Come see my water gardens, said the goldfish to the toad.

My baby girl is going to the prom, again. Last year it was her�s. This year it�s her BF�s. She�ll be wearing the gorgeous red, satin, strapless number I made for her last year, and he went to M��re�s and rented himself a tux�a black tux with a red bowtie, a red satin vest, cufflinks and studs. He did not rent shoes because he was going to borrow them from a friend, a friend who has ended up wearing those shoes because he has gone to see his sister graduate. What�s a guy to do? I never cease to roll my eyes at the lack of foresight some teenagers seem to exhibit.

Anyway, he has decided that he will wear his running shoes, which just happen to be black with red laces�a perfect match for the tux and red vest. He also borrowed a top hat from another friend, who made up a contract in archaic language stating that if BF fails to return the hat in the same condition as it was loaned, he must replace it to the satisfaction of the owner or forfeit his immortal soul. I think that�s fair.

Speaking of the friend with the top hat, I took the kids over there this morning to pick it up, and he showed me their water gardens behind the house. His father has made the most beautiful series of interconnected pools with water lilies (one was blooming) and other marsh plants, stocking them with goldfish, and when the juice is turned on there are a couple of fountains. You can walk around on stone bridges (our area is rife with shale which can be harvested in huge chunks) over the connecting �streams� to look at the different flowering plants. There are irises, bullrushes, mint and much more. It was so beautiful and just exuded the personality of the creator. The owner of the hat admitted that his contribution had been some heavy lifting, and his mother said this was totally her husband�s doing. It was very beautiful.

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