these are all so good! Michelle Kwan - I think it would be a graceful silvery-lavender hybrid tea with long stems and a sweet scent Margaritaville - a lime-green tinged white floribunda that has big blowsy blossoms and a citrus tea fragrance (for Jimmy Buffett) Mother Teresa - would be a warm white with golden yellow reverse that would seem to glow from a distance, with a classic rose scent. Nolan Ryan - a bright cardinal red climber that throws long canes, blooms up a storm, is extremely tough and loves sunshine (fragrance not important) Katie Couric - would be a petite hybrid tea with yellow and hot pink striped flowers, covered with abundant blooms all season, and a sweet fruity fragrance Jeri in Texas

Gardenspice, sorry this is so late, but I never saw your post! We had a "friend" who was going through a rough patch with his wife and he had just lost his job. They only had one vehicle and I offered to loan him my green '97 Sebring Convertible to use whenever he wanted,we have three cars for the two of us, so it wouldn't be a hardship to us. After about a year I offered to sell it to him for $2500, we drew up a promissory note and we both signed it in April of '09. I gave him two years to pay it off, $100/month for 25 months. In October of that year he hadn't paid a dime and I filed an addendum to the original Promissory note because he hadn't paid per the contract. He skipped town and moved to Indiana with my car without making a single payment. I found out where he worked and had him served at his work with legal papers for the money. While the filing was happening, I called several shows, Judge Alex was the first to call on a Tuesday, the show was taping on Thursday! But when they got us there within days (which is why a lot of people aren't prepared when they come to court). I totally thought it was a joke until I went to the courthouse and they confirmed that a guy had been in a few days earlier to look for my file. I was called on a Tuesday and flew out Thursday morning. They flew me to the FOX studios and had a meet and greet with my handler and given $35 cash for spending money for the night. They also provided a hotel room. They flew me in but not Jim, who really wanted to be there, drove the 6 hours or so to meet me there. The next day they were taping and did my hair and makeup and fed me about 6 Red Bulls to get my emotions rolling, but I don't get upset easily, so the script they wanted me to say I flubbed up so bad it was left on the cutting room floor. How these court shows work is that the people really ARE real, and Judge Alex dismissed my case without predjudice, which means I can resue him when the two year Promissory note was cleared. We were each given $150 for our appearances and up to your state law for the car (mine happened to be $2500. Now, at least on JA's show, the money comes from the the network and goes to the winner and the defendant would have to pay nothing to me. But could he keep his big, fat mouth shut he would have gotten off scott-free and would no longer be required to pay me anything. But the dumbass waved the Addendum to the judge and screwed himself out of $2500. The two years went by and voila! There was a cashiers check from the weasel. I am glad it is all over, but I miss my Green Machine, I hated to see it go.

Sorry Frieda, I didn't mean to digress from the main topic! 'Love' was too strong a word. I really like the Victorian era, but I like a great many other time periods too. Anything not of my own time I like; I find escape in books from other places and times. The oversentimentality is what really estranges me from Dickens work. I am, unfortunantly, not one of those people who can 'look on the bright side' of things. I haven't read a great deal by him (only on my fourth now), but I do seem to prefer his later/darker work (said to be produced in his 'maturity'). Much of that dreadful optimisim seems to have cooked out of him by that time. That is why I liked Bleak House too; it was darker. Little Dorrit seems, so far, to have some of those same qualities about it, which I so like. ;-) It also bothers me how he keeps repeating themes and in his books. It's like he found a pattern that turned out to be popular so he kept repeating it, with just small changes made from book to book. And his characters are sometimes absurdly unrealistic. They seem to be more like personifications than real persons, if you get my meaning. re: 'Feeble and Vapid Females': I have to wonder if they (like most of his characters) were all based on a person Dickens knew? I don't think he meant to make all the women seem so empty. I think I read somewhere that these sort of characters were based on his sister-in-law, with whom he had a close relationship. I don't mind feeble and vapid females at all. Maybe because I know one and am close with her (at least she is not headless, lol!). "Actually, the more I know about Dickens the man, the less I want to reread his works -- sometimes ignorance is bliss." Why exactly? I think I know what you mean. I recently found out that he was paid by the section for his serialized stories. So he wasn't just long-winded? He wrote because of the money? It saddens and annoys me when I hear an author is only in it for the money and doesn't really want to contribute to literature or create any legacy/history for posterity. CMK

Some I'd consider in the "friend" category: (The late) Rodger Kent (Radio/TV personality, businessman and was a very close friend for a lot of years), Barry Zevan (who I almost hired one time, a very interesting and cordial fellow) and Jesse Ventura (like him or not, a very intelligent man). Others I've met: Baron von Raschke, Al De Rusha, Jim Brunzell (all of AWA and other wrestling fame), various other television and radio personalities. Met a number of broadcasters and production people at a monthly breakfast where both past and present TV folks would meet and shoot the breeze. Great time and tremendously interesting to people who were involved in and interested in broadcasting and production. (And they are/were not adverse to telling a few gossipy stories about other "personalities"!) A number of them were pioneers in broadcasting. There's really not a lot of "new" broadcasting, where, in the 40s, 50s, 60s etc, they were finding their way into the medium. Creating new shows, ideas and didn't have the special effects available today. Broadcasting was a passion for these people. They weren't just in it for a multi-million dollar contract like people are today.