Olga's roses are magazine worthy! I work at a greenhouse and nursery so I get TONS of stuff like that, especially because I'm one of the younger members of the greenhouse staff, some of the older customers totally butt heads on what I suggest to them. When I told a woman that rosemary wasn't hardy to overwinter in our area, some might be marginal towards the city, but nevertheless I was telling her about bringing it inside if she wanted to keep it- good harmless advice, but she insisted that she's had hers survive and make bushes here. I asked her if she had big bushes of it planted in her yard then and she said she didn't know where they were and that I didn't know my roseMARIE (her own pronunciation!) She was probably in her mid to late sixties- I was unsure. I had another person today claim she took care of her geranium hanging basket and watered it EVERY day, which is why of course it was bone dry, practically leafless, and she was returning it- but noooo she said it was diseased from the start and insisted that the Japanese beetles ( I showed her the beetle damage and talked about nitrogen rich plant food to fix it) MUST have came in on the plant and all her other plants started looking bad after she brought it home, which of course was July, when the beetles come out. Possible, but sketchy with the disease thing. I asked if she deadheaded the flowers, she somewhat answered but in general didn't know what it was. She got out the receipt but then wouldn't give it to us because " It was wrong, her husband grabbed the wrong one". Anyway I found at least ten dead Japanese beetles in the bottom of the planter- if she had watered she would have seen those buggers chomping on the leaves- excuse my language ladies but this lady ( I want to say rich b*tch because she complained about having come from a hot and strenuous tennis lesson- but that doesn't justify income or snobbery) was just flat out lying to get her twenty dollars back! Normally we wouldn't accept it, but being a gentleman I said to the cashier girl to refund it because I was getting annoyed with her intolerance and I didn't want to start gritting my teeth or argue because that's not polite and you don't do that with customers. I know people want plants and shrubs and all, but why stay so ignorant about them? It seems there is this abstraction people take with plants that just make them so black and white and set in stone, like the image of the ideal hybrid tea, they are a certain way and it doesn't change. A flower's a flower, give me one that I can't kill. Oh well, a bit of a tangent, but people like that make me a bit mad. - Max ( who would have a yard full of rosemary if it was possible)

I'm going to keep the pointy end heading the same (sorry, that's boater's venacular) for a minute. Americans desire for "perfect" looking food is also partly what's driving the heavy use of pesticides & herbicides. Americans are consumed with "looks" over substance. Farmers use more & more 'cides to create prettier products. They plant seeds that ship easier & stay looking pretty over those that taste good and, maybe, even offer better nutrition. Sure, there are also economical benefits to the 'cides mass agri-business uses such as more product per acre but we can't lay ALL THE BLAME of those awful strawberries on them. We want inexpensive, plentiful, & pretty food but we, in general, are unwilling to pay for the quality we expect. It's a vicious cycle. We decide we're going to eat local & organic. So, off we go to the farmer's market. Hmmm, the organic apple doesn't look pretty & is smaller than the apples at the other non-organic stand plus it's half the price. Which do we purchase? Pretty? Healthy? We each choose. My two local grocery stores do not offer bruised produce. It is thrown away in black bags as shown in the video. Heck, here there's not even a "mark down" meat section like I've read others describe here on the forum. If it's pulled from the shelves - it's trash, period. We live with the sea every day. We are long distance, deep water boaters. We are fisherman. It's ridiculous to say that a lobster MUST be alive at the time of cooking to be safe to eat. But, since most Americans do not have much hands-on experience with seafood...it's good advice to follow. Lobster spoils very rapidly after death & the ensuing bacteria build-up can make you ill. But, I assure you, if something goes wrong in emptying one of our traps & a lobster dies - we do not feed it to the gulls. We'd be rightly laughed out of town if we suggested such a thing. That's waste - pure & simple. But, when I lived in Denver there was no way I'd purchase a dead lobster because I had no personal way of knowing when death occured. In general, IMO, a lobster's good for a day properly refrigerated. Some will still cook at two days but I've got a compromised immune system so am persnickity. If a fresh fish smells like ammonia it's probably starting to rot. As with most things, there are exceptions. (Skate being one.) But, again, it's good general practice to not eat fish that's starting to smell of ammonia. Should smell slightly briney, like the sea. If DH brought home fish yesterday, or the day before, & it had a slight aroma - would I still cook it? Yes, & I'd do as John has suggested - wash it in lemon juice. It's surface bacteria. BUT, I know exactly when, where, etc. that fish was caught, how it was cleaned, how it was held, & how it was stored. Makes a big difference. And I still say that everybody that owns a home should have a compost pile to avoid waste even if the resulting compost is used on the roses instead of a veggie garden. Recycling rotted produce from the refrigerator to the earth is the environmentally sound thing to do. Also, if every year you top off your gardens with 4-6" of leaf mould, compost, & manure you will not need to purchase/use commercial fertilizers except for pots. You'll have less garbage that needs hauling away, the city trucks will use less gas, & you won't need to buy as many bags. Win-win. :) Sorry 'bout the compost lecture but it's something I believe most Americans can easily do & don't. /tricia

Recently, I had a custom-made entertainment center built in for my family room. I used the same cabinet maker who made the cabinets for my kitchen. I'm still researching seating options to replace my aging couches. My room is smaller than yours, 13' x 15'. As part of the remodel, I removed a wood-burning fp from a corner of the room. I had planned to replace it with a linear, direct-vent fp under the TV, but omitted the fp. Direct-vent needs no flue or chimney, but it does need to vent to the outside. Here are some inspiration photos with a linear fp. Layout below has 2 chairs on the window wall. TV, fp, and matching bookcases on long wall. 2 floating couches. I think the TV is too high, but there is storage space and seating is a comfortable viewing distance from the TV. Layout below has 2 chairs on the window wall, TV on the left, short wall, and 2 floating couches. But that would leave you with one long empty wall. Sectional with fireplace, TV, and one bookcase on long wall Below, the TV and fireplace are on the same wall, but separated. Not much storage in this one. I decided to go with a layout similar to the one below - without a fireplace under the TV. You may have enough room for something like this layout below. I' don't like seeing the back of a couch when I enter a room - but I think it looks OK if there's a sofa table behind the couch.

Rita, you're too kind as you're always are..thank you so much! the pics are awful the more I look at them lol. well in my defence it's really hard to take good pics unless there's plenty of natural light..and somebody else is taking them:) Who knows better. We just moved in then(the pics taken within first week or two of us in..we had guests coming 9 days after we moved. Guests are my sacred cows.), Obviously more lived in now. We managed to clean the laptop memory some, so i might be able to show you new art, at some point. I'm torn as to where to put it. I'm torn between my initial plan and better balance-and egocentrical needs of me seeing art better from where i usually see it. Lol. The mistakes still stay mistakes though. We didn't get to remedy anything yet. The hardscaping/landscaping of the backyard..still awaits. But we put in one more arch(lol. my DH couldn't live without it) and finally installed back door closet. My friend took pics of the house for her photo business but she was very fascinated with details, I thought she's gonna take these wide lens pics like real estate photographers- but she was so much into books and lights and art and compositions of sorts. Her photos are hundred times better. I think I posted some of hers here and there. They're just a very different approach of showing space. She didn't care about capturing shower niches lol. She has Instagram. And artistic vision. And great camera and knowledge how to use it. While I have you guys:) And strange abilty to write long posts. If I leave a message on somebody's phone it's also painful. (I'm the best when I have someting like flu btw. I get short, clear, and to the point. Going to the job interview when I had a fever practically used to be a guarantee of me getting the job))