I grew up in the northern woods where violets were absolutely everywhere - the main species (if indeed it was just one) was a woolly blue wood violet that is apparently considered to be just a variant of Viola sororia (but after growing V. sororia, I beg to disagree!). The only thing they lacked was scent - and being into herbs from a young age, I knew that sweet violets were supposed to have a rapturous fragrance, and that I had never experienced it. Several attempts to procure the real sweet violet met with failure - gratuitous mislabeling is rampant in many local nurseries, and I ended up with the real Viola sororia (weed extraordinaire!) that way as a birthday present. A tiny white native violet from particularly moist and cool spots, maybe V. blanda or perhaps one of its relatives, did have a wonderful scent like clover blossoms and honey - although it was a sparse bloomer, and it took about 10 flowers to make a thumb-sized bouquet, I did cherish it. Finally, on a serendipitous trip East to scope out potential colleges (and stopping at every nursery and garden on the way), we bumped into a man selling plants by the roadside in upstate New York; he had a pot of violets labeled "sweet violet" for sale, and I recognized the leaves as V. odorata instantly. This was summer; it wasn't until it bloomed the following spring that I realized it was quite a rare variety.

Lynn,I checked eBay and the F & F site and didn't see your bowl. It must be an older pattern. Sure is pretty and I think you got a great deal on it. I noticed on their site they are having a lot of sales, and things half priced. Here's the link if anyone wants to browse. I looked thru everything, LOL. Saw a big Fall leaf dish I thought was gorgeous, am still thinking about that. hugs, Karen Here is a link that might be useful: Fitz and Floyd

*Adding* walls, now there's a switch. I'm sure that whatever you come up with will be brilliant and innovative. I just was over there and saw you hard at work, posting pics in the gallery of your research... Yes, that's my hand situation too! I carried only 4 years on my left hip, and have that residual cramp right down at the top of the hip/base of back. We never do take care of ourselves; it's like those kinds of pain are expected and we should put up with them...but it does drag you down and really gets in the way of other things--because of the weird hand numbness/pain I can't paint for more than 10 minutes at a stretch anymore, for instance. We deserve to have them addressed if we feel the need, I think! Yes, the stalking was really creepy. It was an eBay win that the seller didn't like because it went for too little, so he dragged his feet for the required month, never sending the bike (for my DH to get to work), never even returning e-mails -- I finally reported him to eBay (they did nothing to get me my money back, since he knew the rules and knew if he dragged me out for 30 days, they would wash their hands of any responsibility--I ended up challenging it directly on my credit card--paypal wouldn't do anything either) and he went nuts. I don't know how he found out all he did; he's a much better researcher than I am (or maybe hacker?). He mentioned in e-mails all the different addresses we'd lived at, made idiotic comments about my career pre-child just to show he knew where I'd worked, etc....I took it, hoping he'd exhaust himself and go away, but when I saw him start talking about my DD and saying he had ways of reaching out clear across the country and threatening that "too bad your daughter is going to have to bear the brunt of your stupidity", I immediately called the police that instant, shaking, and I printed out all the e-mails and had a big pile waiting for the officer when he showed up. The local police called the Massachusetts police, who went and "talked" with him and finally it stopped. I never heard anything again but I was actually very leery being at home with her alone for at least 6 months after. EBay did do one thing: at least the last time I checked (a long time ago), eBay had cut him off, but I don't know if he worked his way back on under a different name.

I have been very busy and not checking in to this forum. Thanks to all for the comments. The contractor installed the Duravit Vero sink/counter and the FOGO vanity, and I am not happy. Having been very busy with my day job, I was not able to watch closely how thoroughly they installed the blocking between the studs, and came home one day and the wall was closed (tiled) in. So I had no choice but to trust the contractor and wait till he installed the Duravit. Now the vanity seems to be hung solidly, but the countertop/sink (one piece ceramic, which wieghs about 80 lbs) is about 1/8th inch away from the wall at the top, but touches the wall at the bottom of the skirt (5 inch high skirt) I can move the sink up and down that 1/8 inch. When I open the vanity drawer, the top of the drawer bumps against the bottm of the countertop skirt. The contractor says when we put things in the drawer, it will weigh down and this won't happen. I knew at the time this was bull, but was so dumbfounded at his attitude, I was not sure how to respond. I suspect that he is affraid to tighten the two lag bolts the extra 1/8 inch for one reason or another. On possible reason is that he is affraid to crack the ceramic. Another is that (I am just guessing at this) he mounted the bolts too deep into the wall, so that there is not enough of the bolt left to turn (?Guessing) Does anyone have any ideas on (a) what went wrong inside the wall, and (2) how to handle this contractor, who is very moody (some days very accomodating and other times, very stubborn). Note: the instructions call for mounting this entire ceramic one-piece sink/contertop (41 inches wide x 19 inches deep x 5 inches high) with two lag bolts (about 1/2 in) through the back of the ceramic skirt into the wood framing. So I imagine the ceramic is strong enough to handle it.