How lovely! I like to make flower collages too, just to see what a color combo will look like. There are so many things I want in my garden *right now* that I'm working on, and other things organized into dream lists for maybe someday. Right now my top priority is completing the veg garden, I'm not done planting tomatoes and it's almost June, I kick myself every time I go out and see all the work I haven't done yet. But I also have a growing collection of baby antique roses in pots that are going to need a home once they are large enough to go into the ground - I know I want it to be an informal garden with curving gravel paths, rock lined beds, and billowy perennials like lavender and santa barbara daisies, but I'm not sure where or how large it will actually be. It's a design challenge I'm not even ready to think about yet. The satisfaction I get from turning a weedy or nondescript plot into a beautiful garden is unparallelled, and when I finish all of the projects I currently have on my list I think I will need to find friends and neighbors willing to let me create new gardens on their properties. It's an addiction I have no desire to curb or suppress ;oP

Happy New Year + 1 day everyone. I had to work yesterday. Usually New Years day is slow ... it's the eve that tends to get busy, but we were busy busy busy. Marea, keeping my fingers crossed that you find a job now that it is 2009. Dianne, I can't see the picture this morning, maybe it will show up later for me. We had some sick ones in my house this week. DD was sick Mon, tue , got better just in time to celibrate new years eve. Then hubby got it. Both kids were out for the new years eve and I was hoping for a nice romantic hot tub with him ... not to be. I spent New years eve taking care of him. :o) We got a new camera for Christmas, the old one is literally falling apart. Now I have to figure the new one out. Karen, so exciting you have a plant trying to bloom ... seems like a little miracle! Shirley, I love the leaves of the arum italicum. I tried growing it one year since they say it can withstand zone 5, but I think it is too cold here for it. Sadly it lasted 2 years and then withered away. We don't get much snow here, so lots of freezing and thawing going on. Paul, Fantastic that your Dolphins are in the playoffs. I'm hoping for a turn around like that for our Lions. My hubby plays the fantasy football too. He says he ended up 7-6 ... won $2.00. LOL Oh, and the people that own the dog we are watching for 2 years are back for a month, so my baby is going away for a while. sad sharon

I have three of these brothers. Christmas is always a fun time. (Not.) Does he have Netflix or Hulu Plus? You can give him several months of streaming video, if he likes to watch TV. A "luxury" brand of something he uses often? Like gourmet coffee or chocolate or nachos? If he has a favorite movie or TV show, something related to that? I knitted one brother a Doctor Who scarf last year and he loved it. Even though he's not into gadgets, what about one of those emergency radios? The ones with a flashlight and charging port, that run on batteries but can also be hand-cranked. Nearly everyone has power outages at some point, and needs some emergency gear. Two places I've found good gifts for my brothers: Restoration Hardware and ThinkGeek. Check out RH's gift section--look at the stocking stuffers. There are a lot of ideas there. ThinkGeek does have a lot of techy stuff, but there's some useful home gadgets there as well. In addition to a cat hammock that my cats just love. (Would he like a gift for the cats?) It's a good place for outside-the-box gifts. Granted, he is probably not going to want the Zombie Apocalypse Garden Gnomes, but they have a lot of iPhone and iPad accessories, desk/office stuff, and a lot of things related to coffee and bacon, which a lot of guys seem to like.

This is a nice side dish with roast beef or roasted chicken Roasted Fingerlings and Green Beans With Creamy Tarragon Dressing Makes: 4-6 servings Prep: 15 mins. Bake: 44 mins 1 ½ lb. fingerling potatoes* 1 ½ tbsp. olive oil, divided 1 tsp. salt divided ¾ tsp cracked pepper, divided ½ lb tiny green beans (haricots verts) Creamy tarragon dressing 1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut fingerlings in half lengthwise and place in a large bowl. Toss with 1 Tbsp olive oil, ½ tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper. Place potato halves, cut sides up, in a jelly-roll pan. Toss green beans with remaining ½ tbsp oil, ½ tsp. salt and ¼ tsp pepper and place in another jelly-roll pan. 2. Bake potatoes at 425 degrees for 30 to 32 minutes or until tender and browned. Remove from oven, and let potatoes stand in pan. 3. Bake green beans at 425 degrees for 12 min. 4. Arrange green beans round roasted potatoes on a serving platter. Drizzle with Creamy Tarragon Dressing. *1 ½ lb small red potatoes, halved may be substituted with a bake time of 35 minutes. 1 ½ russet potatoes, quarted may be substituted with a bake time of 40 minutes. Creamy Tarragon Dressing: Makes: about ¾ cup Prep: 10 Min ¼ cup buttermilk 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 1tsp sugar 1tsp Dijon style mustard ¾ salt ¼ tsp coarsely ground pepper ½ cup olive oil 2 tbsp finely chopped green onion 1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon 1. Whisk together first 6 ingredients in a small bowl until combined. Gradually whisk in olive oil in a slow steady stream whisking constantly until smooth. Whisk in green onion and tarragon. Use immediately or store in airtight container