Fascinating to read in the article you linked to, Anna-Lyssa, how researchers scientifically measure the scents within and around flowers. The variations in results referred to suggest to me that the variations that rose growers report in how they experience a particular rose's scent may not be always necessarily due to different clones of the plant or to differences in the person's capacity to smell, but to external factors too, such as regional differences, including the effect of different soils, climates and microclimates and other very specific localised conditions. Maybe this is related to the concept of 'terroir' in wine grape growing, where the flavour of a finished single-variety wine can be greatly influenced by the soil and location in which the vines grew; even whether they were on, for example, the southern slope or the eastern flat of one particular field!

Congratulations, campanula. One thing is certain, your grandchild will never have a boring grandmother - I think you'll make many wonderful memories for her/him. I can already see a little person with his own tiny plot in granny's allotment. Sherry, I think you've wonderfully described the roller coaster nature of gardening. Recent experience: Great joy in the morning when Mme. Lambard, that I've been babying for ages with little success, is putting out lovely little new leaves and I can finally say it's going to be okay. In the late afternoon I'm as close to tears as I've ever been about a rose when I see that rabbits have almost completely denuded said rose. It now sits behind a barrier at least a foot high of viciously thorned rose canes that I cut off neighboring Glamis Castle that I've grown to dislike. There are a hundred examples such as you've named where we don't know what to do or how to feel because the darned things are not behaving as WE want. Celine Forestier is almost completely denuded of leaves and Reve d'Or ain't far behind. Souvenir d'un Ami on the other hand looked more beautiful than I'd ever seen it last week and now is merely okay. Can't even look at the back garden because every $#@^% band/small rose is surrounded by a circle of thorns. Marie van Houtte is a big (actually small) nothing after three years in the ground and will have to be moved. The SdlM in that area is a stick with five leaves. Thank goodness the one on the other side of the house is growing and blooming nicely. I can't call the garden a success or a failure at any time because it always seems to be both. As I keep discarding roses (giving them to a friend who's starting her own rose garden from my rejects), the prospect of having a mature rose garden retreats further and further into the future. The successes (or possible future successes) are always enough to keep me hooked on this game that I suspect I'm never going to win. And yet, and yet, there are days or moments (not so much at this time of the year but still remembered from last spring) when there is such beauty and perfection that it takes my breath away. Even now after the sun has gone down and the waning daylight is kind to all the imperfections, I feel so blessed and proud that this is my garden, that this is all perfect even with its many imperfections. The roses have their own lives to live and they get on with it according to their own timetables and needs; my wishes sometimes fall in with theirs and they'll allow me to guide them a little too, but often I'm just a lucky bystander who witnesses the process - and thinks it's wonderful.

Orchid, we've owned many mazdas (we being he and I when was married). Daddy loves them too. Great cars. The current car is a Miata. I have loved that gal to death! It's one of the reasons I haven't let go. I say she's better than therapy. Toss the top down and off we go. Ah. My friend and I fight over whether your hair is supposed to whip wildly in the wind (me!) or you should wear a ball cap (him, in his saab), but whichever you pick, a convertible is just fun. Even being a girly girl, I have no qualms about pulling out the brush at the end of the ride. Lucky I have straight hair, that may help keep it reasonable. chi, I totally agree with you. I think most of us buy a car outside of our financial grasp. My car payment (not gas, insurance, upkeep) was something like $300 a month and that was 23 years ago. Why? I hadn't paid off the Eclipse before trading. I learned the very hard way, car payments are killer. I've told my son, instead, save what you'd pay in payments until you have enough for the car. Why didn't anyone tell me that at 14 years old (or to begin saving at 8 years old)? Maybe I'd never have had car payments, but then again, maybe I would've. He won't. He likes riding the bus. He can read, play games on his tablet, and save his bucks. I'd ride the bus except it's really hard to get errands run without a car. Grocery shopping especially!

Hard to tell. We have a saying in science testing, "Association does not prove causation." It could be due to the jab, it could just be a coincidence. Really hard to tell. Cycles can become unpredictable for a whole host of reasons. I suffered from massive cramps all my life, tried a LOT of techniques to influence them being less. The only thing that worked was a lot of exercise and I couldn't manage to keep that up all my life. I did note that going on and off the pill seemed to influence it, a side effect not noted in a lot of the literature about birth control pills. I had much milder symptoms while on the pill, in fact barely there, but they came RAGING back after I went off it. You're following the prudent thing to do and checking with your doctor to see if there are any other underlying issues you need to address.