Arrktrees, just like all apples are Malus domestica, all bananas are the same Musa species. (Not including one edible species grown only in the South Pacific). Just like you can have Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and Rome apples, you have small pink bananas, big white ones and plantains all from basically the same genome. In my parent's day, the variety was called Gros Michele, "Big Mike". The last load was imported into the U.S. in 1962, but the dying of bananas had been on-going and had inspired the song "Yes, we have no bananas". Since then, almost all dessert bananas are Cavendish. The reason is a disease that wiped out almost all Gros Michele. The reason for the quintessentially British name Cavendish is that when looking for a banana tree that was immune to the fungal disease, one was found in the greenhouses of Lord Cavendish. This single clone is that basis for the whole dessert banana trade. Now, there is a new threat, another fungus. The industry has already moved from countries like Honduras to Ecuador, the new #1 source of bananas to the US. The fungus has infected trees in South China, and recently was found in Queensland, Australia. When it comes to the New World, you will read it in the mainstream media. While you and I may think of bananas as an accessory to breakfast, places like Uganda and that region use bananas like we do potatoes, wheat and rice. This variety, a plantain type, is also killed by the new fungus. When it ravages East Africa, you can imagine what will happen when it hits there, imagine taking everything with rice, wheat or potato off your menu. Anyways, there is a process going on to try to find a resistant banana. Every banana is an ancient seedless (natural?) hybrid. However, have you ever noticed small brown specks at the blossom end of a banana? Those are vestigial seeds. For every about 100 thousand bananas, one will have seeds that can be made to grow. For every 1000 ones that grow, one will make it to maturity. For this reason, the Country of Honduras has a project where bananas are mashed through a sieve to recover those 'seeds'. They are sent to the U. of Louvain in Belgium where they do the growing. As they get plants, they multiply them and give them to people in India, Africa, South America etc. It is hoped on of these will show resistance to the new fungus. I'll stop this long post, there is so much more to say. For more info, look for info on Tropical Race Four.

I know what you mean Amy. Oh poor little one has been through a lot the past few years. DH got laid off, we moved to Oregon when she was 3 moved back to Texas a year later moved to Virgina after that and then back to Texas. THEN DH got a to good to pass up job BUT it was 100% travel. So we hit the road with him to stay together, me, Lauren, DH AND the golden retriever! LOL! Lauren did get to see so many wonderful places so I can not complain there but she is so ready to settle. So am I!! DH still has to travel but he is home here in Austin a lot so that helps. Well, I went on and on! I think Lauren and I are going to go and buy the rug she loves so much so we can match the paint. Then we need to get curtains and new bedsheets and decorations...I better slllooowww down before DH has a melt down :-) Kelly

Don't cut off all contact with your children, always remember them at their birthdays with a phone call and a card with $5-$10 dollars in it. Just concentrate on getting your own head together. It is now time for you, so even if you have to deal with the kids, you can do it in a calm rational manner. Like stated above, try going to a house of worship, take craft classes, yoga classes or something through your park district to occupy your time. You don't say if you have a job, if you don't, get one, at least a part time job, to get out of the house. That way you will have a little spending money to buy some new clothes. Don't let anyone talk you out of it either. Good luck! You can do it.

"How cool dilly dally! Does your bathroom have the original toilet & sink? Was the sink a wall hung one? And are the shower doors original or were they added later? There is a curtain rod above the shower doors and we can't figure out why there are both." No, I checked the date on the toilet when I was looking at the real estate and it was replaced in 1982. (You can look under the tank lid to see the date stamp.) I'm not sure about the sink. It is one that hangs off the wall though. The tub I know is original. It is the same as the one you show with the wider ledge in the middle. My shower rod was installed so that the curtain hung inside the tub. I moved it so the curtain hangs outside. No shower doors. (Thank gawd. I hate them.) I don't think shower doors would be original with a tub like that. My tub is grody. No shine left on it and it always looks dirty. I've looked into replacing it but there is no way to get it out without damaging tiles I was told and the size is so odd that a replacement to fit exactly is impossible. I may have to buy one of those acrylic tub recovers to get a decent tub that looks clean. The original "shower head" was called a 'Victorian' I found out. It was like a stick on a hinge from the wall, low, about waist high. You moved it up and tiled the hinged head to shower. Or you moved it straight down to fill the tub. I liked it. I had to replace it when it broke and could not find anything like it. They don't make them any more. I had to redo the whole works adding separate faucet and showerhead and controls. You probably have a built in ironing board in the kitchen. Most of them end up getting converted into spice cabinets. Mine still had the original wood ironing board in it and although I do iron a lot I did not want to iron on an old stinky wood thing. The built in wall ironing boards that they seel nowdays to do not retro fit into these old ones. I made mine into a spice cabinet by adding little shelves. I'm glad I did it this way. It's one thing to be a purist and try to preserve the ingerity of a vintage home but if it means wasted space with a non functioning widget - it goes. There is also a thing built into the wall in the basement that I had thought was an old mangle in the laundry room at first. (They were popular in that era.) There was a slit in the wall by it. There was a built-in long table in the rec room by the slit on the other side of the wall. I figured out that it was made to hold a roll of kraft paper to pull through the slit to use as a disposable table cover. I know they still sell rolls of table kraft paper like this for restaurants, so I could use it but I never throw dinner parties in my basement and don't have kids who do crafts. "The original must have been one with long pipes." I still have the original. It did not work when I bought the house. I found out when I took it apart to repair, that the pipes do not create the sound. There was a sort of xylophone thingy inside that made the actual sound. The pipes were for decoration only. If I had not been able to repair it, I was going to get a wireless chime to install elsewhere in the house and use the alcove for holding a decorative vase or something. "It's when you cut or break it that it releases fibers and causes problems." True. Some people do not know about asbestos tile and try to chisel it up without proper proceedure. I've had to warn neighbors about this. They had no idea. Make sure you let you DD know about http://savethepinkbathrooms.com if she does not already. And also http://retrorenovation.com/category/by-decade/1960s-by-decade/ Here is a link that might be useful: Pink