out on Thursday....

DC# 0310 2010 0000 2981 2214

Oh my, I need to check on my Bingo words!!

Happy Saturday to all.

Annie

Hi Everyone!
Annie, hope you had a great Saturday too!
Becky, I WAS an English major in college, so what's my excuse - haha!

It was SO cold here today, it was bright and sunny all day but too cold to plant anything. So I potted up some more seedlings for my plant sale. I did pink malva (thanks, Margo!), calendula, wild bergemot, linaria flamenca (thanks to somebody on this forum, or the commercial seed swap), and malva zebrina. I need to do the echinacea too, but need to find more containers. It was a good day!

Here are the Bingo words for tonight:
1. a form of poetry that has 5 lines; the first line is one word, 2nd line is 2 words, 3rd line is three words, 4th line is 4 words, and the fifth line is one word. There are more difficult versions of this kind of poetry. And I could not find a word to rhyme with it, so here it is:
Cinquain!
2. This is a form of poetry that doesn't use rhyming verses, instead relies on imagery and emotion. It rhymes with "clothes".
Is anyone getting close to 12 words?

Hope everyone has a great Sunday; I hope it warm enough to plant! I don't want much!
Shirley!

I hope that everyone has been enjoying the poetry themed swap as much as I have. Great idea and wonderful poems!
I will be hostess for May and several thoughts were spinning around. One idea I decided to set aside and use in July and the other is what I picked for May. (Oh, I sure hope you will like it!) There will be lots of information about it later in the week under a new heading for the May FOTESS Swap so watch for it.
Hmmmm.... recycle? upcycle? reuse? Let's say it fits in there somewhere. We will send cuttings or other plant parts - not fully grown plants, just something to start with - to share with a swap partner - just a small priority box so the shipping won't be too expensive. I emphasize small - I hope you can get 12 - 15 cuttings in your small priority box. My thought is not all of them will root, so we need to have extras in there so your partner can succeed with many of them. I hope lots of our members will want to sign up, and if you are not in FOTESS but are a dependable GardenWeb swapper, you can contact me or Shirley and find out how to join.
I don't want to repeat what will be in the new post, but this is primarily for cuttings and I will explain more about which kinds may do well for this swap, how to take the cuttings and prepare them for shipping, and even alternatives if you don't have the type of garden that lends itself to taking cuttings for the swap.
If you are getting ready to prune some plants, here you go - a way to use those cuttings for something other than mulch or the compost pile!
So, I'll be busy gathering some information for you and will post the new heading soon. On it we will also welcome lots of discussion of methods for rooting plants from cuttings, etc.
Jeanne

Jeanne, wonderful idea for the May swap! I know I could really use some advice, hints, etc. for taking cuttings. So far, I have had nothing but grim failures!
(boy, that doesn't sound too good for my partner, does it?)

It's another COLD, sunny day here. After that 24 hour bug I had, I'm definitely not going out to plant in this weather. Hope to get the echinacea potted up, if I ever get the laundry done.

I'll be back later with a swap update and more bingo words!
Have a great day, All!
Shirley!

I think I picked up one more word putting me at six. It seems a slow go for me.

Went to Columbus yesterday and spent the day with my daughter who is attending OSU. Last night we went to see Barry Manilow at the Schott on campus. It was a great concert. I saw him in Detroit at the Fox theater last month and this concert was so much better. I stayed overnight with my daughter and came back early afternoon. It was fun. The weather isn't very good for gardening so stayed inside the rest of the day.

Have a good week to come everyone. Margo

Hey All!
Here are the Bingo words for tonight:
1. I couldn't make sense of the definition for this word and couldn't rhyme it either, so here it is: Alexandrine!
2. This consists of a grouping of lines, set off by a space that usually has a set pattern of meter or rhyme, and it rhymes with "Lanza", as in Mario.

Bingo Words already called:
Cinquain, Prose,
Doggerel, Yeats,
Browning, Heaney,
Ballad, Frost,
Sonnet, Enjambment,
Ode, Hughes,
Longfellow, Rhyme,
Allegory and Limerick.

I'll do an update in a few days. Saturday, the 28th is the last day to mail out. I think we only have 3 more poems to go!

Have a good night!
Shirley!

Woke up to heavy wet snow this morning. ~sigh~ I already planted out some lilies (plants) and peas. I thought the storm was going to miss us. So nothing was covered. Hopefully the snow provided them with a little blanket of protection from the cold. Last week on Monday it was 90!

I think Vina is in the same boat. Hope others are doing ok. The storm was really suppose to reek havoc to the west & south of us.

Good morning all!

Yes, I am also covered in the white stuff :(. Thankfully, I was so busy with my daughters kite flying day for girl scouts (yes! we were outside flying a kite yesterday in 50 degree COLD! weather! what we won't do for our kids, lol) Anyhoo, that left me little time, thankfully, to put my greenhouse plants out. I've just been weeding and putting out my garden fellas out of the shed. I have watched some of my neighbors putting things in the ground and I feel bad that some of their hard work may all be for nothing now.

BUT... A SUPER WELCOME SURPRISE TODAY :D
I got my bubblie from Annie.
In my package I rec'd:
~a yummy candy bar ...mmmmm! almonds :D
~a much needed pair of gardening gloves THANK YOU!!!
~some super yummy looking recipes: Chicken Breast Wrapped in Phyllo, Blueberry Lovely Lady Finger Dessert...and YUM! Dentists Delight (which we will be making this weekend! Gooey and Delicious!!
~So many seeds!
Dianthus: Rainbow Lovliness WWOOOHOOOO!, Dianthus: Telstar Carmine Rose, Tomato: Sophie's Choice, Petunia: Titan Salmon, Torenia: Clown Mix, Eggplant: Striped Toga, Tomato: Micro Tom, Agastache: Raspberry Daiqueri, Columbine: Leprechaun's Gold, Verbena: Romance Scarlet Eye, Columbine: Dorothy Rose :D, Hibiscus: Red Shield :D, Splendens: Sizzler Red Stripe...THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!! I LOVE ALL OF THESE!
...and last but not least my super awesome card. All handmade from other cards. Totally covered in flowers and a springy, adorable smiley sun! There is even a "self" portrait of Annie LOLOLOLOL!!!!:D and her dog.
And the sweetest! poem!

My poem from Annie

And Vina Is Her Name

Miss Vina, poets Browning, Yeats and Frost, I am most definitely not,
Longfellow, Thomas and Heaney, to me they are not so hot.

But fun I love to have, so let me get on with this writing chore,
You ask, WHAT WAS I THINKING, let me tell you more.

I contemplated, what makes Flowergirl34 content, happy and gay,
Lust for life, her garden and family, makes everyday a perfect day,

Come Billy, come Taylor, come help mom sow some seeds,
Whoops its time for BINGO, now pick a word pretty please.

She loves to frolic in the kitchen with recipes in hand,
Cupcakes, cookies, luscious delights, no meal is ever bland.

And she does love her iris, addicted is on my mind,
I have looked for her heirloom wants, but Annie can not find.

And her pond of beauty, with water iris, duckweed and fishes,
Azolla, bog bean, water clover, are certainly on her list of wishes.

And yes, she loves her chocolate, any kind will do,
Turtles peeking through the flowers, Vina wants that too.

And her favorite day, Halloween, she is always young at heart,
A witch, a princess, a fairy, a cat she stunningly plays the part.

And her personality, creativity, pizzazz, humor, and well need I say more,
Now to wonder, OBF, MNF, and FOTESS, what might she have in store?

To end my poem, I want to say, this lovely lady who I have never met,
Is a splendid joy to garden and chat with, if only on the internet.

OKAY...the first time I read this I actually cried. This is the most thoughtful, sweetest thing!!! And now typing it I am crying again :D THANK YOU ANNIE FOR BEING SO WONDERFUL!!!

Have a terrific day everyone! I know I will :D
vina

ps. I have 6 Bingo words...teehee.

Too funny, but kind of not. I'm sorry for the cold weather for you in NY. We have opposite weather -- clear skies & forecast of 79 degrees today. Rain returns tonight, but warmer temps for a few days until we return to our highs in 50s & lows in 30s again. I'm going to be in the yard all day until I go to work! My only problem is what to do 1st. Ah, sunshine ~~ have a great day!

Corrine

Beautiful Tribute, Annie! Well done! That's just beautiful, and well deserved!
Sounded like a great package too!
Vina and Becky, I just read online where you all got 10 inches of snow?! Good Lord! Becky, hope your plants survived!
I talked to my stepdad back in PA this morning, near Pittsburg. They got about an inch of snow, he said he was glad he mowed the grass Saturday!
What crazy weather so far this year! We usually get snow in April, but haven't so far. I hate to think it's out ahead of us somewhere. Margo, I know you are probably thinking the same!
Hey, I'll be back later on tonight with the bingo words, have a great day everyone!
Shirley!

Beautiful poem Annie!

In some respects we got lucky with the weather. It seems like south, east and west of us (weird huh) got hit worse. I shovelled about 1 inch of slush with 2 inches of snow on top of that. We still had power, but east and south of us lost power.

Our lawn mower broke a couple weeks ago. We finally got someone that's suppose to be coming on Tuesday to mow, but we're suppose to get more snow. HA!

Stay warm!
Becky

Shirley, hopefully we will not get any snow. I would love for the wind to stop though. It just keeps blowing day after day. My husband planted a couple redbud seedlings for me today and he said it was blowing so hard, it took his breath away. I am in a swap and I have to get some plants dug up but the weather has not been helpful.

Annie, what a lovely poem. I have enjoyed reading all the great poems that people have written. I think many of you were surprised by your hidden talents. This was a great idea.

We are getting our plants in on Thursday where I work. We are a small gift shop called Calico, Sage, and Thyme. (I run the facebook page so look us up and "Like" us). Anyway, we get herb plants and a few perennials in the spring and it gets crazy. I love it though because I get a discount. I was even able to get a couple gallon size echinaceas at cost.

Good luck to all you in the snow areas. Margo

Hi Everyone!
We've had strong winds up here for the past couple of days too, Margo. The wind and the low temps have effectively kept me inside! I keep pacing in front of the windows, wanting to be outside planting. Like I won't have the whole month of May!

Becky, glad it wasn't too bad for you. Hope you don't get more snow!

Corrine, LUCKY YOU!!

Vina, you bring back so many memories for me!

We only have two packages left to fly:
Corrine is sending to Lisa, and
Lisa is sending to Annie.

Bingo words for tonight are:
1. An American writer/editor best known for his poetry. He won 2 Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry and another for his biography of Lincoln. His name rhymes with "hamberg", well, sort of.
2. A Welsh poet who wrote in English only. His name rhymes with "llamas".

Bingo words chosen so far:
Alexandrine, stanza,
cinquain, ode,
prose, Hughes
doggerel, Longfellow,
Yeats, rhyme
Browning, allegory,
Heaney, limerick
ballad, Frost,
sonnet, enjambment.

Anyone close yet?

Well, I'm off to check on the NBA, although at this point, I really don't care anymore, none of my teams made it into the playoffs. GO WOLVES! maybe next year!
Shirley!

I have 4 words to go. I admit I'm not spending much time here since I'm out in the garden so much lately before & after work. This quote is me for sure:

~~I sleep in the house, but I live in the garden.~~

Today is better for the plants -- overcast skies, chance of rain, but 63 degree high is perfect for the gardener! This is the best we get in April, so I'm taking full advantage of it! The ground has finally dried out enough from our winter rains & warmed up, so I can work on our edible gardens.

I've had the potatoes presprouting inside. The purples look like aliens in the box. I should take a pic. I put them outside yesterday since we have such warm, dry weather and it's nice to have them out from the hallway under the skylight.

Gotta scram to put dinner in the crockpot then get outside to tend to the backyard poultry & rabbits, then gardening.
:o) Corrine

I have 4 more words to go!

It looks like it'll be Sunday or Monday before I can try hardening off the plants again. It stinks to garden fever and be set back by Mother Nature.

DH is working tonight. So it looks like Chinese food for me. Yeah! DH hates Chinese food.

I think I got Bingo! It was such a slow start at the beginning.
X 1. Sonnet
X 5. Ode
X 6. Rhyme
X 9. Allegory
X 12. Prose
X 15. Robert Frost
X 19. Seamus Heaney
X 20. Dylan Thomas
X 25. Cinquain
X 27. Enjambment
X 29. Alexandrine
X 30. William Wordsworth Longfellow

It's 91 degrees today. That's CRAZY! As my kids tell me...call the city and tell them to fill the pool! Now! ha Some plants are shooting up and some are hanging their heads. I got some plants in the mail yesterday and put them out yesterday morning. Today they look like spaghetti. Poor things.
Nobody can stay inside, though. I noticed everyone that could was out mowing their lawns today in the heat. They also looked like spaghetti!
{{gwi:64539}}
I've had lots of fun with the poetry. So glad you can all tolerate redneck poetry!

Heidi, you are right, you have Bingo!! Way to go!
I will have your prize out to you on Friday, need one more thing to complete the package. I'm going to try one more store and if I can't find it there, you get plan B!

Are those some of your gardens? Truly pretty! A drumstick allium?

I find it strange that you are in zone 4 and it was 91 and I'm in zone five and it took all day to get to 63. But I'm not complaining, got out there and got some planting and planning done! Also had to replant 4 clumps of echinacea that the squirrels dug up. I read, over on the WS forum, about putting plastic forks around the plants to keep squirrels and cats out of the gardens. I'm trying it. Forgive me if I seem un-enthusiastic.

The plastic netting seems to be working but can't be used in all situations. I wonder about scarecrows?

Margo, wore my hood up all day, because of the wind. This is getting silly!

Back Later!
Shirley!

Heidi, congrats on BINGO.

Margo, RE: Barry.....what made the concert at OSU better? Did he sing all the great early stuff from the 70's/80's?

Shirley, this has been such a fun swap. I have so enjoyed reading everyones poetry. Thanks again for hosting! And I wonder, do scarecrows really work?

Vina, it occurred to me that I might have sent you some of these seeds before...sorry about that!

We have a so called storm coming in to Southern Cal today. Off to plant hunk oh seeds....dianthus, sweet william, petunias and whatever else is waiting to hit the ground. And then to protect them from the snails and the bunnies....fun!

Happy Wednesday to all!

Annie

Annie from Cal,
are you trying to say,
if not squirrels,then
snails and bunnies, oh yay!?

I think that's an enjambment!

Later,
Shirley!

Yes, we only have 3 more days to mail out our cards/seeds/poem. Hope to hear from everyone about their packages! And then we can close this swap down.

I had fun with this and hope that you did too. I enjoyed seeing what everyone did, poetically, with the theme! We really do have some great poets in FOTESS! Thanks, Ladies, for joining in!

I worked outside most of the day, potting seedlings/plants up for the plant sale, and trying to make sense of, and make room for, everything that is out there!
Great Day!

Jeanne has posted the May FOTESS swap, be sure to check it out. As always, she has come up with a great idea! I'd like to join but will need some coaching on how to do this!
Hope to see lots of you on the May swap.

In the meantime, we'll wait for everyone to finish mailing their packages out, can't wait to see the last two poems!

Have a great day tomorrow,
Shirley!

Starting to feel a little overwhelmed. I have a shower for my daughter coming up May 6th and then the wedding 5 weeks later. My daughter who is away at college is suffering from an impacted tooth and is scheduled to have her wisdom teeth removed next Thursday. This will be where she is going to school which is 2 hours from here. I should be there with her but I can't get the day off at our little gift shop. Not enough people for coverage and it is a plant delivery day. My son is having some enemia issues and is 18. Now he needs an MRI on some lower abdominal swelling and then will have to see a GI doctor. My second son (have 5 kids) just got a job in Dallas, Texas and he and his wife will be moving there as soon as there house sells in South Carolina. The darn wet and cold weather isn't helping either. I have a plant swap I have to get done. The old "when it rains, it pours".

I have enjoyed this swap immensely. Thank you Shirley for such a great time. Loved this idea and hope we do it again sometime.

Margo

Annie, I forgot to answer you question. The reason the concert last weekend was better was the crowd. The ones at the Detroit concert were so reserved and didn't have much reaction. Kind of duds..... In Columbus, you could tell that everyone was having a great time and that Barry Manilow was very appreciative.

Hi Everyone!
We had a cool, overcast day here today. I got my "downtown" shopping all out of the way for the week!
As soon as we hear from Lisa and Corrine, we'll be able to close this swap. Hope to hear from ya'll soon!
Have a great day tomorrow!
Shirley!

Beautiful, COLD day here today!
Heidi, your bingo prize is on its way, the postal person said it would be there Monday!
Later,
Shirley!

Today is the last day to mail our packages out! Hope ya all are mailing them out! Please post here when you do!
Thanks!
Off to Tecumseh for wine tasting!
Shirley!

Hi Shirley,

I mailed my package to Annie on Friday. Thanks! - Lisa

I almost forgot...here's the DC number for Annie's package:

0312 0090 0001 0746 7343