Hallson Gardens

Hi again -- thanks so much for all the kind wishes and prayers. To answer one of the questions, the cancer is in various parts of my body, but mostly in one thigh, one upper arm and various spots around my pelvis and backbone. Sounds horrendous, I know, but the funny-odd thing is that I've had three...

Hi Robin -- one more of us checking in. I'm still gardening in our new house -- actually, four years old now -- but can grow hostas only on the north and east side, since it's too sunny anywhere else. I have learned a lot about sun loving plants since I moved here, so I guess that's a new part of my...

Hi Garden (and Seedy) friends --'Way back in 2007, you went with me through a breast cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment. That was a recurrence from 20 years previously, when I'd had a partial mastectomy for breast cancer. Well, there's been a lot of water gone under the bridge and over the da...

What a wonderful adventure! I ate my dinner awhile ago, and I'm salivating now for all that fresh seafood! I certainly do get a lot of experience, vicariously, from your trips. Unfortunately and unavoidably, this was a "barmicide feast". When are you two coming home for awhile anyhow??? Phyllis

You have given us a rare gift, Jim. Thank you for the insights into the unique person you became because of all that wandering, and for the nudge in the ribs for us to get in touch with those who have meant the world to us. I am grateful-- Thank you. Love, Phyllis

Seedlings are up and growing! Pictures when they get a bit bigger. Phyllis

As I have observed before, reading your posts is always highly educational as well as entertaining. Thanks for the history lesson. Those U-boats were among a LOT that was considered "classified" during that war! Phyllis

With a view like that out my breakfast nook window, I'd be happy to do nothing but look at it. Here in brown old Minnesota, however, there is nothing interesting to look at out the window, except maybe the male cardinals chasing each other away from the bird feeder. You two are champions at doing no...

My lights are on in the basement, but although medicinal pot has now been approved in Minnesota, I prefer to grow things for my garden and not for "the trade". I have 20 pots, with two seeds each, sowed with my own hand-collected hyacinth bean seeds -- some for me, some for my daughter, and the rest...

What a lot of action on this site -- suddenly, it's spring, at least in some places. Not in MN -- had snow yesterday, but needed it, since we are brown and dry and ugly all over the area. Good to have old friends popping in with suggestions! Phyllis

thanks for a small increase in my knowledge base -- I never knew what that kind of seashell-concrete was called, and now I do! It's lovely to be on the road with you two. May the trips continue forever! Phyllis

The line between "antique" and "junk" has always been a little blurred by "Junque". In this case, it's between "classy" and what you get if you remove that initial "c", with no other word in between! Good for the Oatmanites, who have found a way to keep their town humming! Phyllis

Jim -- What a great retrospective on Route 66. I remember that hit song, that captured the imagination of a generation -- didn't know the theme had been recomposed to not sound exactly like the original. Phyllis

Doug will be delighted to get that bit of trivia about "Creature from the Black Lagoon". It is his nomination for the "best awful" film of all time -- keeps wanting the grandkids to watch it with him (yes, we have a copy!) but they continue to decline! Great tour of the swamp! Phyllis

Jim and Sheila -- how SPLENDID to have you emerging from self-imposed obscurity once more! I am up for another Idiots Adventure, so fire away! It is 70 degrees here out on my deck in Little Canada MN today! Woo Hoo! Phyllis

A most satisfying vicarious trip. Thank you, Sheila and Jim, for once again helping to make Minnesota winter a bit more tolerable! Where next???? Phyllis

the heuchera seedlings are about 6" tall, and thriving. The canna seeds???? NO! I finally gave up on them; couldn't get those pods cracked no matter how I tried, so I quit and concentrated on the bags of roots I dug up in the fall. I'm now putting them into pots, so I'll have something to show for i...

Matching underwear???? I love it! You two certainly had a numero uno time in Hawaii. I have family there, and have yet to go, but now that I've taken your virtual tour I just might make the journey. Thanks, Jim and Sheila, for a marvelous experience! Phyllis

All that gorgeous sun, sand, surf and surfers made me even more dissatisfied with the wet, sloppy MN winter. At least it's almost 30 degrees nearly every day, so that is a help, at least for driving without skidding all over on black ice. What I want to know is -- how do all those people on surf and...

WOW! I don't think I'd feel very safe in such a dinky little boat, when approached by animals as big as whales. Sort of like being in a land-rover that's in the path of stampeding elephants! Wouldn't you have liked to have had a sort of upside-periscope so you could have seen what was going on under...