For those of us who cannot attend, are there any plans to publish all or part of the proceedings? I bought the book form of the 9th International Heritage Rose Conference Proceedings in Charleston in 2001 for a very reasonable price. It has given me many hours of enjoyable reading. Maybe if you did a survey to see if there might be enough interest to make the project viable?

The news will go out in the January Gold Coast HRG Quarterly, and I've forwarded it to the "Rose Letter" Editor. Anita, it might be worthwhile to try to get an article (with photos of course) in to the ARS Magazine, so more people can be made aware of the event. Jeri

"For some reason, something on another level has clicked within me. Very close to genuine indifference." Perhaps it was your DH's response... he expected to surprise you and HE was surprised by the re-gifted item? I know that it becomes easier for me to ignore the irritants when DH shares in the irritation. It used to irritate me more when SD would do/say something that annoyed me & DH would respond with saying it's no big deal, why do I let it bother me, etc., making me feel like he thought I was the problem or that I was making a mountain out of a molehill but when I started referring the annoying problems to him & ignoring them... now HE is the one to deal with the issues & gets irritated for some of the same things I complained about... he gets frustrated like I did. It's very easy to be critical of what someone else is doing when you're not directly affected. Nearly the same thing happened with MIL this year. DH said we are not exchanging gifts with them. I know lots of people discuss & decide how they will exchange gifts but I am opposed to that. In my opinion, you give a gift because you want to give a gift. There should not be an expectation of getting a gift. To me, the whole spirit of Christmas is about giving... the three Kings brought gifts for baby Jesus. So, I had ordered a mousepad with pictures of SD on it for MIL (because she started her at home business & is always on her computer) and I got them a wall hanging that is a personalized family tree. Neither was very expensive & I also baked them cookies. On Christmas Day, I was going to see my mom in the hospital & DIL was spending a couple of hours with DGS before I left, so I stopped by to drop off the gifts to MIL & FIL. DH had NOTHING to do with buying them, he didn't even know about it. He didn't know what I got them until they opened them. So, they said they loved it & I left to pick up DGS & go see my mom. I guess after I left, MIL went on about how nice it was & she really liked it. The next weekend (New Years Eve) they came to bring DH a tool set. They dropped it off at my office while I was home but my dad told me they said they felt bad because they hadn't bought DH anything & they hadn't expected any gifts. So they basically admitted to my dad that they felt guilty and brought DH a tool set. I asked DH why they think he got them the gifts and he says he told them they were from me. Whatever. I gave the gifts without any expectations but it would have been nice to have it acknowledged... but by getting DH a "guilt" gift, they are essentially giving HIM credit for getting them a gift and thus it's not really being acknowledged that I had anything to do with it. I kinda think it's weird anyway because they have two sons and two grandkids... and two daughter in laws. A total of 6 people and they don't exchange gifts. Indifference? Is that when you shake your head in disbelief & say to yourself, "Oh well.. that's too bad they are like that." ? Because that's where I am with it...

Lynn, it wouldn't have crossed my mind either, but 4 years ago when I received an Annie/Catherine calendar for Christmas that started the tradition. I've been buying her calendars ever since, but this year wanted something different. Oakley, I don't mind sharing photos when it pertains to something particular, but I'm not interested in sharing more. The windowsill has small clear vases filled with fresh cut rosemary and I've woven a string of Mardi Gras lights through the branches. Here is a link that might be useful: annie/catherine