Sue, thanks for posting these. All are beautiful and what fun to see your pics from the same day and almost the same time. You saw things to frame a bit different than I did and that was really fun to see. I think sometime we need to have all the Idyllers present at some function or other and have everyone take photogaphs so we can all see everyone's 'view'. I also loved the narrative. I still can't believe we did all that driving in just three days! I really love your shots of the shade and vegetable gardens. It was a bit too dark to photo down on the flats when I was outside so I never was able to get a photograph of what was my favorite garden too. I'm tickled you got the pics of the kitties. For some reason I never got around to snapping photos of the furbies. I had a good laugh again when I saw Minou in your bag. She kept climbing into our suitcases as well. OK I guess I've got to get outside and get things watered so I can get off to work. I do not know how the heck you keep up with all you do with a full time job. I can hardly get home and get dinner on the table let alone take care of the gardens and exercise. Teaching a class for eight hours wipes me out. Deanne

I just add this message to respond to the notion of a rose sale or auction. Following the lead of Jeri n Clay, the Ventura County Rose Society put on major rose auctions of rare and unusual roses for about ten years; first, annually, then later every two years. As an educational device, the auction was a great success for those putting it on. As someone who started out as a contributor to the catalog that accompanied the auction and wound up writing most of it, I learned a lot. (Most of it had to do with commercial viability.) As a financial effort, it was also a great success. HOWEVER,it was every bit as labor intensive as the traditional rose show, involved enormous amounts of energy and time (gathering and storing of roses, mailing off winning bids to those out of state, etc.) and engendered some antipathy on the part of rose society members who did not want to be involved in what they regarded as scut work; (unfortunately, a lot of life involves doing scut work.) Eventually, we gave it up with 2011 being the last of the auctions. Over the course of the years we probably distributed over a thousand roses, most of which were OGRs or unusual and rare (Clark roses from Austalia before they became easily available, frix.) The only way for the enterprise to operate was to open up a national audience in order to find buyers for roses not well known--even if said roses were perfectly suited to the Ventura County climate--e.g. chinas, noisettes, and teas. The trouble is that the audience for OGRS and unusual roses tends to be spread out across the country in numbers not large enough to sustain viable commercial operations. I might add that the practices of many rose societies in permitting widespread use of cuttings from rose shows, celebrations and the like cuts down on the potential profit or even transactions. I am reminded that Frank Benardella used to dip his show roses in Round-up so as to discourage people from using his entries as sources for free roses... Jim D

JoeRay, I guess no one told me that. So much for text book wisdom. I've acutally seen that written before but until you try something and prove it yourself you really don't know. Both are bunch grapes as opposed to muscadines which appear singular and in small groups. I'm not much into grapes. These have a unique flavor that make them a winner in my book. If left on the vine longer they become almost black and sweeter but as soon as they turn the color as pictured, they are good to eat. The skins are bitter on the red and slightly so on the green. The green was bought at Lowes as a Thompson seedless, which it isn't, or perhaps the climate here make the skins tough. "gene"

Czarin - I did look at a bunch of granite tops at Lowes and Home Depot but they were heavily speckled (would prefer something solid) and/or very gray since it's popular right now. I haven't been able to look around much in stores yet. Graywings - Ah, good call about the holes. Thanks for mentioning it. Justerri - They're better than the one I have now, hands down, but unfortunately I just don't care for that style. Fori - Thanks for the feedback! House Vixen - My vanity top is 31"x22" so that fireclay one would work well. ETA Just saw a reviewer mention the top is for a specific vanity and it won't fit just any old one. I'll keep searching. Is a 1" splash a problem since I'm not using tile behind it? Was going to use the graham and brown bb wallpaper I already have but I might just install real beadboard. As the price keeps going up. :) I'm slightly concerned about picking 'white' for a new top. The base color of the current one is very cream. Of course, my toilet, shower, trim, and 2" blinds are all white. Flooring has no white and base is cream. If go with a white top I'm hoping all the whites and creams will be balanced enough to look deliberate. If I type 'cream' culture marble (didn't search fireclay as cream) I get images of dark beige. Tina - This is actually the main bathroom. (Master bathroom is red. I'm not sure if I'm doing the check in the master bedroom. Probably won't if I go through with using it in here. Never say never though. You can see in the master room walking to this bathroom though.) I like the idea of changing the vanity color and the mirror. Originally I was using the black to help pull out the dark gray of the flooring. I'm so visual I have a hard time making decisions without seeing things! Cleaning around the faucet parts isn't going to bother me. I'm honestly not worried about the kids being able to use the water. I realize that may sound like I'm being irresponsible but I know my older DS and believe it will be fine. I believe the baby will be fine when the time comes to use the faucet too. Mabel - Oh I've been. I saw a neat custom vanity recently that was the right side but the top was marble (wouldn't look right) and it had two small brass faucets. That made it look weird. The rest of it was so cool though I would have tried to make it work even though that would have meant changing the flooring and probably fabric too! Saw a lot of other nice tops but so far they've all been too large or wouldn't work. Boo. Linelle - Thanks for the feedback! I was looking at some square ones sink bowl tops, but I need to make sure I have enough room for hand soap. I currently have a small brass container (removed for photo) that holds soap and napkins (for guests). DS uses a towel. Also a square one will add to all the squares - vanity, mirror, art. Could change the mirror to oval. toomanydecisions.