Mike! Everything looks wonderful!! I'm so happy for you that the cactus are going to bloom! The rainbow is such a bright, beautiful flower! The plants look great. And the other, which I'm blank on the name at the moment..lol.. looks like it has a ton of buds! Wow! cant wait to see the blooms! The pond is beautiful ! It looks like it's been there forever, with all the plants around it! What a cute little visitor! :=) gotta love them! We haven't seen any toads yet. No bullfrogs around here... but we do have the Colorado River toad that gets Huge! Now, why is the chair in the greenhouse empty? Were waiting for a picture of you and mom! You don't have to post mom here if she's shy, but you could email it to a few of us. ;-) Thanks for posting these! It's all so great! JoJo

There called "RISTAS" reeldoc.!!! Its what is done originally with garlic to let them dry out but works in the same way to ripen the peppers in the light of the window. Plus it look magnificent..lol Better than blinds.!! Arthur.

What a wonderful weekend I had in MI! Cathy and I told Sherry not to go to any trouble, just toss some clean sheet on the bed. Beds were made nice and comfy, but the food! Cherry pie, rhubarb pie, carrot cake, Kalhua chocolate mousse cake, pecan cinnamon rolls, molasses cookies, chicken salad, quiche, pizza, brats, breakfast soufflé, lemon ricotta pancakes with raspberry syrup. I gained 5 pounds just typing this. We had nice long visits, great times shopping, relaxing and playing with Dexter, the snuggledog. And dear, sweet Roger, he is a trooper. Wise man that he is would just roll his eyes and go with the flow. It was so good to see Annie and Elery again. And Annie surprised us with the new 100th Anniversary Edition of the Ball Blue book. That is one hard to find book. Thanks again Annie for keeping us safe when canning. I wholeheartedly second Sherrys statement. Meet CFers when and where you can. You will not regret it Peppi And I did like the chocolate cover bacon. Sort of a sweet/salty/crunchy thing with the little bits of bacon. Not sure I would go out of my way for it, but not offensive either.

I finally found the tiles that I believe are on this fireplace FYI - they are from Susan Jablong Designs. I have been on the phone with them for a number of design questions and I have to say they are incredibly pleasent to deal with. I have dealt with Emily (Susan's daughter) and she has just been so helpful as I have gone back and forth on my decisions as I always do, always second guessing my choices. I definately give her the patience of the year award. So here is the link in case you are interested: I considered going to their offices as they just had so many wonderful tile designs but it is five hours each way, but it was probably for the better as I think I would definately have had a more difficult time narrowing it down. Can't wait now to redo the kitchen, and the main bath, and the master bath... Here is a link that might be useful: Blush champagne tile