Sandy, I had daily migraines from the time I was a small child. I learned to live with them. Usually I could continue on with life, only occassionaly having to blacken the windows, put cotton in my ears and writhe on the bed for a few days. I was about 28 and working as an accountant when I suddenly had blurry vision every day at about 2:30 pm. I was still having the painful kind too. After a few weeks I went to the Dr and he told me I was having cluster migraines. He gave me some meds that would help for a couple of weeks then all the pain would come back and he'd switch to another med. The final straw was when I was driving to work (luckily I had a jeep and lived in the country) and looked at the sun and it had beautiful rainbows around it and I just drove toward it. I "came to" way off in a field, still driving toward the beautiful sun. I carefully got back on the road and continued on to work. I called the Dr and told him what happened and that I would rather have the migraines than experience all I'd been through with the meds. He said, "You know there is a government grant for something new called bio-feedback training and a local nurse practicioner is doing it here in Vt. I don't know anything about it, but I'm going to refer you." That was the end of my migraines. All kinds. For the first time in my life I my head was pain free. I guess it's like the silent migraines you talk about. They are still happening, but my body automatically goes into the bio-feedback routine all by itself after all these years (I'm 62 now). Sometimes I'm aware of the bio-feedback kicking in. If I consciously look for the migraine I can find it and sort of feel it, but no horrid pain. I have a bad headache about once or twice a year, but they don't act like the migraines I used to have. I guess they are just plain old headaches. I never thought of having an EEG. It would be interesting to see what it shows. Anne

Juliet, yes, his gardens are very near Birmingham, it's a half hour train ride from there. Even in late August it should be pretty spectacular. Wollerton Old Hall is covered with buds. I've not seen a single bloom yet "in real life", so I've got my fingers crossed. I think I'm expecting something similar to Scepter'd Isle with a lighter colour. I'll post photos when it blooms. Florence, it's my pleasure, and a treat to share it with others who enjoy the roses! Silverkelt, I do appreciate how lucky I am to live so close! When I lived in California I never dreamed I'd get to visit, and now I can walk out of my door, get on a train, and be there in just over two hours. I wonder what I should do this weekend?? LOL. Jumbojimmy, the roses in most of the pictures of the greenhouses are "potential" new Austins, either for garden or cut flowers, so I'm pretty sure we wouldn't know any of them already. If you like button eyes, you should consider Sister Elizabeth and Eglantyne. I thin Sister Elizabeth might do very well in your climate, she loved my So. California garden. Krista, it was great fun. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures. Hosenemesis, thanks for taking a look! Inga007, you're very welcome, thanks for taking the time to look through everything. The Bustopher, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Christina, I'm so glad the photos brought some happiness to your day! Ingrid, it was my pleasure. Thank you! Jerome, yes, I agree, I think he is a genius too. I can't tell you how much enjoyment I get out of his creations. I think we are so lucky to have him. He lives in a house on the grounds, and the tour guide told us that he still comes out every morning and walks through the gardens, taking notes, commenting, and finding improvements. He still works in the breeding and selecting and is very much the man we can thank for these roses. So.. thank you very much Mr. Austin! Kristin, I did spend hours there. We arrived at 11 and left when they closed at 5, and I still could have spent many more hours wandering around. It was really fantastic.

hoovb - My windermere is getting pretty large as well, still a nice bush form, but I'm wondering about it's 3ft height I thought I had read about. It's preparing to give a full flush soon so I'm pretty excited. Yeah, I'm not sure about the toasted buds, but it only happens to that plant even though the others are fine. Also that Geoff Hamilton had some white thing bugs on it for a while, which I thought might be spider mites but I'm not certain. jumbojimmy - I'll try to get you some photos of Sweet Juliet in bush form, I know I have some old ones hidden away somewhere. Some more Austins I took photos of yesterday: Teasing Georgia I knew this was the fence climber I wanted when I saw it in the Austin catalog and checked out the photos of it on helpmefind. Lovely scent, seems to be very robust and doing well. Ambridge Rose This one has done really well since I transplanted it into a pot after a miserable first year in the ground. 5 years old now I believe. The only problem it has is the blooms tend to be much larger than it's thing narrow stems can support. Not my favorite scent, but does very well as cut flowers.

You know, I remember when only farmers wore jeans or denim. It was prohibited in high school by our dress code, even. Now they are everywhere! OK, I'm way out of my league here, LOL. I don't have enough clothes to wait weeks between wearings. I used to have office/work clothes and farm clothes and nothing in between. Now I have no use for business suits and that single pair of black pumps that I wore with everything. I'm 5'2" and do not have long legs. I also have a big bust and short waist, no jeans look good on me, they either come up to my ribcage or they fall off my butt (or both, I can't figure out how that works) I hate 'em all but I'm far more likely to go with jeans that feel less awful (none are comfortable) than choose them based on how they look. Since I'm retired my wardrobe now consists of one pair of Carhartt sweat pants, two pairs of dress slacks, one pair of capri pants, half a dozen assorted t shirts, both long and short sleeved, a couple of long sweater/cardigans and a zip up sweatshirt (black) and you have my entire wardrobe. I never wear jewelry other than my wedding ring, I haven't put on a pair of earrings in years, I didn't even wear them to Ashley's wedding. Shoes? I have one pair of black Avia sneakers, one pair of muck boots (also black and not the $100 ones either, the $11 ones from Tractor Supply, goes with everything, even those maroon Carhartt sweatpants), one pair of snow boots, one pair of white flip flops and one pair of black Skecher flats. Although I've been to Chico's, I've never been able to actually spend what they want for clothes, regardless of size. In spite of my completely non-existent fashion sense and my woefully inadequate wardrobe, which I did not realize was woefully inadequate until this very instant, I still don't think you're ever too old to wear jeans, if you want to wear 'em. And yes, I realize that a very large percentage of my woefully inadequate wardrobe is black. I like black, it goes with everything and I don't have to think about matching, I'll wear it until they invent a darker color.... Annie