Thank you both for the warm wishes. I wished Brian a happy birthday from everyone. We really didn't have a lot of plans made. It's so rare that we get time together that we sort of lived it up the last time the kids went away for a few days. We basically spent the entire day sleeping and watching TV. We did grill some nice fat steaks though which sure did beat eating out. Little did we know how much we would need that rest come Saturday. We actually ended up having to drive to Georgia to go pick the kids up. It's supposed to be a 3.5 hour drive but apparently there was a wreck on our way there. I never saw evidence of a wreck but needless to say we left at 1pm and didn't get there until almost 8pm. There were people all along the road overheated and broke down from waiting in the traffic. Our car has a radiator leak in it and I was certain we were next. BLAH? Anyway, fortunately we got through it with the heat blaring uneventfully and at least we got to laze around the Chattahoochee for a while afterward and I officially saw my sister off. She will be going to China in a week so this will be the last time I see her for at least six months. As far as kids and school goes, I home school so we just finished testing and I have to send their tests in this week. Not quite uneventful this time of year but I am happy to not have to attend open houses and all of the other complexities of starting public school. I think I would go into sensory overload. I admire those who can deal with it heh. ANYWAY..(babble babble) I went ahead and dug up a few of those sunflowers tonight and I'll get that dusty miller out of the ground tomorrow sometime. They will be in the dirt they were planted in which is our marvelous Carolina clay but they both grow magnificently in it. I'll have to go through my emails. I think I am suppose to bring you some other stuff and I'll make sure to get that together as well. Fran - They are calling for it to rain all week.. not that what they call for makes a difference here lately but... whenever you'd like to stop by and get a piece you are welcome. I'm best after 5pm haha. You are close enough to me though that you'd probably do better getting some in the spring. I have little pieces to share here and there right now but in the spring I usually ditch a whole bunch of it while thinning it out and moving it around. With as big as my yard is, it really isn't cultivated enough to move much around and I don't want it in the big flower bed anymore so I pass it along in huge clumps to anyone who will take it.

Don't be concerned with this leaf color thing, It happens as the plant grows. And boy does it grow! Watch out. On the dry plains of Kansas the species behaves itself, for lack of moisture. But move the plant to an area with 40 inches of precip (such as here in Ohio) and the plant explodes in giant colonies the chemically overtake everything that surrounds it. Like most perennial sunflowers, Maximillian's is strongly allelopathic, meaning that it produces plant-killing chemicals in its leaves and stems. Unless forceably restrained, the plant can take over an area with moderate to high moisture. Watch out. In a year or two, you may not be so excited by this aggressive plant.

It is amazing that you already had ALL of those beautiful, unusual pieces for such a spectacular tablescape!! I keep scrolling back up to admire everything. The apple tree is 'the icing on the cake AND the cherry on top'! Tell DD and DH to use their imagination. There have been a lot of early frosts and the trees are losing their leaves earlier this year. So there! Huh! How do they like those apples!!! My DS came into my room just now before leaving for school and I was showing him your table and telling him that for some reason those Franciscan dishes remind me of the Desert Rose dishes that I have been gathering for a future tablescape. I even got a bowl out of my china cabinet to show him. I looked on the bottom and what was written there? Franciscan! DUH!! After dinner last night,(when my belly was full), I couldn't see the pics of most of your food for some reason. This morning with my empty growling stomach, they are there in all of their glory making me STARVE!!!!! Betty

Thats interesting about the Great Lakes area being dryer, El Nino means warmer and wetter here and they have been describing this one as the El Nino to dwarf all previous El Nino's. Warmer = too warm to get snow but perfect conditions for rain which means high probability for ice. We already had a doozy ice storm, it looks like a war zone around the city. Just one degree made the difference. If we'd stayed at 33 all would have been fine but no, we dropped to 32. Worst of all, the trees were still covered in leaves so the extra weight really added to the disaster. We had no power for two days, widespread outages all over the city and they are still working on it along with tree trimming and removal. We haven't had a really hard freeze yet. I have zinnias still blooming among other plants. Today is mid 70's. Tom, you ought to see the Callery Pear trees right now and hear stories on the local news of people saying how sad it is to loose such a wonderful tree. A great many of the poor things just ripped completely in half straight down the main trunk all the way to the ground, others simply dropped all their major branches and only the trunks are left with maybe a branch trying to hold on here and there.