Unfortunatley, buford I get to pick none as far as the "reds" go. After looking around and seeing what was out of stock, I am content with going with Golden Celebration(just purchased), and I have Evelyn and Winchester Cathedral coming in the mail via High Country. My WS2000 just recently opened up it's 2nd flush and the wonderful scent is back, and while I was picking up a 2.5gal Golden Celebration, I saw 1 WS2000 hiding amongst all the other roses......absolutely amazed he was still there. I was VERY tempted to pick him up and have him as a potted rose as well, so that I could take him with me when I eventually move in a little over a year....but I held back. I pulled him out into an open space so somebody else could appreciate his beauty and scent and could enjoy him. How would you compare The Prince and Tradescant's fragrance to WS2000's? I will hold off on them until next year...hopefully my nursery has one of them...if not I will get one online somewhere. Prospero comes to mind as well. They all have unique qualities and color variations from what I have seen. One I rarely hear from.....is one of the originals......The Squire(77'). He seems REALLY red on some goofy looking foilage, but the bloom looks nice as well. Like many of the Austins.......the "reds" will be no different. I will have to blindly fire at my toes and see which one is left after it's all said and done.

Just a follow up on the "no gifts please" issue, because it is something we all always agonize over, isn't it? It went as we predicted. Our very closest friends got me birthday gifts (in groups of 2 or 3). These are the people with whom we are so close that we give each other gifts for big occasions, party or no party, so we ignore "no gifts, please" if there is a party, because just as we aren't giving a gift because of the invitation, we aren't refraining from giving one because of the invitation, either. Our very, VERY closest friends also got us anniversary gifts (one from a group of three couples, one from one couple) -- same circumstance. Most people either brought a bottle of wine, amaretto, or champagne, a small birthday and/or anniversary gift (about like you would give for a hostess gifts -- candy, a funny little purse mirror, etc.), or nothing. Several (whether or not they could attend the party) made contributions to various charities. Another factor that may have made a difference was the gift my husband gave me -- the best ever. It is an album of stories and memories he asked people to send. Not only do I love it more than anything else he could have thought of, I like the idea that that would help people feel like their contribution to the album WAS a gift -- and they are right! Anyway, the bottom line is that I think that whether or not you put "no gifts, please" on an invitation doesn't make much difference; those who would anyway will anyway, and others might bring something small, but about the size they would probably bring as a hostess gift anyway. The real function is for the hosts to avoid feeling embarrassment about giving themselves a party for a gift-y occasion. So I guess in the future I will stick to no reference at all to gifts, EXCEPT where we are both hosts and also the guests of honor. I still feel, also, that people LIKE giving gifts to their friends. And I'll close with a funny story to that effect from this birthday: one day, about 11:30 am, a couple of weeks before the party, I called my friend G, on her cell phone, to see if she wanted to go to lunch. No answer, so I called A. No answer, so I called N. No answer - !!! "Why don't my friends take my calls," I thought, feeling very unpopular. So I called C, and she and I went to lunch. The next day, G called me, laughing. She said, "Sorry I didn't get back to you until today. I bet you wanted to go to lunch. I was out with A and N, shopping for your birthday present!" They had figured it out and wanted to share the laugh with me. (Good thing I had tried all three of them, eh?) They had fun shopping together, and I love the gift (it's a glass necklace) because it makes me think of them having a good time because of me.

We're another couple who got married in a hurry by a judge. We'd been living together for years and really hadn't planned to marry but, his office wanted to transfer him from Montreal to Atlanta. I'd been living in Montreal for 15 years but I was and am an American citizen. His company had an attorney who was going to help DH navigate the path to a green card. I found out that if we were married I could simply go to the consulate and request status for him so it was a no brainer to get married. I mean, it wasn't that we didn't love each other or have a serious commitment, we owned a house together up there for many years and I brought the mortgage papers to the consulate to prove it, it's just that we weren't in any kind of hurry. We might have gotten around to it without the push or we might not have.

Happy Halloween, we've got candy ready for the little ghosts and goblins tonight. We woke up to 31 degrees with a feel like of 21 this morning. Our first freeze is usually around Thanksgiving. A few of my plants got brought inside but most did not. It's been raining for days and the pots were just too heavy for just me to deal with by myself. I have a lot of new plants from local swaps and sales and my brugmansias had a lot of buds finally. Oh well, I'll see the damage later today. Annie, thanks for hosting a fun month and Congrats to the game winners.