Oh, what a wonderful treat to come home from vacation and read all about your September gardens and see all your gorgeous pics! It is really difficult to come back from a place as beautiful as Kauai and get into the usual grind of the every day routine stuff. But your words and pics are helping tremendously! And thanks so much for the nice compliments on my gardens. It's so nice to share them with others who appreciate all that goes into creating them. : ) The paint I used on the chair was Krylon Fusion plastic paint and the color is hyacinth blue. So far it does seem to be holding up well. I really love the color. It's the same color I used on the pond in the potager. It says it can be used on metal so I did just that. It hasn't peeled at all, and it is in strong direct sun all day. I've used a few other colors, too. This paint also has a comfortable spray nozzle, so your finger won't tire as quickly as it can from the old style nozzle. HTH! CMK, that pic of MS is from earlier this year. I have now shovel pruned her. I loved the color but the blooms were too clustered even for this floribunda fanatic. There were so many that most of them never opened fully. It was a good rose, other wise. I hope you have better luck. Libby, glad you liked the plumbago pic! I hope it comes back for me. It grows like a weed in most of So.Cal but I am colder up here so I'll just have to wait and see. I hope yours does well for you, too! Not that you need any more beauty in your gardens. I'm always so happy to see pics of what you have created over the years. : ) Diana

THANK YOU everybody for the wonderful pictures. Sometimes it is helpful to see 'real' shots from others to compare them with the website photos. I think all those are quite beautiful. Sorry 'Mapping New York' was a disappointment, Julia. I'll stay away from that one. I do really like that 'Cradle of Bethlehem', and 'Mapping Kentucky' really catches my eye. random harvest... do you by chance have a photo of 'Carolyn Hunt'? That was one that I had on my wishlist and almost ordered, and I'm still thinking about it. How does it bloom for you? Thanks again to all of you for sharing your photos with me! Celeste

1) Part of the country I live in: Florida 2) One quirky/odd/interesting/funny thing about where I live: People leave five open car lengths between them and going through a green light. Two cars get through. Everyone shops out of the middle of the isle. Very few people are from here. We can’t wait until the vacationers leave so we can get into our locals. 3) Two or three quirky things you do NOT know about me: What’s not quirky about me? I don’t like touching door handles going into business, restaurants ect. If I have to I use the up side of my left hand. I do not like it if someone wants to taste my drink. All I can think of is if they flossed or not or what they may have had in their mouth that is now floating around in my drink. I think men who spit in public should need a public stoning. 4) Any weird or funny phobia? No real phobias but I don’t particularly like spiders. 5) Two interesting/funny/ quirky things about my family: Everything my husband is good at I am not. Everything I am good at husband is not. It’s easy to figure out who gets what job during remodels. My husband smells and sniffs everything he puts on. I have two dogs a Rottweiler and Maltese. The Rottweiler thinks he’s a Maltese and the Maltese thinks she is a Rottweiler. All the women in my family are extremely strong willed. 6) Item and age of the oldest piece of clothing I still wear: Nothing I can think of except I collect vintage pins. My DH/SO/Family HATES this item that I love and refuse to get rid of: In my quest for an all-cotton, knee length sleeveless nightgown I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted so bought a Ralph Lauren loud floral print gown. I look like a clown in it but it’s cozy. I can’t recall exactly what he said but it wasn’t nice. He hates my stored paint and wants me to use the same color in every room to cut down of cans in the garage. He hates the tufted headboard I got at a garage sale. 8)Favorite thing to do when I have an hour or so free at home and no one around to bother me and no work. Well I haven’t had time due to renovations but in a few months I’ll have my very own room to sit and paint in. 9) If I could somehow have another career with, miraculously, the college or training already behind me, I would: I’m not sure I could pick one. There is so much to know and learn about with so many things. I enjoy anything creative. 10) If I could live anywhere in the world for 3 months among the locals (other than the country I currently live in now) I would love to live: I love Italy and south west England but am always glad to get back to America. 11) One last quirky thing about me: I am more of a man’s girl than a girl’s girl. But, I am better at being a girl’s girl now that I am older and have had more time to figure out the complexities of women… even though I am one. I still don’t get vagueness. I’m a visual learner.

No potty training going on here. There's three feet of snow out there. Even if I were to attempt I'm sure the puppy-wuppies would be most unhappy...too unhappy to do their business, you know? They are Bearded Collie dogs. Tuffy is part Bearded Collie. Gabby's mother was Tuffy's full sister so Gabby is 1/4 bearded collie. Gabby is Mom to the puppies. Daddy to the Puppies is Whiskers. He and Tuffy are full brother and sister. These puppies are especially special Bearded Collies because their grandpa times three? four? was a famous Rodeo Dog named Hairy the Rodeo Dog. (this is a Dave Stoeklein photo). Harry traveled all over Idaho, Utah and Wyoming with a rodeo company. I can track these puppies back three generations. I know where they came from. My Dad had Harry's daughter, Top. Top was bred to a border collie named Tip and they had, among others, Tuffy, Afton (Gabby's Mom) and Whiskers. Cool, no? Holly AKA Achmed the Terrorist AKA Holbert AKA Holly Buns can't stand the puppies. She is certain they are taking her rightful place in the family and nothing I say will convince her otherwise. She is very jealous and somewhat afraid of them. Ruby doesn't care one way or another as long as she has her heating pads and a scoop of catfood with her senior citizens chow every day. I got Ruby the same day Jesse started first grade. Jesse is almost twenty one now and was six at the time. Ruby is almost fifteen years old. I keep waiting for her to go downhill but she's kind of at a plateau. In fact, I've justified getting the last three dogs on the basis that 'Ruby is getting old and will be passing away soon...' She's sure fooled me, huh? She also loves her ball, the front deck in the morning and barking at birds.She especially hates the ugly black birds that fly in and steal her dog food from her dish. Someday she WILL catch one and then they'll be sorry! She is a happy dog. Incontinent but happy. So happy she sometimes does not know the cats are sharing her heating pad. We don't tell her when this happens as it would upset her because, you see, she really doesn't like cats. LOL Lori