Laura flaunts her ivy-killing skills. On the left side of the picture: before. Right side: after. Another example of my "if you've got it, flaunt it" philosophy gone awry. Yeah, I flaunted it alright: 5 different kinds of vines on this one slope alone -- ivy, honeysuckle (2 kinds), silver lace vine, Virginia creeper. The ivy is too succulent to be much of a fire hazard, but it proved to be highly invasive -- penetrating window screens, electrical boxes, etc. Looking back, it's obvious that as a child I was deeply affectd by the story of Sleeping Beauty, the part when the briars grew and covered her castle. I found that a compelling image. I thought it would be cool to have a little hobbit house covered with vines: you could walk right up to it and hardly know it was there. I still think this is a cool idea on a philosophical level, but on a practical level, "live and learn" seems to be the name of the game here.
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