The main thing I remember about "Catcher in the Rye" is that I didn't like it. Not the first time, not the second time, and most especially not the third time which is when I re-read it to see if age [mine] had improved it. It was dreary and induced depression as well as being depressing. I objected to it when it was included in DD's list of must-reads in her junior year -- the preceding year several local teens committed suicide. 9 of the 12 books on that list were of or about or simply were depressing, and I was appalled at the lack of emphatic comprehension shown by the instructor/s who chose the list. We can be deeply influenced by what we read, and adolescents more so. Interestingly, Grapes of Wrath was also on that list, and I don't consider it a depressing book. Graphic, yes; memorable, yes; but one's spirit isn't dragging earthworms after reading it. Like Suzi, I began reading young, and was fluent long before school-age. No one censored my reading, although one principal did require a written book report for most of the books I borrowed from the school library. He dropped that requirement after I turned in a report on the "Moonstone." Apparently he hadn't realized that it was among the shelved books.

I don't think so. I look at the catalog photos and think about how I hope it is going to bloom. These bloomed for the first time this year, blue one has more lavender shades than I wanted (Mariposa Skies) looked Dark Blue in photo, guess it's mostly blue after all. I love the second one; it's even more gorgeous today (Chasing Rainbows). I don't think I looked at the names until I saw the photo unless it was subconscious. I do like the names though.

I've joined the Bretzel Roll club! After reading this thread (well, I have to admit I didn't even finish reading it) I headed straight to the kitchen and started making these rolls. I was planning to make a recipe for dinner from a French cookbook that has a mustard cream sauce, and I thought, what better roll to have with that than a bretzel roll. I didn't have any pretzel salt, and didn't want to go to the store, so I just used regular Kosher salt. The rolls were a hit, but I think they would have been much better had I used Pretzel salt. By he way, my son commented at dinner that the rolls went great with that mustard cream sauce, so that mission was accomplished. Thanks for this thread and the recipe, cause I missed the first one. Two questions - what exactly is pretzel salt? Is it just a coarse ground salt, or is there something else about it that makes it pretzel salt, and are they supposed to be called bretzel rolls or pretzel rolls? Sally

I was so happy to see that I'm not the only one who does things like this. It usually happens about 3 weeks in when I'm really striving to be health conscious and have cleared out all the sweet snacks but fruit. I confess...last week when someone here wrote about caramel apples I really craved caramel. I remembered there might be some Kraft squares from LAST YEAR way back in the cupboard. They were there, but they were..well, stale. However, I found if I put a square in the microwave for 11 seconds, then flattened it out with a spoon and wrapped it around a whole walnut I had myself a quasi "turtle" treat. Luckily, I had only 5 caramels or I would have eaten a bunch, and they really weren't that great.... But I really chuckled when I read this post. Necessity is the mother of invention! My sister has admitted to mixing peanut butter in a paper cup with powdered sugar once when she woke up in the middle of the night with a mad craving for a Reese's cup! LOL