Woosh. The wind whistles through my dark hair. The bitter cold air makes my blue eyes shut tight. Blooming flowers, rustling trees, damp grass; their smells all fill my nose. My arms are spread out wide to catch the breeze as I stand between the train tracks. My thoughts are focused, calm, ready. I’m ready.
In the distance, I hear the bells ringing to announce the arrival of an oncoming train. A small smile plays at my lips. My control on my thoughts begins to slip, though. My mind wanders into the past, into the things I cannot change, and I’m left helpless once again to something more powerful than I am.
Images of my father pass through my mind. He touches me, softly, tells me he loves me. Tells me there’s no need to be scared. Tells me that nobody needs to know, that when two people love each other, this is what they do. I am once again young and alone, unaware that he is wrong. Unafraid of his influence over me and my life. I let him touch me, kiss me, love me because nobody else will. Just because nobody else does.
Another time, my father is angry. His breath smells of liquor as his touch bruises me. I’m no longer young and he is no longer gentle. He is coarse and unkind. I am weak and fearful. My father’s eyes are cloudy, filled with rage and a long forgotten past. A past filled with as much pain as I endure from him. As much pain as I allow him to give me.
I begin to gain control, but not enough. I can still faintly see my mother, staring at me as I tell her about my father. Shaking her head, waving her dish cloth, not believing me when I say that my father touches me, loves me in ways he shouldn’t. She looks at me, angry, and pushes me. I fall into a wall. She walks away, stepping over my crumpled self and into the living room, unable to believe her own daughter. Not willing to accept the truth.
I rein in my thoughts, keeping them pinned up in my head again. Stay, I think, as if they are dogs. I concentrate on what I really need to understand. This world no longer needs an Amy Goldman. My father no longer needs a person to love. Nobody loves me besides him. Nobody in this world cares about me except him. I am useless here. I need to leave here.
The train bells get louder, closer. I feel the tracks begin to rumble beneath me. Gone are the aromas of spring, replaced with the smell of dirt and diesel. My heart, my breath, my body speeds up. My thoughts are screaming now. I AM USELESS HERE! I NEED TO LEAVE HERE! Just as the train is about to reach me, just as everything is about to be peaceful, better, I panic. I can stay. I can speak. I can share my thoughts and it can get better here. But it’s too late for me, though. Before I can speak, talk, share, the train hits me. I am gone from here.

I have a hummingbird nest on one of my windchimes outside.. the mother has been gone for 3 1/2 days now and I haven’t seen her come back at all. I did find a dead one in the grass near the location of the nest, but I can’t be sure if that’s her because I get so many in my backyard…If she isn’t back tomorrow I’m taking the eggs out and plan on hatching them myself. Do I just use a heat lamp to incubate them? Is there anything else that I need to do for them to hatch properly? What about after they hatch?

Last night what I can only describe as a crop circle appeared in my garden. My garden is more of a large weed patch really, but at the front there is quite a bit of grass (as opposed to bramble and nettle). The grass is about 3/4 of a metre tall – in need of cutting! Anyway, overnight an almost perfect circle of neatly flattened grass has appeared. It is about 3m in diameter and all the grass around it is still standing tall and there are no tracks or flattened grass leading up to it on any side. It really is the most peculiar thing and given that I totally believe in extra-terrestrial life there is a big part of me wondering if someone paid me a visit last night? But I would really like to know if anyone can offer another explanation?
Thanks for all the responses I did take some photos this morning, and a couple more this afternoon from a different angle. I’m not sure how well they’ve come out tbh – only have a camera phone – but I’ll see if I can upload a couple.
I live in Hither Green, which is SE London, UK. I will take a look and see if anyone actually reported seeing a UFO last night…
I have seen and read loads of stuff on crop circles and they are totally amazing and without a doubt created by ETs. The one in my garden is not an intricate pattern though…so I am fully aware there is probably another explanation. It did cross my mind that it could have been created by a small twister…although I’m not sure if we get those in the UK? Also, I think it could have been made by a person….with a big flat disk….although I’m not sure why they’d bother? It actually freaks me out more to think that there were people in my garden last night rather than aliens!
Any other suggestions would be great
I don’t know how to add photos on here…..but if you would like to see them then they are on my Facebook profile so request me as a friend and just say that you saw this post so I know who you are! My name: Nina Ammundsen

I have planted my garden and used a different tiller than before. This one did not go as deep. So now I have grass growing in my garden and it is to much to pick out by hand. I have read of the Lasagna method. I was wondering it that was ok to do with an existing garden or if anyone had any other ideas?

I like contemporary design but still like some green in my yard and some grass or ground cover. How do I lay this type of patio in my garden? Advice for the planting inbetween or the best type of pavers to use? Examples below! How do I prep the ground and lay the stones and do i need cement or anything?

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/designers_portfolio/portfolio/0,2159,HGTV_16257_1100,00.html?searchType=Portfolio&Room=DP+OUTDOORS&Style=&Designer=&SearchPositionIndex=38

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/designers_portfolio/portfolio/0,2159,HGTV_16257_652,00.html?searchType=Portfolio&Room=DP+OUTDOORS&Style=&Designer=&SearchPositionIndex=73

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/designers_portfolio/portfolio/0,2159,HGTV_16257_1490,00.html?searchType=Portfolio&Room=DP+OUTDOORS&Style=&Designer=&SearchPositionIndex=3

If you had an unlimited budget, what would you do to improve this garden?

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr164/Natesmummyphotos/100_1448.jpg

So far all ive come up with is i’d like grass instead of those stones! lol.
i need a bit of inspiration!

I originally started off as Trainee at Berkshire College of Agriculture, working on the grounds, though work wasn’t great, it was more calm than my experience in Retail Garden Centres for the last 12 years. I loved working with plants, taking cuttings, looking after them until selling. I was learning alot doing that. I had almost too many different jobs to do, plants and machinery cutting grass.
I have always favoured the quieter jobs, never mind the work load. Propagation seemed good. I could actually do this, as landscape gardening is too front-line, rushy and too many neighbours watching. I get a little paranoid if I am watched too carefully – I get angry inside when I know what I am doing but someone just has to poke their nose in and ruin it all. This is where I would swear them off – I am not willing to make friends, or run down (this happens in the garden centre a lot, a pain I have to live with at the moment.).
So, I do have a problem with people. Can’t even have a normal social night out, without drinking critics and messy minds around. Maybe I’m too sober. True, I abstain from drinking, in far too much control, like OCD. I really need lightening up, take the worries off. Two ways – quiet drink with well known people, or, quiet retreat, wherever possible (even at home). The drink part is easier to come by – just be nice to people (never easy when you feel their vibration so easily).
So, as you can see, life is never easy. I do better when encouraged and given lucky breaks. I cannot be alone in this and created a decent positive attitude (some people can).
I’m not stuck in a rut, financially, but my careers interests are.

Thank you for reading this!

Im confused as im doing my garden design for my course and im going through a list to pass the module and this is the next thing i have to do for my designed garden. But part of my garden is just lawn does this just mean a normal plant plan or just grass, it says clearly labeled with plant drift and plants thanks for any answers im soooooo stuck!

I have a 4 foot space between my house and the sidewalk. 2 1/2 ft x about 30 ft has been a rock garden with coneflower, snow on the mountain and another flower that is ferny at the bottom and has tall white and pale pink flowers. I have left this for the past 11 years and next spring will be redoing it. Within that space is a spigot, and 2 window wells. There is edging and the other 1 1/2 ft is grass. The edging is straight. Any ideas for this space?? I like the rock because I don’t have to pull weeds as much as we are gone most weekends in the summer. We are just looking for a way to change the space? Any ideas are welcome

I started having a weird skin problem 4 years ago. I started getting these weird oozing pimple-like things on my forehead and back that would form into little skin ulcers that ooze and hurt. They are about the size of pimples, but they’re not pussy in the way pimples are and they take a long time to heal. I rarely get pimples on my face or anywhere else. Nobody in my family has problems with acne, and that’s not what I have. Although my mom was told that she had eczema. I do have problems with itching when I touch animals or grass, but the raw sores on my head don’t really itch, just hurt. I started to notice they were induced by shampoo I was using. I started using natural shampoos. All the bumps and ulcers on my back disappeared. I still get some on my forehead from time to time.
What does this sound like?

i’m not exactly sure what their called, but they look like this http://www.fireworks.com/images/products/H-091.jpg So if i place this on grass will it catch the grass on fire?

Every year my mom and I design our garden around this time but I have been assigned to find the plants I want this year. We already have lilies and tulips planted, they’re so pretty. We have these three azalea bushes that I can’t wait to get rid of but I want more flowers that will be eye-catching and pretty. I don’t mind if I have to replant them next year. I really like Bleeding Heart flowers, they’re gorgeous. What are good flowers to plant in the early spring? I am thinking of planting a Cherry Blossom tree but I don’t know. Ideas?
I live in Baltimore, MD and the weather isn’t supposed to drop back down under 50 again and this upcoming week its gonna be high 60′s with rain The springs are normally warm…
I’m near the Chesapeake Bay–about ten minutes away by car. My neighborhood is mostly grass, my garden is against the kitchen and right next to my neighbor’s huge tree. My yard gets ALOT of water when it rains, to the point of little pools in the grass

Hi, need a warm, friendly, trustworthy, appealing, name for a new bussiness i will be starting next year, any ideas appreciated thanks.

Work that i will be doing is, grass cutting, hedge trimming, conifer shaping, shrub prunning, tree lopping,removal, turfing, brickwork,trellaces,garden clearance, tidying, waste disposal, clearing guttering, bungalow roof cleaning, fencing, gravel stone bases,features,ponds.

Best name gets ten points an a new fan , thanks

We recently removed a hot tub from our back yard and now there is a 8′x8′ dead spot in the grass…we were thinking about planting a small garden.

What types of plants/veggies would be sutitable for a small space such as that?
When should I start planting?
Any other tips would be helpful.

FYI- We live in PA
We want mostly veggies!

I am building a patio behind my garage, with about a 2 foot grass buffer between it and the building. We’re up to actually adding the pavers on top of the sand and gravel, and I just need to get the pavers into a perfect ‘square’ next to the garage, actually lined up with the garage. Unfortunately, this step is driving me mad, as every time I pound in the landscape edging next to thae garage, I seem to get it just a little cockeyed. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice my error until I laid 8 rows, and seemed to have the patio heading off at an angle. I do have string and stake and measuring tape/level, but I would like to know what a professional would do in this instance. Help!