Love your picture, Marianne. I gardened with perennials for years but often included a couple HTs. They never did well in my garden--BS magnets from my local garden center which did not carry any other type of rose, much less BS resistant roses. Years later when I decided I was going to grow lots and lots of roses, I can't even tell you where that idea came from--but not long after that I discovered old roses and Austin roses in one of the nursery catalogs and ordered a couple. Then I started receiving David Austin catalogs and of course went absolutely nuts over his roses. As my gardens transitioned from mostly perennials to about 2/3s roses, it was Austins and modern shrubs and floribundas that prevailed. Then I started adding a few minis and hybrid musks--but one day woke up and discovered that I missed those big big show blooms of the HTs. So I picked two spots in the gardens for HTs, but picked more wisely this time around (some BS resistance required!). So I circled around also. At this point in time, some 30+ years of gardening later, I have roughly 1/3 HTs and floribundas, 1/3 Austins and modern shrubs, and 1/3 older type roses (hybrid musks, Bourbons, polyanthas, etc.--it's a bit too cold here for some of the really wonderful Old Roses I wish I could grow). Oh yes, a number of minis also, so I guess my "thirds" doesn't quite work out, does it. LOL My point is that I have a fairly balanced number of roses from several different groups of roses. I like having a bit of each. Kate

Did you used to be a big bread eater? I have noticed my desire for bread has gone up, while my desire for pasta has gone down. Also, I want more fruit when before I couldn't be bothered with fruit. It's the processed foods, or restaurant foods that don't appeal to me the most. I looked up the calorie count today for the restaurant I went to last night and their salad has 120 calories. For a little tiny salad made of iceberg lettuce and not much more. Covered in fat free dressing. And the meal that I could have/would have eaten? 1040 calories. Combine that with the dessert at 180 calories and the wine I would have drunk ordinarily at 120 or so and my total calorie count for one meal would have been way over my daily allowance!!! Is it perhaps the richness of the food that's turning my stomach?

Studies have shown a great many home refrigerators' temperature are way off. Too warm. I wonder if that's not a large part of it, plus the coating mix. I don't really love chicken but I do roast one about every 6 weeks, primarily for stock, and I don't find that it tastes much different the next day or two. But I also don't like white meat, so that often goes into a chicken curry salad or something. But I have to say that even when I was on Dr. Pat's diet for a while, I broiled the chicken breasts for four days at a time, and they were just about the same on day four as on day 1, even if I got lazy and micro-ed them. My fridge is stuck at 34º, so maybe that helps, and I store in glasslock. I do usually buy Murray's chicken, for whatever that's worth.

White oak is one of the woods that will oxidize to black given enough time and air exposure. (can't speak to red oak...) But if you keep the air away, like under a finish, then it keeps a very consistent color longer. Oak is not prone to sun-darkening as cherry is famous for doing. The finish on the wood can change color. Oil varnish is noteworthy for yellowing(ambering?) and old-formula lacquers would often go greenish. I finished my own white oak cabinets, and used pore filler, gel stain, shellac, and a single wiped-on top coat of gel varnish for wear. This was done in 2006 and I can't say I detect any darkening yet. Casey