Hands down, the native golden currant (Ribes aureum) is the best tasting currant that I've tried. I'm not really a fan of black currants for fresh eating, and red and pink ones are good, but still a bit puckery right off the bush. I've been harvesting these native gems the last few days, and they are wonderful. They can be much larger, approaching the size of your average gooseberry, come in black, red, orange, and gold when ripe (often on the same bush), and are produced in abundance on very large (to over 10 feet tall in some cases) drought tolerant, fast-growing shrubs. Hard to beat... The catch? Ribes aureum has only one recognized cultivar, which is just a fruiting ornamental variety, so you don't know exactly what you're getting in a particular plant. This currant is not very abundant in the wild, is not grown commercially for fruit, and is used almost exclusively for landscaping. I imagine that very few people grow it in garden situations, and fewer still take advantage of the berries. Boy, are people missing out!

Do you have to pick the new rug now? It will be much easier if you're not trying to "design" it. That is, to choose everything ahead of time based on what should work. If your granite went in today, I'm assuming that your backsplash isn't in, your little items aren't out on the counters, and you haven't finished the other little touches. If I were you, I'd use the rug that's already there for awhile and settle in to the new kitchen. Let Auntie Ann give me that wonderful clock that I never would have chosen, etc. And when I was all moved in and settled, and had time to think about the family room, then I'd look at the final kitchen and the family room and get something new.

Wowzers, that's a big one!

Am thinking this is the guy who caused me to finally wave the white flag here regarding my 2 1/2 year struggle to grow my beloved beefsteak tomato's. Tomato's that I had grown successfully for years in my two previous homes,..NW New Jersey and The Upper Keys, ( Islamorada ), - with only minor pests that I had no problem dealing with. However, after 2 1/2 stressful years outside in my raised bed here, fighting more pests than I ever had in the past, in desperation, I moved my 1/2 dozen plants onto the lanai bordering the SE side of my home. Hey, got's ta be an ideal spot, right ? Plenty of sun, AND a screen to keep out most of the tomato-crazed gluttons. Well, I naively hovered smilingly over my transplanted large green treasures as they slowly ripened, - they seemed to finally be free,..at last ! On about the 3rd day I went out to check them in the early AM as usual,..a believer in the old adage, " the best care a plant can receive is to have it's owners shadow pass over it every day ! " Content with what I saw, I began to turn away,...but wait ! Did I see a slight movement in there ? Turning back, leaned in closer and saw the slowly repetitious up and down head of this two inch long, fat, green ( what looked to me like ) caterpillar,..methodically and silently chewing away as he slowly crawled along, creating a trench that extended another two inch's behind him ( her ). It's green color blended in with the green tomato completely,..very hard to detect with only a casual look ! I was speechless (Hey, I'm a NYC transplant, OK ? ). I looked at the other tomato plants and spotted another one. I've been referring to them as " caterpillars ", but could easily be this " worm ? " YUCK either way ! lol That was it, threw all the plants into the garden trash bin and gave up any further ideas of growing tomato's in this part of Florida. The thing that surprised me most was that in my previous home's, I grew these same beefsteak tomatoes for years without any trouble ! Sooo, are these ugly green guys territorial ? Just my curiosity ! Content now with my bananas and mango's,.. life is much simpler ! ( smile )