Well I actually requested that my library buy it and now I have a copy in hand that they purchased at my request. :) It's a well done book and covers a wide range of flowers but for me it doesn't go into enough depth. Specialty Cut Flowers by Armitage and Laushman is much more useful for me as a grower. I think that Cut Flowers of the World would be most useful to florists or individuals who are mostly interested in floral arranging rather than floriculture. I've included a link to a photo of two facing pages so that others can see a typical example of the format of this book. There are about 40 pages on care and handling of cut flowers (only 6 pages on cultivation and harvest) and then 329 encyclopedic pages in the format shown in my photo. It is nice to have good quality photo examples of the flowers but as a grower I also need in depth species specific information on production and harvest. Here is a link that might be useful: Cut Flowers of the World Example Pages

I checked some of the recipes posted at various sites online. Her canned tuna does call for pressure canning. However, the tuna is topped with olive oil; the canner is vented "7-10 minutes", not 10 as now required, and no wait time is mentioned at the end of processing. I also found a recipe for "canned" stuffed peppers blanched in wine vinegar and water, stuffed with a bread crumb mixture, then packed into jars, covered with the cooking solution, topped off with olive oil and stored on the shelf. No processing. Here's another of her recipes, posted at Serious Eats. Marinated Baby Artichokes - makes 4 pints - Adapted from by Well-Preserved by Eugenia Bone. Ingredients 48 baby artichokes (about 6 pounds) 1 cup bottled lemon juice 2 cups white wine vinegar with 5% acidity 1 cup olive oil 2 garlic cloves, sliced (about 1 tablespoon) 2 teaspoons salt 2 bay leaves Procedure 1. Remove the tough outer leaves of the artichokes, reducing the volume of the vegetable by half, until each artichoke has the shape of a tear drop or candle flame, is pale pale green to yellow, and is soft to the touch. With a pairing knife, trim the base, removing all the rough surfaces. Cut the artichokes in half and pluck out any thistly interior leaves. 2. In a large nonreactive pot, combine lemon juice, vinegar, oil, garlic, salt, and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Add the artichokes and boil for 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves. 3. Have ready 4 scalded pint jars and their bands. (To scald, simply dip the jars in boiling water. You don't need to sterilize the jars, as you will be processing them for over 10 minutes.) Simmer the lids in a small pan of hot water, to soften the rubberized flange. When the jars are dry but still hot, remove the artichokes from the marinade with a slotted spoon and pack them into the jars, filling the jars about three-quarters full. Resist the temptation to overpack or you will compromise your seal. Cover the artichokes with the marinade, distributing the garlic evenly and leaving 1/2 to 3/4 inch of headspace. Wipe the rims, set on the lids, and screw on the bands fingertip tight. 4. Place the jars in a pot fitted with a rack and add enough water to cover the jars by 3 inches. Cover the pot and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Process the artichokes for 25 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the lid. After a few minutes remove the artichokes. 5. Allow the jars to cool completely before checking the seals. Allow the artichokes to season for 2 weeks before using, after which they'll keep in a cool, dark place for about a year. Once opened, keep in the refrigerator. In this case it looks like she's emulating the recipe from Colorado State Extension for Marinated Peppers, but whether it was tested with artichokes before publication I do not know. Her recipes sound excellent and I would consider buying the book but I would ignore all canning instructions (with the possible exception of sweet preserves) and treat it like any other recipe book. There's a reason why 1 in 4 Americans get food poisoning every year. Carol

Thank you for you wonderfully kind thoughts. Good idea, Tina, to try and get back once more and by myself. I'll definitely think seriously about that. Although we had a wonderful 10 day visit with my parents and family, both the flights there and back were absolute nightmares. Outbound, baggage was so unusually incredibly slow that, despite getting there at the recommended time, we missed our flight. So instead of departing at 6:30AM and arriving in Detroit at (approx.) 3:20PM with a stopover in Denver, we had a 3 hour delay in Albuquerque, then a flight to Las Vegas. A 4-hour wait there before a flight to Atlanta. Another wait there and then a flight to Detroit. We arrived around 12:30AM and after picking up our rental car and baggage, arrived at my sister's home at 2:20AM. Ugh!!! On the flight back, we were so paranoid about baggage check-in, we arrived 3 hours early . . . only to be told that our flight had just been cancelled! DH had a full schedule of patients booked the next day and was able to get the last seat on a flight that got him home here around 12:30AM the next day. The airlines sent DD & I to a hotel for the night and we were booked on the 6:35AM flight out that next morning. The hotel shuttle picked us up and delivered us to the worst hotel I've ever been in in my entire life. It looked perfectly fine from the outside, although more like a souped up motel with a big, new entrance.Three guys lounging in the lobby looked like pimps. They were obviously not guests. The room was dark, dirty and dank. My daughter's bed looked like it had a large area of dried urine on the top sheet. The table and nightstands were greasy. And one entire wall of the room was a plate glass window that looked out onto the deserted hallway. There was a heavy, dark, dusty, rubber-backed curtain across the wall, but would not close all the way. That was the only window in the room. The door locks did not work properly and we could easily hear the tv in the next room. We were out of there quickly, with me in tears by then, calling a nearby hotel and begging them to come and rescue us. They did and had their shuttle there within 5 minutes (bless them!). As our new shuttle driver was loading up our baggage, 3 very emaciated, disheveled young persons (early twenties), 2 of which had the black front teeth of major drug users and were obviously on some kind of drugs then, were holding on to each other , weaving into the hotel as we sat in the van watching them! Our driver just shook his head and said that "they should shut this place down"! I am not going to mention the airlines or the "hotel", as I'm already in discussions with the airlines CEO about it. As for the "hotel", his people are looking into that as well. I had nightmares for 5 days straight about that place! Soooo, that's my long, and hopefully somewhat entertaining saga about our trip last month. I'm still thinking about flying back again later this Summer . . . but probably on tranquilizers! (Edited for typos and to add:) And when we finally arrived back home here, I found a couple live bedbugs in the outside pocket of my suitcase! That was an additional nightmare I had to deal with for days after.

I saw this article JUST before I went to Ikea, with the intent of buying a black countertop (which I hated when I saw it, white speckles, ugh) Saw the concrete counter with the white, square porcelain sink I was interested in. Immediately bought both along with a faucet and a thick black shelf. This will go on ugly Home Depot brown cabinets repainted black, with new cup handles, against a white painted brick wall. Cannot wait to see it all pulled together.