Collector's TAP CAFE XV everyone is welcome here !!!

Cool!!!

 

So my craft room is as done as it's going to get. At some point I'll take photos. Now I'm working like a mad woman to get stuff going in my yard to turn it into a garden so that I'll have flowers to paint. Guh I HAD all of the yard stuff when I lived back east but when I moved I sold most of it off - I forgot how all of the basics add up. I'm also in dire need of LOTS of soil to improve the ground and one raised bed I have at my place. Oh yeah and it's now over 100 each day. Bonus on that seeds that I planted 3 days ago are already sprouting.

 

I envy your warmth (maybe not that much of it though). It's pouring here in the London (UK) area and in the 50s. I had to throw an extra blanket on the bed last night as it was cold.

 

I really can't complain we had an abnormally cool year - long cool winter (50's-60's) instead of 70s. And then only mostly 80's leading up to June. We're on a hot streak that should end tomorrow w/ us then going done to just above 100. Only problem is now we have fires burning all over thanks to the gobs of dried greenery that we enjoyed this spring

 

Hope none are in your area.

 

They're in the mountains to the north and east of us. Lots of smoke/pollution from them. We could use some of your rain.

 

Closest fire to me https://www.12news.com/article/news...RdEaBSpSVROLZCHsMp5k8xYt9-_8lYQspUsR3GdPaX874

 

The weather in the north has also been miserable recently. I had to wear a raincoat and woollen hat when working outside this week. It’s supposed to be June. Really hoping we are getting a nice warm late summer.

 

It's been super rainy here in the Midwest since the start of Spring, and locally we had violent weather a few weeks back when double-digit tornados ripped through my area. Less than a mile from my home. Homes and businesses were destroyed, as was my childhood home. I'd become so conditioned to just shrugging away Tornado Warnings, but never again.

 

We've had quite a bit of rain in the London area recently. There are floods in one area of England so far but luckily nowhere near me. We've had the odd tornado in England but we aren't known for it.

 

That must have been terrible. Certainly puts my complaining about having to wear a raincoat and hat into perspective. As much as Scotland can be cold, windy and wet, we are very lucky in that we rarely experience extreme weather.

 

Yeah global warming and climate change is really screwing up the weather everywhere. Even Ireland got a hurricane last year. The fire closest to me is still raging. All of the big recreation state/national park spots to the east are all shut down for smoke pollution. Really hoping our fire fighters can get it under control soon. We have no rain on the horizon to help them out.

I'm not really collecting at the moment because now that my craft room is done, I'm getting ready to get back into 2 things that I LOVED doing when I lived in New England over 15 years ago - I'm going to start painting again and I'm gardening to grow flowers TO paint.

The non-stop bright sun has meant that my seedlings that I planted last weekend are all sproinging to life. I'm working on making my very boring front yard colorful. In a month or so I should have a riot of flowers w/ zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, and gladiolus flowers all over. Plans are to work on redesigning the front yard in the next year or so, so it'll have roses and lots of plants to invite bees, butterflies, dragonflies, and hummingbirds. I haven't gardened since I lived in Mass - it's been fun getting myself dirty again from head to toe - I've missed doing it.

Will also work on the back yard - I plan to eventually carve out some areas of the lawn for beds and make them uninviting for the dogs to race through (that'll be the biggest challenge.) I have a couple of boysenberry plants that I bought - if they really grow and take off in their pots I'll transplant them probably in the back yard to grow up our fences. I had boysenberry bushes in my back yard when I grew up and love their berries soo much. You can't get them in stores. I really want to grow an avocado and a lemon tree. We have a grapefruit tree that produces a lot of fruit - which is great except that I don't like grapefruit.

With the idiot in office arguing w/ our neighbors to the south, fresh food prices are going up - so I'm working to try to plant stuff to grow. Got some tomatoes and peppers starting along w/ herbs. Next year I want to grow squash also.

I've got some nasty prickly bushes in the front yard and a couple of trees that were planted in a raised flower bed that all need to get pulled (will pay my handyman/gardener to do that) which will give me room for some nicer plants that I want to grow. My grandmother used to have roses so they're some of my favorite things to grow - will work to get some for fall and spring planting. All of my flowers that come up this summer I'm going to use for painting.

 

Yeah, my ex-girlfriend lives in Newcastle upon Tyne and she's been complaining about how much rain they've had this Spring.

I really lucked out. Apart from the two days w/o power and some mess to clean up in the yard, I came out in good shape. But literally less than a mile away there were homes severely damaged and even destroyed. Businesses as well. The neighborhood I grew up in was especially hit hard and my old grade school was totally destroyed (It had been closed down for a couple of years and repurposed by a local ministry as a church, as they've built a new grade school in that comunity, but still hard to see it in ruins). The cleanup is more or less over and the rebuilding has begun, but it's going to be years before things are back to normal.

Here's a brief bit of drone video to give you a flavor of it.

Yeah, I don't really see many stories about storms of this type from the UK. Tornados here are primarily associated w/the Midwestern and Central Plains areas of the country. The U.S. is so diverse climate-wise that we get nearly every type of extreme weather you can think of. Blizzards in the Upper Midwest and North Eastern part of the country. Tropical storms in the South East. No matter where you live there's a unique weather challenge.

Yeah, I've heard you mention having to deal w/the wild fires out there. Yet another of the geographic weather challenges, and a scary one. Hope you all are safe.

 

@Juke Skywalker yikes! Experiencing a tornado is like one of the farthest things on my list. When I lived back east there were a couple of times where the sky turned that weird green color that they talk about in "Twister" - scared the hell out of me. There have been a few tornadoes back there. We get a few here but our biggest events are haboobs aka dust storms. We really don't need those coming in right now.

 

@PadmeLeiaJaina yeah, it wasn't something on my bucket list, either . Seeing the wake of the destruction, what strikes you is the randomness of it all. Driving down one road there was a business completely flattened, and next door it wasn't even touched.

 

@Juke Skywalker - I'm glad that you're ok. Unfortunately, I believe your tornado season is just starting

 

@PadmeLeiaJaina Thanks. They say the peak season is April-July, but the weather here has been more like April (relatively mild and LOTS of rain) than May and June, so it's fertile ground for them unfortunately.

 

Well, here it is, my 10,000th... and ultimately my last... post. And I figured there's no better place for it than here on the collecting board where I spent so much of my time over the 15+ years I've been on TFN.

I signed up for the boards way back in March of '04. Like so many things, it seems both forever ago and like it was yesterday. I initially signed up to talk about the then upcoming third prequel, Revenge of the Sith, but I soon discovered the collecting board and it was here more than anywhere that I felt most at home. I love collecting. Not only Star Wars items, but as some of you know, 70s and 80s toys as well. It's been great to come here and share that passion w/all of you.

So, why am I leaving? It's something I've contemplated for a long time. I was pretty inactive from around 2008-2012. During that time my Mom was ill, and between work and caring for her my time and my funds were pretty much accounted for. I picked up the random item here and there, but obviously my focus was elsewhere. Sadly she passed in late 2011, and a year or so later Lucasfilm was sold to Disney. W/the promise of new movies I was drawn back to the TFN boards. At the time I had a little under 5,000 posts. It's not a number that really ever meant much to me. I was active once again, but I wasn't interested in bloating my post totals for the sake of it.

But over the last few months, as I decided that I was going to leave TFN, that number came to have meaning. I was close to 10,000 posts. A few hundred away. For whatever reason the idea of reaching 10,000 and leaving on that note felt... right. So I stuck around. Now here I am. Why am I leaving? It's... complicated. I'm 45 years old, and maybe it's a natural part of reaching middle age that one begins to re-evaluate their lives. I'm currently in a job I hate, and I've decided that it's time to move on. That's precipitated other changes as well. Like leaving TFN. I'll always collect. That's not going to change. It's something that I love and that I'm passionate about. Sadly I won't be around to share it with you, and that's the hardest part of leaving TFN.

In conclusion (this post became much longer than I'd intended lol) I'll miss you all. A lot of people have come and gone in my time here, but there are some of you who've been here since I signed up. In my time on TFN I've posted on various boards, and w/o a doubt the friendliest people are right here on the collecting boards, hands down. I wish every single one of you the absolute best in your lives and in your collecting.

Sincerely, Juke Skywalker aka Tony Williams

 

Take care Juke! Thanks for taking the time to say goodbye! May the force be with you... always!

 

Sorry to see you go, Juke. We'd certainly welcome you back if circumstances change!

 

Oh man - we'll miss you @Juke Skywalker - remember that we'll always be here if when you get things figured out and will always be welcomed back!

 

@Juke Skywalker I’m sorry to see you go, but I wish you all the best. I hope you get everything sorted out.

 

@Juke Skywalker I wish occasionally we could just stop time at a perfect place in our lives, Obviously that is not a good plan. Here's to you for stepping into new horizons.

Do hope to see you back sometime though.

 

ALL THE BEST TOO YOU @Juke Skywalker May The force be with you always

 

Happy Independence Day to those celebrating!