Hi Elmire, I've thought about this some too, and as I've looked through various pictures I've tried to define what I do and don't like. I tend to like flowers, period. What I like best probably depends on the distance I'm looking at the plant from. Up close, a frilly picotee edge is the greatest thing... but from a distance, a simple single flower probably has the greatest impact. I like big yellow centers and no visible centers, both. I like both singles and doubles, but overall I'd rather have more semi-doubles than anything else, and I like them even better if their petals have some waviness to them. A rose with a subtle color blend to a darker or lighter color on the edge appeals to me hugely... though if the entire yard were composed of those kinds of flowers, there would be too much competition between them. So just a few Mrs. Dudley Cross roses (or roses of those types), sitting perhaps right next to Duchesse De Brabant to help point out the sublime in Mrs. Dudley Cross. I have always liked roses, but less so the hybrid tea forms than their smell. The brief amount of time I had Belinda's Dream with the same form, though, I liked it plenty. It looks especially nice with roses of other forms in a vase. I liked the effects of the tiny Rose Rosette to add variety to a vase of flowers, too. Overall, if I had to name just one favorite flower form, I'd probably go with a rhododendron, especially those with a bit of a frilly and/or picotee edging to the individual flowers within the truss. I love rhododendrons, huge trusses and small ones both. Rhododendrons don't withstand drought well, however, so I wouldn't suggest getting started with them if you can't give them plenty of water during a drought. Oh, no, maybe I should have said the one favorite was a camellia, all kinds of camellias... And daffodils! The Ice Follies variety is pretty much a perfect flower. But peonies (of all kinds) can't be bested by any other flower! Oh, I forgot to say how wonderful the tiny-leaved karume azaleas look when they are covered in a blanket of tiny flowers. They make for spectacular arrangements in a vase too. I like flowers, period. In a mood to really look and appreciate, I can get excited with just a single bloom from a native woods violet. And at that moment, it seems that nothing could best the simple woods violet. I guess the real luxury is in having a good variety of flowering forms, and especially in having them at various times of the year, which roses and camellias are both good at. Though I do have one rhododendron that blooms a bit every fall. I can't think of any flowers I actually don't like, though irises are probably fairly low on the list. I have stronger opinions on garden design than on the flowers themselves. (I'm not into geometrical/formal gardens so much as very informal ones.) Mary

Awwwwww, these are all soooo cute. And very well-coordinated. ; ) Our whole family oohed, ahhhed, and giggled over your posts. : ) Our Feliz (you can sing her song with me: "Feliz naughty-dog...") is a three year old poodle-something that we got a year ago. I tease that she's crossed with a fool, which makes her a "foodle". She's a *great dog and has been an incredibly good fit for our family. Believe it or not, she does occasionally peel herself off the furniture to help clean up the kitchen. She especially likes helping "pre-rinse" the dishes as they're loaded into the DW. I think we'll have to match our floors to the dirt, since fluffy white flooring is definitely out of the question. :-) I was over to the house today, tacking up all kinds of paint chips. We're going to have to repaint pretty much everything downstairs, so it'll be a fresh start. Everywhere. Fun, but a bit overwhelming. It's an old house with high ceilings. Painted woodwork. Wood floors (that need refinishing.) Quite a bit of light in most of the rooms. The kitchen is a bit darker though, having a window on the north side and being in the middle of the run of the rooms. We'll be opening the kitchen some, so it needs to work with the whole scheme. Whatever that is. Maybe I should build off of Olivia instead?

I have expensive inside mount shutters over kitchen sink area....3 panes across. The window installer said I had to hire a company to take out and replace the shutters before installing new windows. The windows will be removed from the outside of the house, not inside. I just don't trust the shutters being removed and replaced correctly after all this moving around. I live in Maryland and the existing windows I want replaced are 27 years old. Is anyone using a national window company to deal with this problem successfully WITHOUT removing shutters?

Get an obscure window film like "blue chip" from a box store. It will let light in and keep it looking like a window without a view inside. (We have it on a bathroom window) I would not put anything black on or around the window, it will make it look like you are missing glass.