Neat garden this weekend. Very narrow, long space, the front half of which had been a parking space complete with swing arm garage door in the brick wall on the street. The owner was a bachelor with very little gardening experience, who was looking for a place to hang out with his friends after a night out with his friends. They replaced the door with a roll-up tambor style door, so future owners could easily convert it back to a parking space if they wanted. The took out the brick divider in the middle, then placed simple decking and brick planter boxes on the diagonal. The bulk of the money they spent was on the door and on lighting -- uplighting for the plants and down lighting for the conversation areas. They picked really nice, structural plants that were very low maintenance and cast dramatic shadows on the walls. Wasn't necessarily to my taste, but it was perfect for the owner and turned out really well. You could see how much it added to the current owners enjoyment -- and the re-sale value.

Sara-Ann, is your Zaide a strong bloomer? Mine's a fantastic grower, but due to midge has hardly bloomed. I just wonder if that's all there is to it. They were huge plants from Lowe's this year. Kate, is your CS the climbing variety? I just planted mine and there's a huge spray just peeping open. I planted her in my front beneath the eaves with her roots in the rain. I hope she does well as she's totally healthy and truly one of the most delicate beauties. Her petals feel like a baby's skin and her fragrance is a whisper that draws one in. I have a feeling she can be a strong bloomer and grower. Curdle, Blossomtime is even prettier than I imagined. Of all the horrible things my roses get mildew is one that rarely shows its face. She also smells great! Parade is a star for fragrance and staying power. Her HUGE blooms last forever and shrug off pounding rain which is amazing for any rose, much less a climber. I adore these progeny of New Dawn; while they inherit her thorns they also do her visceral beauty. Keep 'em comin', folks!

I've done a little experimenting with outs, but not much because I don't want to confuse myself with test cases, so there may be more ways to do things which I haven't found yet. You can use either a standard search box or a bar code scan to look up an item in inventory. Then you tap the item and from the detail screen can adjust the quantity. I think this kind of stepped system, while less fun to use, is probably good for getting it right. There's also a "finish" button for removing the item when it's all gone, and the slider where you can indicate how much of your 10 lb. bag of flour, for example, you've used. It makes the top of the photo in the inventory listing transparent congruent to the slider so you can tell at a glance. There are also buttons on the detail page for "spoil" and "restock". Your entries are also listed in a timeline so if you want to check what you stocked in from a particular shopping trip or canning session, it's there. The spoiled list does as well (and you can undo there, for an accidental tap). I think Finished just disappears the item. You get 200 items capacity free, 2000 items for $12/yr. and 10K for $30/mo. Given the photos and all, I think this is very reasonable. Restock lets you add the item to a shopping list, of which you can have multiples you name. Finish clears the item from your inventory making room for something new. There are a number of powerful tools. I think just getting in the habit--including all your household members (yes, it syncs across devices)--of recording your outgoes is harder than actually doing it. You could also just save up the empties and make the adjustments during cleanup. I don't think I'll use this for fresh foods, though maybe frozen. Perhaps fresh staples like yoghurt if I end up using it a lot for shopping. I think I'm more likely, however, to use the inventory for info to create a shopping list, rather than rummaging around the pantry, and still rummage in the fridge. OTOH, if one kept it pretty well up to date, it's a great tool if you're in a store and can't remember what you have. Even better if you split the shopping duties. One can add things to the list while the other is out, and there isn't that whole didn't you get my text, we need milk, thing. :)

I haven't watched much broadcast TV in a long time. Other than the reality-DIY channels (Animal Planet, NatGeo, HGTV, Food Network, etc.) nothing produced interests me. I rarely even watch local or national news anymore as it is always gloom and doom I can do without. I have been subscribed to several streaming services for a number of years and I watch them almost exclusively. The monthly fees are negligible IMO, and since other forms of entertainment are now harder to come by or more difficult to access (movies, concerts, the few sporting events I would consider attending) and far more expensive anyway, that is not a burden. A minor investment in my single person happiness :-) I get regular email updates for all my streaming services that keep me apprised of new shows and all have 'watch lists' where I can bookmark any shows I might be interested in watching. And most are searchable as well. One thing I really like about streaming is the ability to see (usually) an entire series at one time....or at least a full season. Having wait for weekly installments on regular TV has become an irritation and I often forget the details of what I saw the week before. Or longer with some shows. I prefer to binge!! 🥴