I have emerged from the abyss otherwise known as the Guest Room..Ai yi-yi! Im sure that many of you are familiar with The Guest Room.."Where should we put this stuff?" "Oh, just throw it in The Guest Room for now." So there it goes and there it stays until oh-oh, a real guest is coming ! So you shove it all in the closet and warn the guest not to open the closet doors under any circumstances. I spent the better part of the day up there, and have effectively sorted and purged . Filled the trash tote and have two more 32 gal trash bags full and waiting in the wings. Put together a huge pile of salvation army items and lugged them down to the garage. Also lugged down 3 pieces of defunct stereo equipment to take to the electronics recycling next weekend. Discovered that one of the twin beds is sporting two mattresses instead of a mattress and box springs-it teeters at an odd angle as a result.One can only speculate how that came about ! Found a box of 45s. Cleaned out the cedar "Hopeless" chest, which had only two items of any value in it. Its the smallest room in the house , and yet an absolute mountain of stuff kept emerging. ! So it was a productive day..and beautiful weather as I gazed longingly out the window. I did take a break for some watering and deadheading. Everything is just bone dry. How great all the pics were for the birthday trio ! Michelle, I am going to get butternut squash next weekend at the farmers market and make a recipe I found for squash enchiladas. If it turns out Ill share Marian , you and Marie asked about the photo, it was a pic from Yosemite , taken by DS. Marie, maybe you will have some pics of the Bouvier couple ? Deanne- lol, youd probably need an extra truck for all your containers ! My DD is coming down for Thanksgiving and I told her to bring an empty car, because I am sending as many of the containers back up for her to babysit as I can fit in her vehicle. Mary, I have not read "The Road", but had in fact made plans to read all three of his border trilogy this winter. I am so behind on my reading list ! I have promised myself that I will get back to my book-a-week pace this winter. Thank you so much for posting the David Russell link- I have always loved classical guitar and dont have nearly enough cds in my collection. I will definitely order a couple of Davids ! Babs, glad to see a post from you no matter how brief ! Hope all is well. Mariann, isnt it nice to encounter the kindness of others ? I hope your DD is helped by the device that was sent to you ! I imagine that the protracted recovery period has affected your DDs attitude which in turn makes healing more difficult. I wish her the best ! Okay, time to take an evening stroll in the garden with a glass of cheap-o chardonnay. Greetings to all ! Kathy in Napa

Mercy me, lots to read this morning. And that's a treat because I have to go into work late this morning :( ! and this will amuse me until I departure time (7 AM). Count me as another admirer of that nifty wreath. Please tell me about the plant with the amazingly colorful buds/seed heads... is that color for real or a trick of the monitor? The baby jacket is wonderful; I am not a knitter but perhaps I'll give it a whirl as Mum was very accomplished and there are scads of pattern books (dating from the late '30s-early '90s) as well as countless sets of "knatting noodles". Cat names: Sir Thurston Bottomly, Sam, Fred (slept in the basinette with me), Thomasina, Tosca, Millicent Friendly (Millie), Oliver Orange (all over orange, Ollie), Nicolette, Salvatore, Floey (Florence Griffith Joyner), Robert E. Lee (Bobby Lee), Mr. Sleek (Junie, short for Junior), Polly, Spencer, Vera, and Minnie Pearl. Nick names are too numerous to recount without putting you all to sleep. Hey YOU asked! Smitten with kittens we are indeed. Wow, Drema, I had forgotten about your daily commute. I'd hasten a bet you won't miss that too much. I have between 15 and 25 minutes, depending on which route I take, but it's early in the morning and is unfettered by clogged roadways. Gas is just over $3/gallon and my usual route takes me by all the places I need to visit routinely, so I accomplish much "on the way home". I don't joyride much these days. I hope the impending "vacation" doesn't add too much stress to you life. Any thoughts on what you might do as a "second" career? Mary, have you ever heard of LAGQ, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (or quintet, never can remember)? I occasionally hear something by them when I'm allowed to listen to the classical program on NPR (workers generally veto that selection, sadly). Anyway, they're terrific, Deanne would probably like them, too. Bedbugs! uck... who would ever have thought we'd be revisiting those detestable creatures? Shudder. I'm not particularly squeamish, but they give me the creeps (ticks, leeches, included). OTOH, I have to confess to a certain grudging respect for their adapability... . Sounds like an intersting research project for you, Cindy. :) There have been a rash of grisly domestic violence incidents in our area over the past couple of years... the weirdest was the guy who killed his wife and entombed her fibreglass at a marina. What's up with THAT? I sympathize with the worries about friends/children and the loss of one's "space". Having had one dreadful room-mate some years ago, I know how it feels to come home and see their car in the driveway when you were hoping for some ALONE time. The best I can say for that idiot was that he paid off our mortgage for us! haven't seen him since and don't care if I ever lay eyes on him again. Hang in there, you guys. The seamless gutters were in place when I returned from work yesterday. The estimate for the drywall came in yesterday, too. I still don't understand how anyone can do that sort of work for that price. Sheetrocking and insulation rate as the most odious of home improvement tasks, at least to me. Rich will understand, huh, Martie? Rex has become quite a pest when I get home. He follows me everywhere, sitting directly in front of me and staring at me with imploring eyes... are we going out for a walkie, Mummy? WHEN, pleeeaaase? Jeez, I can even use the bathroom without him. He apparently missed the memo that I hate dogs. Time for the "rain locker" and raiment selection and then off to an interminable day at work. I'll probably be alone (mercifully) but will be faced with the final round of huge curtains for the largest of our commercial accounts. Greeaat. Hope your day is a fine one, everyone.

Yep, grew them all. You should see the Long Island Cheese squash I had to pick yesterday. I think I over watered after the dry and it is huge but was cracking. It is a pretty thing, light tan in color. Supposed to be better than pie pumpkins for pies. I will be cooking it next week so will soon know. It looks like a very ribbed flat pumpkin. We finally got much needed rain yesterday and last night. I heard areas south got as much as 12 inches! (south Missouri). Hope I had a bucket out somewhere. glenda

WoWoW! Gorgeous! We do get some fantastic sunsets down here. I am now OFFICIALLY shopping for a new camera. 8-] I'm kinda leaning toward an Olympus with 4mp and 10x optical zoom. We had fog until almost 2 PM today. It was about as close to a perfect day as it gets. [Driving across the bridge over the bay, all the shades of grey and blue were breath-taking.] I dragged home 114 books from the library sale, saw a Brown Creeper (year bird), got a nice (I hope) pic of a Tersa Spinx Moth... Now I'm itching to decorate for Christmas, but have to do some major cleaning (BAH!) and rearranging first. ICA, Sophie ^i^