Images don't appear when project selected...

Hi Guys,

I am new to Aperture 3 and I'm still learning the ropes. I've encountered a problem which I can't seem to find a solution to no matter how much searching on this and other forums. From the manual I understand that Folders are designed to contain Projects (where masters are kept) and Albums (versions for display). I have decided to organize my library according to countries as this is how I have always done things. Example:

Italy (folder)

> 2010-08 Sienna (project)

> 2009-11 Genoa (project)

> etc.

So I created a whole bunch of folders of the countries that I've been to and then started importing my photos. During the import process there is no opportunity to choose where the new project will be located (ie: in one of the folders I'd just created) which meant that the new project was placed under the top level 'Projects and Albums' along with all the folders I'd made. I then dragged the new project into the relevant folder.

Now here is the strange thing that I can't figure out: when I click on the folder (in the example above - Italy) I see all the photos contained within both the Sienna and Genoa projects but when I click on the these projects individually no images appear in the browser even though I can see that there are 143 photos in one and 89 in the other (I have selected "Show numbers of versions for projects and albums" under Prefs>Appearance). Question 1: Can anyone help explain this?

Subsequent to this I have tried to import some more images from an external hard drive and while I can see the folder structure in the import file browser at the bottom of the screen no images appear in the main window where usually you are asked to check or uncheck the images you want to import. Question 2: Is this the same issue?

I'd really appreciate any help on this matter as it is driving me nuts!

Thanks very much.