Thank you everyone. Your thoughts mean alot to me. Jackie, the garden is coming along beautifully except that the cane borers are at my roses again. They burrow into the new growth turning it black and ugly. It didn't ruin everything last year so I'm pulling off the dead stems and hoping for the best. We're behind you in blooms here. Pompon de Paris will start soon then I expect the Ceciles. Other things like Candituft, Ceanothus, Daffodils, Tulips, Rosemary, fruit trees etc. are blooming. Fortunately I was really ahead in my work before getting the siatica so the garden looks pretty good. Ofcourse there is always tons to do. I've been forbidden to dig but have sneaked in a very few digs. Yesterday I planted perrienels sitting down. Michael bought me the most beautiful flat of Blue Bird Delphiniums. I'm really so much better. I just can't go out and try to be wonder woman, which is why I hurt myself in the first place.

I've been enjoying these posts. Naturally I'm one of the "population" as well. Usually I don't work with graph paper and ruler, but rather go out in the zone I'm planning, with stakes and possibly flagging tape, and perhaps a measuring tape if it's a really big job. Smaller areas just get the eyeball and sometimes a good deal of thought. I think a garden designer, professional or not, can be defined as a person who understands that whether a plant is in one spot, or else a foot away, makes a difference. Makes THE difference. We are finally enjoying gorgeous sunny weather and I've been out digging in the big garden, amending the gray clay with copious amounts of old hay, and planting. It's a slow job: today I got one rose ('Mme. Jules Bouche'), one rosemary, one lavender, a white iris, a "mentuccia"--some kind of catmint?--in the ground in my five hours of labor, but still, this is what is going to turn this former steep weedy field into a garden one day. I had one little area I was trying to make sense of. It was a short, wedge-shaped strip with the garden road above and a narrow path below, bounded on one end by a thriving young 'Cl. Maman Cochet' on a pergola entrance, and on the other end by a young Italian pine with Artemisia abrotanum growing around it. I had amended this ground and planted various things there last fall and the year before that. Two roses, 'Camelia Rose' and a lovely Tea, perhaps 'Dr. Grill'; a common privet above, a rosemary, a pink, some odds and ends. The roses both died. A couple of stakes mark plants that are no longer there. The rosemary, pinks, and privet made it. The privet is too low below the road for comfort. There's nothing at the corner of the pergola entrance, so I planted another rosemary there. In spite of earlier amendment, the ground looks unprosperous, and I think the roses' deaths are partly due to stress from the bad soil, so I dug and amended generously, not being yet finished. I decided that there was room only for one rose, but want to add a shrub honeysuckle, L. fragrantissima, to the green border above, joining the privet, which I won't move, and rosemary. I need a couple more green shrubs for the border besides the honeysuckle. I may have to move the pink, perhaps on the slope of the rose hole once I've re-dug it. All the amendment raises the ground a bit above the path, which is pleasant, but my plans leave a low open area beside 'Cl. Maman Cochet' that I don't know what to do with. It's too small for a rose, but something choice needs to go there. It feels sheltered. It sits at a curve in the path. Actually I think it might be just the right place for a bench. I love this kind of problem solving, and it seems a very reasonable activity to me. I consider I'm spending my time fruitfully. And, even though DH and I appear to be the only people on earth who enjoy my garden, still I'm improving the soil and helping prevent slides, and giving a home to a good variety of roses, some of them uncommon. Melissa

I completely agree with raehelen and trebruchet. That fabricated stone price is really good, and if you wait for another piece it 1) may not be quite as pretty or 2) may be much more expensive. It the scheme of things, it will look fine and once you put everything together, you'll be surprised it probably wont even bother you. As an alternative, you could do a soap dispenser in one hole and a hole cover on the other, but I think the escutcheon plate would look more delibrate and planned so I'd do that. As far as the faucet - I just got two Delta Cassidy for my master bath build and installed them this week. (I got the 1997LF version which is just like that one but a few inches taller and is called a bar/prep faucet. Needed a little more height since I have semi-recesesed sinks) and they really are GORGEOUS looking in person, especially at the price. Every remodel is a bit of give and take -- For example, I wanted undermount sinks, but due to drawer configuration in the sink bases, it was near to impossible, and "settled" with Decolav Semi-Recessed. Looking at them now, I wonder why I was so doubtful since they look spectacular. Sometimes having to shift the vision makes it even better :) Don't sweat the small stuff, get the granite piece you love, at the price that's too good to pass up, and pair with the great faucet (Even with the escutcheon plate). It will look great.

Hi friends. Today was a great day, a very long day and my feet hurt so much I had to take my shoes off and walk without them for a while. The weather was absolutely beautiful! What an experience. First we were able to go into the paddock that is where all the owners go along with their horses. First my husband was only able to go but then an extra ticket came along and I was there too. Our horse was Funny Feeling, the 4th race number 10. And guess what she won!! Everything happened very fast, we were escorted to the winner's circle and they took a picture of all of us. When I get my pictures I'll download them. A picture of our horse winning will be sent to us. The purse was only $50,000 but what a race. Pete and I got a picture of us holding the trophy. By the way when I picked up that hat at Dees' (what a terrible experience) my hat was not done right, it took them 3 times to fix it, still not right but I'm accepting what I cannot change. I didnt get the pink hat I wore the one I bought at Macys and I got compliments all day long. So I've learned no stressing about sill stuff. Tomorrow will be a terrible weather day but I'm under cover but my sons and soninlaw and nephew are not. We bought them rain gear, etc. Talk to you tomorrow. The race starts at 5:45 but the commentators will begin at 4. Hope we win or come close and if not the experience was worth a lot. Thank you everyone!