Well, I suppose that could be...it doesn't look like it. I hope not! The petals are starting to spread, today...ever so slowly, still! They look healthy, just slow. I wonder why that is, though? And if anyone else had similiar experience with this plant

What a delightful rendition ...... ;-) It's been awhile since I've had a crowd in. Take Mario Batali's advice and wear Crock's, and my advice -- do as much ahead as possible. We had our low-keyed Christmas and our granddaughter's 18th birthday celebration in Tennessee. Left on Friday and got back last night to 13-inchs of snow, and wonderful neighbors who had our drive cleared by the time we got back. I think we'll be clearing their drive the rest of the winter to pay them back :-). Our son has the flu, so we'll hopefully see him for New Year's Day and hold off on Christmas Dinner until then. Since we'll be free on Christmas Day, we'll volunteer at the annual FREE Christmas Dinner a friend of my parents has done for the community for 30-years, and deliver meals to shut-ins. With all this snow, there is sure to be more requests for deliveries than normal. You just never know how things will turn out, do you :?) Merry Christmas everyone. -Grainlady

LOLOL! I love cooking big holiday dinners, but I sure do hear you!

Lynn just a big hug going out to you from me here in MI. I lost my mother to a fall/head injury a little over a year ago. It was much harder on my dad, who like Lukkiirish's mom, said goodbye to her after having lunch together as they both went off to run errands, and in an instant his whole world turned upside down. He returned home to find her comatose from a fall and she died a few hours later. He never imagined such a thing could happen, and he blames himself for not going shopping with her or coming home earlier, even though neither one of them was doing anything out of the ordinary. Dad has been having a very hard time because he feels like he needs to "snap out of it" and "get over it" and he just can't. He is sad and grieving every day. So am I, sort of. It does come in waves. The human mind has to adapt and change with grief. If you are going to continue to function, you have to make peace with the loss and adapt to it. It's like a mind training program, or rehabilitation, or a wound healing. You have your good days and bad days. It's a process. Some days the memories flood in, that's just how the mind works, things trigger it. But I think everyone should realize that there is no shame or harm or problem with grieving and crying and just being sad. If you try and suppress it you will be like my dad who is suffering from all sorts of mental problems. Crying and feeling sad are the natural responses. You can't will them away. You have to move through them. What helps me is that I have wonderful and supportive friends and family It helps me to do things in honor of my mom. It helps me to be with folks who also knew and loved her and missed her. But I cry all the time and I have just learned to accept it. But I try and mentally engage myself with doing something positive. I told my dad it is OK to feel very sad. But no amount of crying or sadness will change the situation, so doing things like staying in bed or not eating or whatever, will not make it better. Just trying to get through each day, and do what you can. Just remember that you are in a big boat. The price of loving. The wellspring of compassion. But folks who tell you to be brave or not be sad, well they don't know what they are talking about!! Much better to melt down occasionally than bottle it all up. I know lots of people who go through depression and major mental readjustments after the death of a parent. That's the way of the world, that is our lot! I always advise folks to be kind and gentle with themselves, compassionate, and not try and be superhuman robots! Luckily my mom died during a slow time at work and I had a supportive boss and co-workers. I'm still not on my A-game, so I think you should again, be easy on yourself and not over schedule or try and take on some huge new project or direction at work. Scale back a bit if you can. Your mojo will come and go to, and sometimes mine comes back with a vengeance and other times I am totally feeling blah. Sine mom has died, I have become much more of a "one day at a time" and "one moment at a time" kind of person than I was before.