To repeat some of what I've said earlier in multiple posts, I've taken a multi-faceted approach: sunlight therapy light for 30 minutes each morning during the shorter winter months making sure to eat healthily, esp. lots of legumes exercise (which for me also includes social partner dancing...not only provides exercise but physical interaction and music!) bamboo sheets have greatly helped with night sweats. I sleep much better. join a menopause support group or else start your own such Meetup group (I did, in NYC!) I take Rainbow Light Menopause One make it a point to be social....to get out of the house and be around other people. Go for walks...be around nature. If you are a night owl (like me), try your best to change your schedule little by little. Waking up earlier and going to bed earlier means you will have more waking hours in the natural light, and fewer waking hours in the dark, which in turn helps with serotonin levels and mood. Talk to a shrink if you are depressed and/or try to engage in cognitive therapy on your own. Be aware of how you are able to somewhat impact your own mood. For e.g., I noticed a pattern, whereby I was constantly assessing my mood multiple times per day. 'Am I feeling depressed right now?....Yup, I am. I am indeed feeling down...just like I was earlier today...just like I was yesterday. Ugh.' I realized that in doing that, I was then creating a sub-conscious 'reality' for myself, that if I am feeling down today, and I felt 'down' yesterday, and the day before that, that it stands to reason that tomorrow, and the next day, will also be the same. And how on earth can I expect to be in a good mood, if I believe this to be my reality, for the foreseeable future? Talk about creating a sense of doom for oneself. ;-) So.... I realized that this thought pattern I was exhibiting was not serving me one iota. Of course, we all know the expression of 'living in the moment'. I decided to purposefully try this at every moment of every day. 'Oh, doesn't this cup of coffee taste so good?.... this is so great that I just finished this work spreadsheet on my computer...I can now cross this off my to-do list.... this is great... Oh, this is a great song I'm listening to ...this salad I'm eating tastes so fresh!.... don't my two cats look so cute sleeping together..." And so on. By doing this, at the end of each day I found that I was able to look back and think 'you know...today wasn't that bad actually...'. And if I practiced living in the moment the next day as well, I could say 'this is great...today was pretty good...yesterday was pretty good...'. So that in turn helped to create my own new reality, which then helped me believe that the days ahead would also be pretty good! ;-) (If I assumed the days ahead would not be so good, they usually were not so good. But if I took on a more positive outlook, that my days ahead would be good, or 'pretty good', indeed, they usually were. While we can't control our emotions or mood entirely, much of it IS about perspective, and recognizing the ways we self-sabotage. And on that note....do not believe for one minute that 'older women are regarded with little worth' (as someone else here said). I am so utterly tired of women (and most often, it's American women) making this complaint. If you believe it, so it will be. No one wants to be around an older woman who is down in the dumps about her age. You could take two older women who look the exact same age more or less, and who have a similar appearance. One woman is confident, takes pride in her appearance, dresses attractively, does not feel her age is in and of itself a detriment; she is engaging, curious, outgoing. The other woman goes around believing that now that she's X-years of age, she's washed-up, and that society and men will 'ignore her'. She doesn't bother trying to dress nice, because she figures 'why bother'. Which woman do you think society is going to respond to more favorably. Which woman will more men find attractive? ;-)

Khalid: Thank you for answering my questions on your soil & rootstock performance. I'm very happy with what you wrote: "Today is the 46th day without smoking. I still feel ok and I am determined that I will not smoke again. I am enjoying my morning walk / jog much more (coughing has reduced a great deal). I hope I stay determined. I have seen people restart smoking even after many years and I don't want to do that. That is why I have purchased an E-cigarette which is sometimes use when I feel too much craving for a cigarette. Its better to take a puff or two of e-cigarette once in a while instead of restarting smoking again ... After sometime, there should be no e-cigarettes too." I really admire your going without cigarettes for 46th day, very happy for you. God is a loving Father. If only we know how much our Creator & our Guardian Angels love us, we wouldn't harm ourselves with stupid habits. I can't believe that I chewed gum until my jaw and teeth hurt !! What a stupid habit. So glad that I kicked my chewing gum habit for good. I cut gum down gradually, from one stick few years ago, down to a tiny sliver a day, but that still hurt my teeth, so I cut it out COMPLETELY, and I'm so much happier. There are many enzymes in RAW fruits and veggies, but once we cook it, we destroy these enzymes that regulate healthy body functions. There's serious enzymes in the kale-smoothie I drink. My saliva flow is fantastic after a kale-smoothie. It's like a miracle with kale-enzymes solving my dry-mouth problem. I started chewing gum 2 decades ago due to dry mouth, but chewing gum made me thirstier & hungrier. If I had known that kale-smoothie would solve my dry-mouth problem, I would not be dependent on gum. MANY THANKS, KHALID, for starting me on drinking smoothie. I once consulted a doctor on my dry mouth, zero luck. There are many enzymes in RAW fruits and vegetables that regulate many metabolic processes in our body: from mood-regulators, to salivary glands and digestive enzymes. Last Dec. flu-shot reaction was bad, I was coughing constantly with 2-months pneumonia. Medications didn't help, but what helped was the RAW cherry juice from my tree for sleeping better, fresh lemon juice for my inflamed throat, and a friend brought meals over. I was so sick that I could not cook, and she even brought desert: fresh pineapple. Oh, how wonderful that was for my inflamed nose & ear & throat. I completely lost my sweet tooth, lost 8 lbs., but craved for pineapple during my flu-shot reaction.

I particularly like the Dick Gregory quotes, I always thought he was underrated as a performer,

Bart, I'm so sorry: that really is an awful feeling, and the heat just makes it worse. I hope you get rain, in good amounts, and soon. I know it's been miserable for you, and I suspect even worse since you live in town. Good luck to you! Seaside, the same to you: may rain soon come your way. About Mme. GS, I wonder whether our soil and conditions in general simply don't suit her. Mine has been in the garden for over a decade now, and she doesn't want to grow--unless she needs severe pruning which I'm not giving her. As I mentioned, roses growing close by are doing fine. About heat tolerance, I don't know how Malta is. I wouldn't call our heat all that severe compared with what I hear about in parts of California, for example, or the hotter parts of Europe (though I think our local area has gotten off lightly this year), so I don't think how a rose variety does here is indicative of its behavior in hot areas. It isn't a consideration I give much thought to: our climate is a relatively moderate one, and the temperature range seems to suit most roses. I'm more concerned about excessive sun and too open an aspect, including wind as well (trees! we need more trees!!); soil, and amount of water rose varieties need. Also susceptibility to cane girdler, which we have and which some roses simply can't deal with. Jackie, fog and coolness sound wonderful, and I hope you enjoyed them, though we've been fortunate. Your garden always sounds so beautiful and interesting. The "tempietto"--well, we'll see. It's rebar. Also it turned out considerably less elegantly functional than I had hoped. When I get the rose over it, if it stands up to winds and so on, which is an open question, I think it will be well enough. We need to get a bench in it. The black locust has been almost completely disposed of: still a few sawed-off branches on the ground to be chopped up and distributed. And the main trunk to be hauled away to a suitable spot. I hope DH and I together can manage it. I got most of the side branches sawed and lopped off the trunk, working from a ladder, then chopped up everything with the pruners, but the trunk, perhaps twelve feet long and almost a foot in diameter at the base, was stuck well up in a conifer that had a large rambler growing in it, and no way I could see to get a purchase on the trunk. I left the problem for later; DH employed some of his magic and got it down. How does he do it? He's a little guy in his upper eighties. Mr. Miracle. Anyway, the trunk is down, the conifer is free, 'Brenda Colvin' hasn't been destroyed. Life is good.