I have been looking at gardening books and catalogs...........time to get into the swing....still way too much snow here, but it will melt soon with some warm days that are coming.............can't wait for the spring...........I guess that is why I like 4 seasons so much, you have something to look forward to...........

I too like the Rhine wines. There is a brand of German Liebrfaumilch that I like also. Forgot about that till you mentioned them Nancy. I'm told I make a great salsa. I use celentro in it and a touch of anise. One of the local bars wanted me to bottle it and we'd sell it. Never did, too much of a good thing sometimes becomes bitter. Been gardening these past few days when I get home. Weeks are already popping up in my herb garden and here if you don't get an early start at keping them out you never do.The Chinese Magnolia is blooming and smells great, hope we escape our usual one March ice storm and it dies back.

Yes, I could go for some real good peaches..............and tomatoes...........I got hooked on the ruskins when I was in FL and haven't had any good ones since............guess I need my own garden..............more motivation. My sister makes her own salsa and tomato sauce...............I was stationed in Germany for 2 years, so my high school german was worthless...........we learned what they call "high" german and the germans for the most part speak a slang type like our english to most people just learning english. the village our base was near had its own brewery..........Bitburger Pils was good for beer, but I like home brew better. They do export it, but it isn't the same as what you can buy in country. Fischer(sp) is another one made in France I believe, that Lou really liked..........but I stuck to my wine..........mostly rhine........even though we were closer to the mosel, the rhine was good...............not into the Eis wine, much too sweet for me............you can see the sugar in most of the bottles.............I prefer the Spatlese or Kabinett..........which is their "table" wine........but it is good..........I could go on, but I am pretty bummed, the UCONN women lost the Big East title against Villanova(14th). We had a 70 game streak there for a while...........but you have to lose sometime. Both teams didn't look that great on the court, I think UCONN was tired.........this was their 3rd game this week.........tends to take some spark out of you. Oh well.......they still are #1 in CT.

Richard, thus far I've kept things simple. Hotels I just plug in and earthlink does the rest as far as a local # . When delayed or laying over I use my cellphone in terminals or via air I use Sprint phone provided by the airline. You see, I was never one to like all that complicated math when they first came out. I only started to use a puter when I found the Mac and quickly moved to PCs for price etc. I am a located and icon or pic and clikd person. Things have really improved within the last 8 years. Back in 96 when I first started traveling alot it was rough but its getting easier and easier as you know. Any ideas I'm open to learn about though.

Back ro food......ha ha. When I was in Germany briefly I got hooked on their real cheap dark beer and haven't been able to drink the carmel falvoured and coloured junk we produce here. We made our own one winter while in VT but drank it as soon as each batch matured. It was fun. I have a real god recipie for Dandolion (ha ha) wine. It has a real kick. My Gram used to make it and store it. My mon makes some pretty good Kahlua. I have a fig tree here that produces profusely and I found an awesome recipie for figs that are all natural using unbleached flour. It takes alot of sugar but they really aren't that sweet. I'm allergic to peaches but the ol lady up the road makes great fried peach pies. (southern thing) We Yankees call them turnovers and do them in an oven.

Hi Gang, I am a certified wino...........got hooked on German wine over in Germany at all the winefests we went to.............they clear out the wineries for the new stuff and have a huge party..........every weekend it was a new village.............then there was the Whitlitch Pig fest................supposedly a pig ate the carrot that held the gate to the village closed from invaders and the pig gets its dues every Sept.............great with the wine and beer................they know how to throw a party for sure...............why do we seem to be talking about food and drink all the time? (wink)..............

I get to travel south this week but only to Danbury CT. Roland, what are the key issues with being connected remotely from hotels- like having a local dial-up number for the Net, etc.? Do you connect into WiFi networks in airports and what do you use for that? Hope that all is well out there ?!?!?

I prefer Smugglers white snowfundell. It's my anti-drug. Still ripping some good snowboarding runs here. A little wine may make you live longer, though. Just to be on the safe side, I wear a helmet for both.

John, sounds good. I keep Berringer white zinfandel as my house wine but a good merlot would be good. Hopefully we'll get more people envolved in the future. I found it by going to classmates and Patti invited me. Mom emailed me and says some of the snow is leaving as you are having warmer weather but she lives in CT. The cherry trees are now blooming here.