[Trudi]

We had a ball!

It really was a great delight to meet everyone and sit and talk and eat and drink--oh my, it was almost too much. Any gathering with three types of excellent brownies is gonna blow my mind and waist, lol!

I don't remember who made the tomato and apple pie but that was very different, I never had anything like that before and I have to say it was quite good, as were the salads, the salsas, the scalloped toms and the brews. The brews were really quite impressive--slurp and burp! YUM! It was ALL yum! (and that was the biggest box of bacon I have ever seen in my life)

I was very impressed with the amount and variety of toms that were brought to the tables, not too many repeats at all. The judging was left up to individuals to try some or all and the "ballot box" made it possible to do so and vote anonymously--it was comfy and casual and a very pleasant way to do the ratings.

I had my seeds in clear vinyl shoe holders that I bought at the dollar store--they're the type with "pockets" and you hang them inside the closet door. Because of the volume of seed varieties that I have "ready to go", keeping them in a visually clear sorting system---such as these vinyl shoe pockets--makes it a lot easier for me to organize them all. The seed packet labels I make with a graphics program--I use Print Master--it's simple to use and I can print out labels anytime I need them.

Thank you for the opportunity to talk about Winter Sowing, I hope that some of you will try the method. I like it as it keeps everything outside. I have cats that own the windowsills here, and we live in a small 40' x 40' cottage so there's no room for a light set-up--for me WS is very practical.

Steve and I fell in love with the Inner Harbor in Balto--such a wonderous place. On the drive back we talked about that for our next long vacation, we'd like to visit Baltimore.

We had a wonderful time in Maryland at MAGTAG and we look forward to joining you again next year.

Hugs to all!

Trudi and Steve