Eileen, I am hoping I will get avocados from a lone tree - I've done it before in Venice, and so it should not be a problem, although I was told that you need two trees or at least another tree nearby in the neighborhood, which I think I have a couple of doors down. I know there were other avocado trees in Venice. Pam, bromeliads are great for growing indoors because many of them do not like too much sun. A lot of them will bloom twice in one season, once they start to bloom. I have all of mine outside for space reasons, and many of them I have to protect from too much sunlight, or else the leaves will get burned. I have a similar problem with many of the orchids as well, especially the Phalaenopsis, which cannot handle much direct sun, if at all, but the flower spikes bloom for about six months! Since I don't have room to grow them indoors, I built some shelves in a fairly protected area outside the kitchen. I've had a bit of trouble with dendrobiums and oncidiums getting burned also, and so I have them in a semi-protected area, and they only get limited direct sun. All of my orchids that are blooming right now (except the epidendrums) are in the house, and so they will go into a separate photo folder that I will create later. Nancy, I might get some more proteas because they do well here, once protected from snails/slugs. I might try growing some from seeds. I saw a lot of proteas in Hawaii also, but none that I had not already seen here. Have you tried drying the flowers? Lars

I'm in the middle of trying to figure out whether to go 2cm or 3cm, and I didn't even realize that granite came in two different thicknesses until recently. I wish my fabricator had told me that I could decide because I just learned that the slabyard has both thicknesses available in the stones I'm considering. The funny thing is that I moved to So Cal from Connecticut about 5 yrs ago and have renovated kitchens in both places. In CT, it was never a question, I just got the 3cm and there was no laminated edge and conversely, when I moved to So Cal 5 yrs ago and renovated (yet another!) fixer-upper, no one ever asked which thickness I preferred, I just went to the slabyard, picked a slab and it happened to be 2cm. I never realized that there was a thickness option, or that there even was a difference. Duh!! What should've clued me in was that in So Cal there was a lot of discussion about which edge detail to choose. Because I had black honed granite in CT and like a simple, plain look, I chose the same when we moved to So Cal (and, to make matters trickier, at that time, plain black honed granite was pretty unheard of around here so I don't think the fabricator knew how to deal with it well). He asked me how I wanted the edge, and I told him that I wanted nothing fancy, just a plain eased edge....I was SOOOO disappointed when the counters were installed and I saw this thin seam running through the middle of the edge. I had no idea that they would put an edge over the slab and didn't get how that could happen. Of course, the fabricator, thinking this was standard and thinking I knew what I wanted, having done it before, didn't really explain and warn me strongly about the seam issue. For awhile, I couldn't understand what happened and what was the difference between the way my counters were made in CT vs. here in So Cal. Now I get it. This renovation (yes, we've moved into yet another fixer upper - last one!), I'll go with the 3cm, but from what I understand, I need to warn my cabinetmaker that I'm using 3cm because I've heard he needs to adjust the cabinets tp accept 3cm. That's another difference between east and west coast situations...in CT, the cabinetmaker assumed I was using 3cm, but here in So Cal, the cabinetmaker is assuming I'll use 2cm and needs me to warn him if I use the 3cm. Just something to think about for those perhaps in similar situations - remember to confirm the size of granite with your cabinetmaker, in case he doesn't ask.

Pictures can be wildly inaccurate, as can monitors. The 2 cm doesn't have to look scrawny. You can get a mitered edge if you want the chunky look. I like the stone. It's beautiful, and looks good with your red stain. Not so much with the butter. In fact, the butter is exactly the wrong color with it. Peachy white would be okay, as would a blue-gray. I also think, at least from what I can see in the picture, that the tile might be too close a match to use right next to it. Not sure on that.

marissa 16: Estone comes in 1/4" (floors/vertical only), 2 cm, and 3cm. You can laminate the 2 and 3 cm to get to 4 and 6 cm respectively. The appearance of laminated edges depends on the quality of the preparation, the clamping, the adhesive color match, and the color, particulate, and movement of the particular estone. This becomes much more art than science. For the record, I am not a fan of solid underlaymnent under estone or stone, plywood or other; it is too dimensionally unstable and incompatible. Strips maybe and keep it 1/8" away from edges.