Australian wines are more reasonably priced compared to Californian wine here in Manila. Australia has some of the best wines, I think. I think the best red they have is shiraz (syrah elsewhere). They have wonderful merlots and cabernets also. But then I am partial to whites; I guess that exposes me as a neophyte. I think whites are easier on the palate. When I was living in the USA I introduced myself to riesling and gewurztraminer (the latter mostly from Fetzer). My personal favorites then were whites from Columbia Crest and Cheateu St. Michelle. When I see them in the shelves here in Manila, they are priced beyond my reach most of the time, and Australian, French, Italian, Chilean, and German wines have proven to be wonderful alternatives. Gewurztraminer though doesnt come cheaply here (In the US it is moderately priced). I once served this at dinner and my workmates raved about it. I guess the 9.0 to 9.5 % alcohol content was easier on them, plus it usually is very fruity (hints of lychee) and sweet. Riesling from Germany and Australia are also good. Last week I took a chance on a Blue Nun (Germany) 2001 Qualitätswein. I was pleasantly surprised about that...I knew people avoided Blue Nun as it was synonymous with cheap wines around the late 60s and the 70s. I learned that the company has been bought by new owners, who want to upgrade the quality. Qualitätswein by the way is around 35% riesling. Alcohol content is like most gewurztraminer, at only 9.5 % So now I have this thingie for German wines, whenever I shop. As for the milk and spinach, I don't buy them at all...Our traditional diets are a bit different, including the vegetables. I am trying my best to limit meat intake because of my hypercholesterolemic state. Thus, it is usually traditional vegetables and fish for me. Dole and Del Monte are transnational conglomerates with fruit plantations here in the Philippines, for pineapples and bananas. One pineapple is usually around USD$1. Bananas are usually around US 60 cents a kilogram (2.2 lbs). You have a choice of Cavendish (which is what Dole and Del Monte export), latundan, lacatan, senorita types of bananas, with the latter three usually sweeter, more fragrant, and flavorful compared to Cavendish.

It's called box blight, looks like the plants were gone over with a torch. Different kinds of box vary in susceptibility. For suggestions of specific shrub varieties indicate your geographic location. Otherwise since the rest of the planting is informally arranged plants in an informally shaped bed I would not plant a low, straight line of any kind of shrub at the back of the bed, in front of the foundation. A feature that in addition to not coordinating with the rest of the layout would draw attention to the base of the house, including the foundation. Rather I would plant several different kinds of shrubs, of differing mature sizes that would serve to soften the angularity, squareness and jutting out appearance of that end of the house. Such as a ~ pyramidal kind at one corner, a different kind of similar shape at the other corner, more than one kind of lower stature between these as well as beneath the windows, and so on.

Modern Farmhouse is a broad description and it may mean different things to different people. I would look at modern farmhouse as a mixture of the clean lines and crisp geometries of contemporary architecture and a traditional farmhouse... The irregular pentagon is the shape that I most associate with the style. So when I think of interior ceiling features I lean towards features that carry the irregular pentagon inside. Such as this... In my opinion as you add beams to the ceiling you are removing the clean lines and crisp geometries that make it a "modern" farmhouse and moving it to a newly built farmhouse style. Both are quite common but if I wanted a mix of contemporary and farmhouse then I would opt out of muddying the visuals with beams. Having said that, beams can be a great looking feature and I especially like exposed horizontal beams, but again, that doesn't scream modern farmhouse to me personally. I hope this helps you understand what I was talking about, but it is your house so do what you love.

" My sister in law swears by keeping valuables, including cash, in her deep freeze " Haha, this triggers a memory for me. One of my high school jobs was working at a Baskin Robbins 31 flavors. It was a cash business, before the proliferation of credit card usage. At closing, those working would balance the register (cash in till versus what the register had recorded) and the paper money would be dropped into a floor safe that we peons couldn't open. The store did maintain a supply of change though - bundles of $1, $5 and $10 bills, plus rolls of change. A used but washed cardboard tub with a lid (that the ice cream came in) was the storage container. It had a reserved space on the top shelf of one of the storage freezers in the back. It would amuse me that at times when making change for a customer purchase I needed to replenish some item in the register drawer, a walk to the back and opening the freezer for what was needed would produce very cold items of money then handed to the customer. The boss had several stores and all followed the same procedure. He was gone more often than not, they mostly ran themselves with reliable high school employees. Anyway, one day when he was there, I asked him if he realized that the storage spot for money kept for change was very obvious to customers. He asked why and I said that there was no mystery where money was stored when customers were given very cold cash pieces for change. He blushed and said he hadn't thought of it in that way. The next week, a small floor safe (with a combination lock and combination given to employees) was installed. That's my fond memory of working with cold cash, as the expression goes but in reality too.