Hi Barb, it's good to know you can use those tea strainers. Do you use them for your AVs? Donna, I use wick to water my AVs and those trays hold the water. They're made of plastic. I don't know whether they're available in the States (I'm in 'Nam.) I love AVs. They were the very first plants that I started when we built Tuysonvien. Here're a few more photos of how I use the tray and display my AVs. By the way, I have a "gardening" blog, should you be interested to see what I grow in my corner of the world. The link is below. I would appreciate your stopping by and drop a line. Many thanks for your kind comments re my AVs. Here is a link that might be useful: My gardening blog

Alana, I just saw your question as to the age of this bulb. Honestly, I can't accurately tell you, but I salvaged 3 bulbs from about 50+ of my first time cross of a selfed Orange Sovereign. Actually I think my first post to this forum was a call for help about the "creeping crud", as I called it then, as I learned that all of my bulbs had stagonospora curtisii with big ugly red cankers. I made my husband throw all of them over the banking, where we throw unwanted green material leaves etc. I felt so bad, that a few days later I went down the hill and retrieved 3 of the best looking, least amount of canker sores, and tried a little experiment. I took the 3 bulbs with leaves and roots and dipped them in a 3% bleach solution for several minutes. I didn't even rinse them off. I stuck them each in separate plastic cups in soil and isolated them in an unused room to die slowly. They leaves and bulbs were all burned from the bleach, a very sorry looking lot to say the least. I forgot about them, only watered them about once a month and the leaves died and I just thought they had finally gone to bulb heaven. Low and behold this spring one of them started growing!! And sprouted new leaves and when I pulled off several layers of the outer bulb the canker sores had dried up! And you can imagine my surprise when a bud emerged from that tiny little bulb! And what you see is the result and this one has a few bublets also. The other two were slower to arise from the dead, and I planted them outside in the soil and they are growing huge healthy leaves also, but no blossoms yet. So, that is the saga of my poor little ruffled orange!! And, now she has two sisters waiting to be reunited with her this fall when they come in for the winter!! Doesn't that just bring tears to your eyes?? Donna

I started a post, and then hit a key and lost it all. Phooey. First, I'm sorry to hear about your mom. It sounds like your brother and you are at peace with your decision and your loss, which is a great gift, but it sure must be sad sometimes. I'm sorry. My mom and dad came to the same conclusion on the deaths of their last surviving parent. My mom's mom had graduallymoved to ever-smaller, ever-more restrictive quarters, so it was gradual. And my dad's dad tried, honestly he did. And, he moved a few states away to live w/ my aunt, so he and my dad were able to weed out quite a lot. They had the same reaction, and started to just get rid of stuff in their homes. Of course, that's been awhile now..... I think that's a great gift to give your own kids, Marie. I read a post (was it here?) in which a woman said, she'd told her adult DDs that when she passed away, they were free to throw away, give away, whatever, her "treasures" (she had a little box of keepsakes, odd stuff but sentimental to her), and her possessions, because they were intended for HER lifetime, and not beyond. That sounds like a good idea, too--to free your kids et al. of the notion that just because you owned it, they honor you by keeping it. When my DGM died, my aunt sent me some "sentimental" stuff--my mom was hooting. They were just the things she happened to own at that time--they weren't important. Bathroom accessories in a rose theme--well, DGM liked roses, but those were just what they had at JCPenney the last time DGM needed to buy those things. They weren't important! I have a cousin that was thinking of taking the fabric from DGM's stash (she was a big sewer) and making everyone in the family a teddy bear (shiver...). My mom pointed out, gently, that those fabrics didn't MEAN anything emotional to DGM; they were just what she happened to have at the time. Some of them, she may not even have picked out! She sewed for other people, lots of times. Some stuff of hers WAS important to me--I got the cookie jar, which to this day I treasure and which helps me think of her often. That's enough. You may help enough just by keeping your TRULY valuable papers in a really good place, the photos in another good place, and telling your kids they should throw the rest out without even looking at it. It's useful to you, not to them! Steve, I like what you said about "theater of the mind." But sometimes we keep stuff we don't really need to "replay." You can buy NEW magazines (please, buy new magazines, so I can have a job), new books, etc. There's not really a need to keep stuff. But, on to practical matters. That stuff you'd like to pass on? Get one of those accordion folders w/ the dividers (alphabet, or 12 months), and label each for one kid. Then you've got a place to put that stuff. Maybe label one "Understanding Grandma better" and put notes to yourself (I think those might be really nice for your descendents to see), etc. Things that would truly tell someone, years from now, what you were like. And then be ruthless. If you haven't looked at that vacation stuff, it won't matter as much. Maybe you'll find 2 or 3 things from each that are worth hanging onto--something that helps you get STARTED remembering the trip. That should be enough. As for scrapbooking, well, I guess I'm unAmerican because I really don't approve. Sticking stuff in scrapbooks to look at later, yes. Getting creative w/ precut stuff and fancy letters, no. So get a big binder, buy some of those plastic page protectors (some divided for smaller stuff, some full size), and stick stuff in there. Just get it out of a box and into a book you can page through. The heck w/ labeling anything, making fancy borders, etc. Just stick the brochures into the pockets. And maybe set an arbitrary limit--no more than 5 mementos from every vacation. Because honestly, your brain is very flexible, it'll remember. And nobody else wants to look at your vacation mementos, really. And be tough; try to picture your kids 10 years from now--will they care enough to want to look at it? Will YOU? Stuff that's less personal--politics (which changes constantly), decorating idea, etc.--toss and get fresh. As if you were checking out library books from life.

The paint color on the lower half of the wall is just a very light lavender. The upper half is more purple. I actually mixed the lavender myself, by adding a little of the purple paint to some white paint. The fake tile (sheet vinyl) floor came from Linoleum City in Los Angeles. I looked and looked and looked for that vinyl and Linoleum City is the only place that sells it. I called a salesman there and asked about it. He said they had a unique contract with Tarkett (I think) to produce this product and he didn't think it was sold anywhere else in the country. Their number one client is Hollywood. Set-building people buy it by the roll to use on the sets. The sheet vinyl creates the look of early 20 Century hex tile floor in a jiffy. :) The light fixtures and medicine chest are reproductions. The light fixtures came from Rejunvenation Hardware and the medicine chest came from Van Dykes Restoration hardware. All these years of writing about old houses and I finally got to use some of the resources I've been writing about. Thanks for all the nice comments. Rose Here is a link that might be useful: linoleum city link