Howdy folks,
In regards to this snippet:

Yes, there is a large bat house on a 15 foot pole. To be perfectly honest, I
don't know if any bats have taken up residence.

We are hoping to attract bats, and I wondered if anyone had luck
with the Bat houses, and if there was something else that needed to be
done besides putting up the house to attract them.

The flags are my connection to the Tibetan people in exile. Particularly H.H.
The Dalai Lama. I may fly up to NY in September to see him at a rather large
gathering. I wish I had the money to sponsor something for us, here, in Texas.
A place for him to come and teach. Oh, chills run down my arms just thinking of
that. I have many sets of flags back there in all different conditions! I'm
not all that great at compassion for others and I'm not that good at keeping my
heart covered. I come off tough, but that's usually because I'm afraid if the
shell cracks, all the mush will come oozing out.

As they say in Deer Hunter, "...THIS, is this..."

Victoria


The Dalai Lama, or as I like to think of him, 'the big smiling
dude" is great.
I was really struck by something he said when they asked him for
his reactions about the Buddhist statues being blown up by the
Taliban.
He said something like "While I don't think they should be blowing
things up it's important to remember they are just statues." Then he
gets his big smile," ...and besides the people in that area are very
poor, they could be getting some money from tourists if they leave the
statues alone."

If your interested in helping the Tibeten exiles, there are ways
to sponser refugees, it doesn't take all that much to help out with
living quarters and education for those living in the exile
communities set up in India. I wore my 'Tibeten Relocation:Project
Austin' shirt to work one day and the owner of the Nursery, ( Who
shall remain nameless) asked me if the shirt was for a new Chinese
restaurant.

Speaking of Tibetens, I'm designing a meditation garden. An eight
by eight screened in pavillion in a wooded grove. I've been playing
with plant choices, and was thinking I would really like foliage
plants that had a nice rustling sound in the breeze. Kind of like the
wind and rustling sound effects to' Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' in
the Bamboo forest scene, but without all the Bamboo.

Having a lot of fun with it.
Ya'll take care.

Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com