email_body: Just wanted to drop you a note before I leave for Germany tomorrow.
  I'm  looking forward to the cooler weather.
  I got some good bargains on post  winter sweaters this weekend because no one in Houston is even thinking about  buying a sweater!
  I spent more money on clothes than I ever have at one  sitting!
  My backyard is really looking good.
  It's almost all planted, maybe 90%  done.
  I've planted a few new trees, a Japanese Red Maple, and a Saucer  Magnolia (which has lovely little pink fragrant blossoms).
  It will be a  while before they look like trees, though.
  Right now they kinda look like  tall bushes.
  I've planted a lot of tropical plants, I've got a ten ft.  plumeria (which is what they make the Hawaiian leis out of) which has little  little yellow fragrant blossoms, and an Australian fern tree, which is about  7 ft. tall and looks kinda like a palm.
  They're in pots, because I'll have  to take them in during hard freezed.
  I've planted lots of climbing pink,  yellow and white roses and one mauve hybrid.
  It will take a while before  they fill out.
  Also, two pink/purple crape myrtles, which should add a lot  of color.
  Those are those colorful small trees that bloom all over  Houston.
  I've planted a lot of stuff with scent, and stuff to attract birds  and butterflies.
  I hope the next time you come it will have filled out a  bit.
  Right now we've been having so much rain that they're drowning a bit.
  I need a little sun to make them bloom.
  And then there's my St. Francis  fountain.
  He's just lovely!
  
subject_line: I'm German bound
  