Dave, Thanks for your comments. Your garden inspires me a lot. You explained last year how to order larger conifers the year before planting. I am also retired. Thanks for your encouraging comments in respect to 'Pendula Bruns' and rootball. I recently planted a cornus kousa and a crabapple with rootballs, they are doing very well. The other conifer I ordered is a 5 ft Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Confucious'. Both will replace a large globular Ch.obtusa and an overgrown Canadian hemlock at one corner of my house. Perhaps you can explain to me why your Ch.o. 'Aurea' is so slender, did it get continuously pruned at the nursery? Looking at the Iseli catalog it is classified as upright broad and large, and the picture there shows it as such. I must say that the 'Top Point' had some gnarly upper roots when I received it. Sorry that I did not clean and stretch those roots before planting. It has now somewhat bare branches, except for all those blue berry-like cones. Perhaps just before dying it decided to get a lot of offspring. The new 3-4 ft Cupr.nootk.'Van den Akker' which I am nursing back to life lost also half its leaves, but has now a little new growth and new small white roots when I checked. There also I did not clean out the roots before planting, but it was so hot then. Yes, I am prepared for winter. I also have anti-rabbit chicken-wire around the smaller new conifers which I will fill with coarse bark since the ground is frozen now. All of the new conifers came from the balmy PNW and have to survive their first -20F winter, need some help. Continue to have fun! Bernd

Okay- let's talk bedding. I have spent hours searching (online and in stores) and I keep coming back to the RH bedding. So I went back to my store today. They were out of about half of what I needed and wanted so I ordered it (w/ free shipping) and I should have it ALL by the end of the week. Here is what I decided on. 1 King Duvet Cover in the 18th Century Medallion (in link above.) Pacific, so it does have a hint of blue. 2 Matelasse King Euro Shams in Fog (also linked above) 2 Lumbar "accent pillows" in cashmere.. one for each sham. I brought home 2 colors- a gray and an icy blue and need to choose. 1 Matelasse coverlet to act as a blanket- will be between the duvet cover and sheets. ***bought in Eucalyptus which is an icy blue color. The salesman talked me into this and I an really second guessing this for 2 reasons. #1- $179 is a LOT of money for a blanket that might not been seen. I could find a blanket at HomeGoods for $39 that would be fine. #2- *if* I stick w/ it, should I exchange it for Fog (color) so it matches the shams?? I really like the pop of color, but let's say, in the summer time, I decide to let the coverlet show more... wouldn't I want it to match the shams? Or am I trying to be too matchy-matchy??? (a problem of mine.) Wdyt??? Solid choices? I do need to get a king, light weight duvet on order. Any recs? I will go ahead and link the Matelasse coverlet again... *if* I keep the coverlet, should I switch to Fog? wdyt? thanks! Here is a link that might be useful: RH Matelasse

jaymaneul: Honestly, I would not use Gibbens Pools again and I would not recommend them at this time. We signed our contract in February and we are still not finished. We were told 6-8 weeks completion time from the time we signed and we are still waiting for the pool to be complete. We had to get the pool replastered due to color discrepancies. They finished it this past week and although it looks fantastic, there are two areas where water sat in the shallow end/dripped down the walls(didn't blow out the skimmer equalizer line) as the pool was filling up, leaving unsightly discolorations. Gibbens has not addressed this issue yet. Working with Gibbens has been an uphill battle. Their subs (other than the plasterers) have been nothing but excellent, but dealing with the owners of the company has been like talking to a brick wall (Gibbens subs everything out, btw). Our pool will be great once the issues are worked out, but working them out is taking forever. Example: when they shot the pool, the gunite overspray got over everything, most importantly our black, iron fence. We called the company the following day to let them know. They said it would be cleaned. This was in March. To this day, we still have gunite all over the fence. After talking to a fence installer, he said that the fence will have to be replaced. It seems as if they ignore the problem, it will just go away (the sheer descent wall was the same way). I can tell you from talking to the subs, that we are not the only ones that seem to have difficulty with this company. Maybe not to the extreme we are experiencing, but a majority of the complaints from other pool owners is the amount of time it takes to complete the pool. As for your contract, Gibbens (as many construction type businesses) uses a typical 'builder's contract'. Essentially, it is a contract written in their favor. Many builders (home, pool, etc) expect a bonus if they complete a project before the deadline, esp. if you stipulate a penalty clause (I doubt Gibbens, or any other pool company, would go for that type of contract). I don't want to harp on the negatives too much, because when it is all said and done, we will have a gorgeous, well built pool (thanks to the subs). Likewise, there are two sides to every story, and I'm obviously biased. If you need any additional info, let me know. Good luck with pool build.

Linda, thanks for fixing the link. I just couldn't work out how to do it. Glad you liked the pictures. I took about 1700 altogether, so had to pick a good mix. Just in case you haven't had enough (lol) I just added some more - I think they have come up at the beginning of the album. Hi Alisande, the Abbey dates from the latter half of the 12th century and the burial site from 1607. Many of the gravestones are unreadable but there are some local family burials right to the last few years. When I went in spring it was beautiful with daffodils growing everywhere. I have a a few more old graveyard ones which I will upload and show soon if you like. I enjoy old cemeteries and wandered in many while I was there looking for my Dad's family. I made a mistake - the Abbey is at Dundrennan in Galloway, not Ayrshire. June, I have to say that the food was quite a mix. I was on a budget as far as food went and because I was on my own, did not go out at night much. I mostly picked up sandwiches, fruit and soup, plus cheap meals at one of the department store chains. I bought a thermos flask for the 3 weeks I hired cars and drank coffee and ate snacks, including lots of chocolate. In Edinburgh, I treated myself to a nice hotel room and enjoyed room service meals that were good. One really cold day, I found a really tasty curry and sat near a loch where there was not another person in sight. Bliss. The low point was a deep-fried meat pie in Edinburgh. Pure grease. We Aussies love our meat pies but they are baked pastry, not baked and then deep fried. Really, really yukky!! I did have an incredible lemon tart at the Edinburgh hotel later that night which made me feel better. I love the colder weather and made a point of travelling before the tourist season began - April and early May, so was able to find B & B and guest house accommodation easily and relatively cheaply. Some highs and lows. I only booked my first two nights and last one before I left home. It was a real leap of faith to prove to myself that I could do things by myself. Still haven't worked up the courage to eat a meal in a restaurant alone but will do it one day. I would recommend Scotland to anyone who loves history and scenery. The driving was very easy - of course they drive on the same side of the road as me which helps. I am thrilled that people like the pictures. Beth