Thank you so much everyone for your kind words about the Lopsided Garden, and most of all, Eluane sends everyone puppy kisses for wishing her a happy Birthday...She really is quite the princess! Instead of eating her cake with one big gulp like most dogs, she nibbled first with the provolone cheese hearts and the tomatoes at the rim. Next she tried to nibble at the top, not wanting to ding up my delicate china plate. She still couldn't get to the cake, so I ended up slicing the cake into little wedges all of which she polished off so daintily, haha! Nick, about the "Italian Cafe" outings. Krista, thank you-- also I have a question, how often does your Anna bloom? Krista, she is as fragrant as she is beautiful, yours and my kind-of-rose :D Lesley, oh, yes, Eluane is the PERFECT garden dog. She loves accompanying me, very gentle and careful with plants. She also gets real excited to see rose packages arrive at the doorway too, lol!Jim, it's great to see Baby Gunnar, and Baby G is such a Blessed Lucky boy to have you and Sue as his grandparents. Seil, oh I looove seeing puppies, so adorable! Renee, thanks so much for the compliments about the photography; I have a long ways to go and I also badly need a closeup lens...My eyesight is also deteriorating as well. Only until it's on the computer screen can I tell if there's any blur, so I actually have to multi-shoot, because many end up blurry. Renee, I forgot to mention in previous threads that BOTH! Viking Queen and Compassion are Florence-inspired. I wanted both roses after seeing Florence's gorgeous blooms. Everyone here are some more photos I took, the ones I forgot to include, and one new rose plant, Coronado HT. Climbing America: Dwarf Mountain Laurel: Viking Queen Climber (forgot to show individual blooms): Viking Queen, even though it's a "modern" rose still has the bloom form of an OGR, which I'm crazy about. More HT form of Viking Queen: Paso Doble: Just like the name a vivid orangish/scarlet red. Compassion HT Climber: Nepata- Walker's Low: Coronado HT: I'm not a fan of the ruffled petals sort of look, but every brand new rose deserves its own special highlight, and at least Coronado's color reminds me so much of Chicago Peace. Very bright and intense Flamingo/Las Vegas Pink, haha!

Hi everyone, I haven't visited the forum much lately and boy have I missed alot.... Dorothy, so glad to hear Susan's surgery went well and that she's recovering nicely. Kym/Flwrs, my first try at WS has gone pretty well. I've been transplanting on/off for the last few weeks. I had started over 150 jugs of seeds. Finally planted the last of the annuals/veggies a couple of weeks ago. So far I've potted WS sprouts of Broom corn, castor bean, various hibiscus, coleus, desert willow, Tx. bluebonnets, milkweed, tons of Joe pye & nasturtiums, I even had two Red Delicious Apple seeds that sprouted!!! I still have alot of sprouted containers left to pot up (columbine, hosta, lupines...) but most are still small for transplanting yet. Our warmer, zone 8 climate sure helps things sprout fast! The boys and I are visiting our first local plant swap this weekend and with the WS seedlings and more tropical type seedlings I had started indoors, we should have lots of stuff for the swap! I know we'll have tons of fun too meeting other local gardeners! I think WS is my new addiction! I actually managed yesterday to start the last of my seeds....my seedbox is now empty!!! ..That is until the package from the Tropical swap I'm in arrives!!! But at least I'm caught up for now. I haven't even built my greenhouse yet and its already gonna be full! Still need to get the gardens ready for planting time soon. Spring is such a busy (& fun) time of year! Hope y'all have a great day!!!

My GS, also a Nathan, is like-minded as yours, chisue. Over the years I've bought many of the Science and Discovery toys from Toys R Us. He particularly likes the dinosaur excavation toys, where you excavate the bones and in the end construct the dinosaur. They range from small ones under $10 up to the larger ones that I believe are around $30. He likes all the magic rocks, fossils and crystal growing kits, microscopes, ant farms... oh, the list goes on! Azzaleas idea of a metal detector was a great one. Although my GS likes legos and games ok, they aren't something he's wild about. When he has money to buy his own things, he picks items such as magnets and butterfly/fishing nets. The big hit last summer was a bug zapper. And it had to make the zapping sound, not those new quiet ones. LOL

Hi All, thought I would give an update on the birthday party flaps. So, I extend invitations to SS29 and SGS 8 1/2 to DS7's (he's now 7 hurray!) birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's last Saturday. DS7 chose the guests, short list including his 1/2 brother SS29 and SGS 8 1/2 and a few other kids friends. SS29's girlfriend, mother of his children, common law wife, calls and says they don't have bus/train fare to come! Nothing new but still a lot of nerve. As they have moved out to the desert, picking them up has become even more of an inconvinience. BUT, for the sake of DS7's birthday, DH does drive to pick up the crew from the desert. He gets there, then gf announces that the baby, SGS 2 1/2, is also coming to be cared for by DD36. Long story short, the crew shows up at Chuck E. Cheese courtesy of DH. Have not eaten, no gifts, dirty clothes it was unbelievable. SS29 spends the whole time playing with SGS 8 1/2, spends no time with my son, the one who invited him, DS7 whose feelings are hurt by this. SD 36 shows up with two more uninvited cousins from BM's side of the family but at least she pays for their play tokens. I won't continue the blow by tacky blow except, Because they live so far, we invited them all, SS29 included, to spend the night at our house, have a nice brunch and take them home. I get home with the balloons and gifts, SS29 has split, taken the bus for which he had supposedly no money to his mother's house to collect some items and basically dumped his kids on us to take care of over the weekend! No clothes, toiletries, no diapers or diaper stuff for the baby! I run down to Wal-Mart to buy pjs, Pull-Ups, diaper cream and a sippy cup. This time though, I let DH handle his people. I went on to church and brunch with my friends the next day after setting the kids up with some outdor games. Did not cook for them and put the Wal-Mart receipt on the counter. By the time I came back, he had insisted that his son, SS29 meet him at the train station to pick up his kids and take them back to the boondocks. If you want a nice LOL, SGS 8 1/2 left his library book at our house. SS29's gf called me and asked that I overnight it to her so it wouldn't be late. It took me a minute to collect myself from her gall. I told her I would pass it on to SD36 who could pass it on to BM, the grandmother, who could pass it on to them. Haven't heard from her since! Geez, they got a bag of new pj's, clothes, diapers, toiletries and fresh toothbrushes, I thought that was pretty good swag for some unexpected and not entirely welcome guests! Anyway, my son enjoyed his birthday admist all of the silly drama. The 2nd party planned at SD36 has been nixed.