Patrick, What a wonderful gift to your mother and sister, and loving tribute to your late dad! It's one thing to dream up a grand project like that, and quite another to labour at it month after month, as you have done. And you have such good taste! Your lyrical descriptions have sustained me while waiting for my first Molineux buds to open, and I have saved for reference your treatise on fragrant roses. You are so right about The McCartney Rose, it's a monster! I hope you will not regard it as bad etiquette to add pictures to your post, but I would like to dedicate these photos of McCartney to your huge heart and enterprise. This plant has been in the ground since 2005, I can't imagine what your mum's bush was like! And a close-up of those amazing blooms: I would love to see what you have done there and also with your own garden creation. Do hurry up and post pictures! MayBee

Susan, I love your light stand and always will love it. I realize it was the best solution for you, but if I told Tim I wanted to buy one of those, he'd hand me a hammer and tell me to build my own....which is why I have the one that I have. : ) Mine is hidden away out of sight in a room where guests rarely venture, although anyone who knows me and who knows I raise my own seedlings always asks to go upstairs and see it in the spring. So much for putting it out of sight....I just should have set it up in the dining room or breakfast room or something.... I am sure you'll be deliriously happy with it and will have many wonder seed-starting adventures and I look forward to hearing all about them. I think you got a great deal considering it was Gardener's Supply. I never buy anything of theirs for full price. They have sales often enough (and especially in November when, I think, some of us gardeners are shopping for ourselves) that a person can be patient and get a good price during their periodic sales. I've noticed that prices often are not as good in December when gardeners' spouses or family members are doing what I call "panic Christmas buying" and cannot afford, time-wise, to wait for a sale. I don't think you were repetitive at all. The more we all share about what we do, how we do it and why we do it (as well as pointing out what didn't work for us!), the better for all of us to learn from one another's experiences! Carol, Our weather is just like yours. Our high was 70 degrees yesterday and it was so gorgeous outside I could hardly stand it. I wanted to jump up and down and scream "Spring Is Here!". That was exacerbated by the smell of the orange blossoms on my little orange tree. However, I controlled myself because I knew it was a false spring and that winter was returning today. It was 56 degrees around 7 a.m. here at our house and now it is 36 degrees and we have had very, very light rain but lots of thunder. Phooey on winter! I think you showed those folks at the co-op that one benefit of being a gardener is that it keeps your muscles and joints strong, healthy and fit. I'd rather "work out" in the garden any day, than walk on the treadmill or work out on the weight machine. Who wouldn't? Trees, Nope, sorry, I just haven't gotten to it. I am trying. Watch for it in a couple of hours or in the morning. I'm about to start typing mow after I close up the chicken coops, put out the deer corn for my favorite deer, refill the bird feeders (those little birdies are eating nonstop today trying to stay warm), etc. I'm kind of dreading going out into the cold wind but I need to do it now before it gets dark. I have to warn you that I don't use the same planting schemes every year because I don't want to get stuck in a rut, but I'll try to mention some of the planting schemes in my usual rotation. Dawn

DLM, I could not agree more about many parents not being good examples and failing to teaching their children even the basics of fiscal responsibility. I recently retired from teaching high school where last year a new initiative introduced a course in personal finance to all freshmen. The administration was aware that few of our students had the opportunity to learn the basics at home, which became apparent by the number of students who could not pay for driver's education. The school worked hard to assist students in finding part-time jobs and cooperative education, both essential to a mostly immigrant, low-income population. This article came across my news feed yesterday: How does your 401K balance stack up? The key is to fund your 401K as soon as you start working. "Save early, often, and aggressively". It is shocking how many people approaching retirement are not prepared financially. Young people must take advantage of time and compounding to be able to be financially secure retirement age. Yes, that often means delayed gratification, not buying unnecessary items, vacations, etc., living within ones means, judicious use of credit so as not to incur finance charges, obtaining advanced degrees and certifications for career growth. There is no need for a financial adviser at the early stages of investing. In fact, it would be a waste of money. Professionals come into play later with a larger nest egg, homes, saving for children's needs etc. Your relative must trust you DLM. I'm sure you have been a good role model!

So for cups I had these nice 6 oz. hot/cold cups in solid colors, lots of different ones like a rainbow, no handles so like they use in Japan. Left over from our wedding reception. They were great, perfect for this application. I could also at some point get some plain white ones and have the kids decorate them, but that wasn't that important for the experience this time. I brought the tea already brewed because I was doing the activity as a station in a gym so couldn't figure out how to easily and safely heat the water. Now I'm thinking that my activity kit for this could include a large colorful electric tea kettle to be used for heating water and then some colorful teapots. I was doing an herb theme this time, but long term I'm thinking that regular ol' tea might go over better. I put a healthy amount of sugar in all the tea choices. Maybe next time if they brew it, I can give them some individual tastes and they can make their own mixed tissane bag to take home. Some of the kids already wanted to try and mix a combo of the three I had available. I'm going to keep experimenting to find the most kid-friendly herbal mixes. I grew up on black tea with sugar and cream and loved it. Took me a while as an adult to adjust to tea without sugar and milk. I love almost any type of tea now. My folks did not worry about the caffeine, but then I only drank one teacup back as a kid, and no later than afternoon. As a kid growing up in the 60s, I also visited homes of many friends who drank caffeinated iced tea with dinner. However, if I did this for a public group I would use decaffeinated.