Happy Birthday Acorn! Although not quit that many years but 47 years and one day ago, a nurse in the maternity ward said the same thing to me but wanted to send me home! All the best. Anneliese

Ha-ha, practice run. (You WERE kidding, right, Brenda?) Actually the whole ordeal is in 3 stages. Stage 1 will be the 25th, in which the ortho and neuro surgeons will go in through the back and remove a bit of bone from my spinal cord (been there since before birth and has neatly split the cord in 2.), then de-tether the cord, de-compress the bottom spinal joint (the only lumbar joint not fused during my initial scoliosis surgery, age 13, in which 13 intervertebral joints were fused), and lay some of the hardware for the new fusion. On Sept. 5 the ortho will go in through my abdomen and remove the L5-S1 disc (and possibly L4-L5 as well), then place one or more cages filled with bone morphogenic protein into the disc space(s). A bone graft will be taken from the pelvic crest and placed between vertebrae for fusion. Then, same day, stage 3, he'll flip me and go in the back again to cut out a wedge of bone and re-angle my lumbar (so I can stand upright again!). Then he'll attach a couple of bent rods to the vertebrae with screws, plus 2 long screws into the pelvis. All the orthopedic work is somewhat contingent upon the neuro part going right in the first op. Sandy, it will be a couple months before I'll be allowed to do any exercises, other than walking around the house to get meals, bathe, and go to the bathroom. Oh, and to lounge by the pond in my new zero gravity reclining chaise. (Gotta get me a shade umbrella!) But you can bet I'll do all my exercises when I get 'em. Thanks for all and any well-wishes and prayers. Mary, congrats on the great news about grandbaby! Enjoy! Sharon

veilchen: yes in general it is milder here, because of the costal location (We have the sea all around us ...so it takes longer time to get cold here (water takes longer time to cool down than land surfaces) than places with inland climate) and as long the the west wind blows and we have a constant stream of low pressures coming in from west it is mild here 34-45 degrees most of the winter. But every year a high pressure builds up and the bitter cold from east and north comes our way and temps drops below -16F- -10F or more for weeks sometimes months. And then it is certainly a zone 5 here and I choose roses accordingly. Only push the zones in sheltered locations and south facing walls. (Last winter was more like a zone 8 winter ...never seen that before here!!!).I always hope the winter is going to be mild ... At the end of winter in February and march we see very low temps since the ocean has become so much colder ... but yes a zone 5 with inland climate is much colder for longer time than here since the cold are more constant and comes earlier than here where we see great fluctuations. I love Papa Meilland. For me it is the quintessential red rose. Dark red, with a sheen like velvet! And a very, very strong perfume. Perfume Exceptional as Meilland says... It may not be an easy rose to grow (very mildew-prone here) and the plants are very small and barely hardy here. I have a few groups with 3-5 plants in my garden and a row of 12 in my cutting garden so I can cut one of these wonderful red roses many times during the season. There are many better HTs out there that are more disease resistant and hardier than this and looks better as garden plants...but that exceptional strong rose perfume and the velvety petals make forgive the flaws this rose have. And sometimes I am lucky enough to capture the beauty of almost perfect flower like this one... I really do like all classes of roses ... but I prefer roses with a very strong scent. Yes I also like the glowing colors on the Autumn picture. It may not be very sharp and a bit out of focus, but it did not make the impression worse since it captured the essence of Autumn some of the places I go fishing (Another one my hobbies). I sometimes make large prints of some of my pictures and frame them. I have really bought better cameras and lenses and hope you will enjoy some of the results next season. And no I do not Hibernate ... These days I really try to get in better shape so I can handle working harder ... making gardens for my clients (which takes good strength, especially a strong back and stronger shoulders)... I swim, do Pilates and work out with weights and work on better and healthier eating habits. I have lost 45 pounds during the last 15 weeks. I also need to take some courses so I can make some good homepages. One for my garden design business and one about the joy of gardening and roses. And another one about flyfishing and flytying (I am one of the best fly tiers in Northen Europe and have won many awards for my innovative designs). So I certainly do not have time to hibernate. Soon the holidays are coming and I am visiting friends in Chicago and Iowa. Hope to get to meet Foghorn Leghorn and maybe Aliska? Take Care all of my rose friends on this forum. Niels

Hi everyone! Thanks for the birthday wishes! As you can see, i've been busy and haven't been on the computer for a couple of days. We had a shower planned for Sandy and my mother is here for the weekend, and other stuff going on, so i just haven't been here. It was a good birthday. My first present came at about 5:00 a.m. when i heard "Mrrrrow!" outside my bedroom window. Java brought me a dead bird. How sweet of her.... Someone said that maybe she misunderstood and thought it was my "bird"day. Grooooooooooooooan! LOL I got lots of birthday hugs at school and the kids sang over the intercom. A couple of older girls gave me a box of chocolates and a homemade card. We had our shower for Sandy that evening. My birthday was the cover plot, so she showed up with presents for me and got presents for her instead! The doctor told her "any day now" last week, even though her due date isn't until June 17th, so i was hoping the baby would come on my birthday, but i guess this one wants its own date, to heck with grandma! :) We're still waiting. Gifts for me included an adirondack chair and a crabapple tree from Eddie and Sandy. I think they might have it planned for me to sit under the tree with the baby! LOL They also gave me some gardening tools and a few plants. My sister-in-law gave me some magnetic photo frames for baby pictures, and i got gift certificates from local nurseries as well. Just while i was writing this, i remembered that my mother-in-law had handed me a gift on Friday before the shower and i'd forgotten about it in all the commotion, so i just went to open it - some stepping stones and a garden plaque. :) I'll have to call her up and say thanks. No, Sharon, i was not freezing my (54-year) old butt off at the lake! LOL Even Mike thinks it's too darn cold to bother going out. There are lots of disappointed tourists around here this year! Thanks again, everyone - you all make birthdays a lot more special! :)