To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time by Robert Herrick GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may, Old time is still a-flying : And this same flower that smiles to-day To-morrow will be dying. Then be not coy, but use your time, And while ye may go marry : For having lost but once your prime You may for ever tarry. A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns My love is like a red, red rose ThatâÂÂs newly sprung in June : My love is like the melody ThatâÂÂs sweetly played in tune. As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in love am I : And I will love thee still, my dear, Till aâ the seas gang dry. Go, lovely Rose by Edmund Waller Go, lovely Rose-- Tell her that wastes her time and me, That now she knows, When I resemble her to thee, How sweet and fair she seems to be. Tell her thatâÂÂs young, And shuns to have her graces spied, That hadst thou sprung In deserts where no men abide, Thou must have uncommended died. Small is the worth Of beauty from the light retired: Bid her come forth, Suffer herself to be desired, And not blush so to be admired. Then die--that she The common fate of all things rare May read in thee; How small a part of time they share That are so wondrous sweet and fair! The Sick Rose by William Blake O Rose thou art sick. The invisible worm, That flies in the night In the howling storm: Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy: And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy. Yes, there is a strong tradition of literary roses that have been studied over and over and over. If we had room, I could give you rose-inspired poems dating back to the Middle Ages, but they are rather long, so perhaps you'll settle for the brief survey above--Herrick 17th century; Burns 19th cent; Waller 17th century; Blake 19th century. Kate : )

Ang, I love the jewelry you've made! You are one busy lady. Marcia, I'm with you, I think the computer may be my biggest hobby......the internet is way toooo addictive!lol I started looking around the house for things I've done that I would consider to be a hobby, and I've come to the conclusion that I do a lot of dabbling with different things. I'll do a few items of something and then move on to something new that I've discovered!lol But, I do seem to have a Christmas theme of sorts going on: Here's a couple of Christmas swags I've done. Last year I painted holly on quite a few of these goblets and gave them away for gifts, but of course, saved a set for myself.;0) I've done a bit of cross stitching here and there. Made a few tree ornaments over the years too. These cinnamon dough ornaments still have a bit of scent after 8 or 9 years! I sewed and beaded my tree skirt. A couple of years ago, I etched some snowflakes onto 4" square glass, and made them into coasters, but I gave them all away. But I did keep this candle holder I etched. I've painted on wood as well. And I even made my own amaryllis pots with clay cut outs, ribbon and paint. The table underneath them is one we made and I tiled the top. It was made the right height to sit in front of the living room window for plants to enjoy the southern exposure in the winter. Every year, I make my own table centerpiece with evergreens from the yard. I also make one for my mom when we go up there for Christmas, as well as a pine wreath for her. Now for some non Christmas related hobbies. I've done a few plexiglass paintings. This is the bamboo one that I did last winter. Last year, I made this sign out of barn board, and it's hanging in the kitchen over the sink. I've done a number of silk arrangements over the years, this is my latest one. Now, the direction I seem to be going is, in redecorating my home, so I've been re-designing some furniture pieces that were no longer needed or were a bit out of date. So this is a picture of an old microwave cart that we didn't need anymore, but I re-designed it into a bar cart, with the carpentry help of my DH too.

Love the pictures, Sierra and Savonna. I knew that this topic would be coming up so, when I was in Las Vegas 2 weeks ago I took lots of pictures and these are a few I took that show what lights can do... At night the spotlights shining on this statue at Caesar's Palace really show the horses and their driver with his chariot. The next two pictures were taken inside the Mirage, in front of one of the restaurants. These glass plants were top lit. The first picture is taken without a flash (its a little fuzzy...I needed a tripod) and shows the colors of the glass. The second with a flash captures more of the detail on the glass pieces but not the same color shows up. The next two pictures were taken inside the Harrah hotel. Of course we had to go there to see Toby Keith's Bar and Grill. The first picture was taken with a flash and the auto setting...all the detail shows up. I set the camera onto fireworks, which gives no flash but a longer exposure time and tried to hold still since I had no tripod with me. I like this picture also even though it is a little blurrier. All day long the Bellagio hotel has a water feature set to music that plays every half hour or so. At night the water is lit up. Very well done show! Of course, I realized that the light under the showcase shows the importance of the object (ice cream) it is lighting up. I took these with the auto setting and no flash. They were giving samples away of one of the ice creams shown below. Was it ever hard to choose which ones to try. I came back 3 times while wandering the area and tried... the Fresh Pineapple... and the Chocolate Mouse Pie and the Tiramsu. All were very very good! Brenda

Sounds good...