Thanks Jim! I read the link. Even though aloes weren't mentioned specifically as one of the susceptable plants it sure sounds like the funny looking growth could be 'Asters Yellow' or something similar.

Is this the one you wanted? I think its called "I can't Remember" Just a line to say I'm living, that I'm not among the dead, though I'm getting more forgetful and mixed up in the head. I got used to my arthritis, to my dentures I'm resigned, I can manage my bifocals, but God I miss my mind. For sometimes I can't remember when I stand at the foot of the stairs, if I must go up for something or have I just come down from there. And before the fridge so often, my poor mind is filled with doubt, have I just put food away, or have I come to take some out. And there's times when it is dark with my nightcap on my head, I don't know if I'm retiring or just getting out of bed. So, if it's my turn to write you, there's no need for getting sore. I may think that I've written, and don't want to be a bore. So remember that I love you, and wish that you were near. Now it's nearly mail time so must say goodbye dear. Here I stand beside the mail box, with a face so very red, instead of mailing you my letter, I had opened it instead! Author Unknown Here is a link that might be useful: I can't remember

Ah, that clarifies something about my Perle D'Or, that it has a lot of noisette in it. Mine does survive my zone 5 winter more or less (maybe 6 years old, own root), but it never gets above knee high and only puts out a bloom or two at irregular intervals in the season. It sure doesn't bounce back from bring pruned to the ground like the rest of my HTs and floribundas or hybrid musks. I guess I should be glad it blooms at all, since Madame Alfred Carriere doesn't bloom at all after losing all its canes over winter, but it puts out monster large growth all summer. Perle D'Or must channel its energies from those few canes it puts out into a few blooms instead. Cynthia

My quirk is that I don't go to bed to sleep until my body tells me I need to sleep so sometimes that means I can stay awake for 48 hours but then when I sleep I sleep for a good 8-12 hours. One day last week I shockingly slept for 16 hours! My brother is the same and so is one of my nieces. We call it the family curse. When I was working 60 hours a week I slept normal night time hours because I was tired enough to go to bed. Yesterday I went to be at noon and woke up at 10 pm and I have been up since (it is now 7:30 pm) If I have an appointment or need to go out I have no problem and will be ready to go. When I lived alone I would do my housework, cook, bake, do laundry at night. Now my style is cramped since my brother and my cousin moved in. My cousin has her bed set up in the living room so during the night while she sleeps I am sitting here in the dark, trying not to make noise. Once, when I was in my 20s I couldn't sleep except for a few cat naps, this lasted for 3 weeks. My Doctor wanted me to take sleeping pills and I wouldn't take them. That was a miserable time for me, not getting any deep sleep. Eventually it worked itself out. I should have been born in another time zone haha