Im having to log in again too. Taryn, my thoughts are with you and your dear friend. My deepest sympathies to all who loved Bruce. What a great friend you have been to them. Its great to hear that things are looking up on the house front. Deanne, I am awed by the pics you posted. Your containers are fabulous looking already. I think Ill have to wait a bit to post pictures of mine after seeing how mature yours look. LOL about running out of containers. I am running short and am scrounging around for more. My sedona from you is perking up, but solar flare is pouting badly. T, great to hear that things are going well with DD and the babies. Ill bet you are getting excited. Sue, your garden is looking wonderful. I like the peony/baptisia combo, but really enjoy the long shots. Ei, we will be so busy oohing and aahing over your garden, we surely wont notice the neighbors property. I bought seeds for the salmon Alaska nasturtiums too. Of course I havent gotten around to planting them yet. I planted my Illustrius with a wire vine, several coleus Plum Frost, Gays Delight and Moonglow and geranium Black Magic Thanks again. 38 years is quite an accomplishment, congratulations Marie and hubby. Stunning photos. Im glad that you were sitting in your nicely painted basement instead of storm chasing. Cindy, I know the feeling about bloom times. My best combos werent planned. LOL Michelle

gb - the flu has largely passed now -but I'm still more tired than usual. Randy is back to being pretty perky :-) Too bad about Skyler's surgery deferral! Getting psyched-up for something like that only to have it delayed to an indefinite time would be an additional element of stress that would not be welcome! All the shots etc. for the trip to Haiti would be pretty intimidating. My family doctor is there at the moment. He's associated with some childrens' hospital there and seems to spend a week or more there almost every month. There will be no issue of overlap between Phoebe's stay and Blue's - we just found out yesterday that Blue's owners won't be heading to their Mexico condo until January. Blue will be here fro Jan. 17-Feb. 28th. While I was under the weather recently, I finished a sweater for Randy. Given that the previous two I've made him took years(!) to finish, I decided that I needed to use heavy yarn and fat needles if I was going to be able to finish one in a reasonable time! So, in mid-September I bought Lopi wool and dug out my Nordic-style pattern books from years ago. It only took me 2 months to make this one - it used to only take a few weeks to make one of these, so I'm still slow but it's a big improvement from needing years to complete a sweater! Next up (maybe!) is a matching hat and socks (Randy loves hand-knit socks...) We've had an unusually mild October and so far this month. For the first time, there's been noticeable pink color on the heptacodium calyxes - but nowhere near as colorful as in the pictures Monique has posted of theirs.

Nhbabs , what a glorious picture !! I love the sunset pushing thru the trees . Just beautiful . Kathi , please do post some pictures ! It sounds like you got some great ones . It amazes me how one moment the sky can be one color and then in no time at all shift to another . It's just incredible ! I really wish I could find my charger to my digital camera . Last night was incredible with the sky lit up by the moon and the shadows reflecting off the lake . Perfect for Halloween ! Here is the sunrise one morning . It was very pretty !

P.S. Mike, I'm that guy in the burbs without the sewer system to take the water away. I got home early from work at 6pm today so that I could get a good parking space on high ground in the parking lot of my apartment. The people that parked in the low lying areas have MAJOR flood damage, several tow trucks here tonight (Glendale Heights) taking away the disabled cars. People were even pulling their cars up on the sidewalks and front lawns to avoid the flooded parking lot--nowhere else to go. Crazy times here in central DuPage county.