Still waiting on my Purple Rose to open as well as my Luang Siam Yellow. Driving me crazy with the wait. But any day now. Here's a Purple Rose that opened that I had picked up for my sister. The flower buds are smaller than mine and looks like the petals are a little more pointed and jagged than what mine will be. Marie commented on the flower in the background of my seedlings picture on my seedling thread so I thought I'd post this update on that particular DR. Here's a pic I found on the internet of the Hassadee Red. What my Hassedee Red looked like the day it opened. What my Hassadee Red looked like after a couple of days. The blue edging faded way too quickly. It seems to be getting a darker magenta red the older it gets. I'll have to get a picture when the next bloom opens to show the difference. I was hoping the red would have been a more vibrant red. But I still like it. Kirk

Hi Laura, sorry I missed your post, you posted just 1 minute before I made my post haha! The beaches in bermuda were definitely the nicest I have ever seen. There were plenty of large rocks around the beaches, but the sand itself was really soft and fine. The beaches around my area dont compare at all! Definitely one of my favorite vacations even though I was only there for 5 days. My plumerias are doing really well. The cuttings you sent me are growing really well, the Scott Pratt is doing especially well, it put out a ton of growth this summer. The California sunset is doing well too, but I think I will give it more sun so it grows a little faster! My largest plumeria is approaching 13 feet tall (pot included) and is now the tallest tropical plant in my yard (even larger than the Adondila I bought!)so it's going to be a real challenge finding a place for that one inside. It has 3 inflos on it now but I can only take pictures of the blooms from my upstairs window! It's about a week or 2 away from blooming. Looks like it's going to have to get cut back next spring as much as I hate having to do that to my plumerias! I havent posted too many pics of my plumerias this year because they all bloomed so well last year that this year there have been barely any blooms at all. My plumeria Divine put out 2 flowers from the inflo that it made indoors and it is just now starting to make another inflo. My Pretty Princess has always been a late one to bloom and it's inflo is still a good month away from blooming. I hope it blooms before it's too late! Hopefully it will be a warm fall and nmaybe next summer the plumerias will all have enough growth to bloom like crazy again. I hope your plumerias and tropicals are all doing well! -Alex

I've been dealing with Mum's desire to "reclaim" her former independence, too, Scotland! It's been really tough for me. We went to my favorite aunt's funeral a couple of weeks ago. Mum is the last one of her age group standing. She enjoyed seeing her neices and nephews and people who were part of her circle. The visit to her home, however, brought on all sorts of "issues" I've been dreading. Her complete lack of planning for the dissolution of her estate was very clear to her. (In fact, she was stubbornly unwilling to address ANY of those important issues before her cancer was diagnosed!). She was all jazzed up to "sell things"; her way of trying to mop up the mess she left for my brother and me. "Those are really quite valuable, you know", "I have someone in mind for that table over there..." (the "someone" wasn't my brother or me and the table in question was the dining room table! and the silverware she was so hot to "sell" was our paternal grandmother's set). My brother coolly asked her how she was going to go about "selling things"; "I'll have a yard sale". "How are you going to organize it from 70 miles away?" "I'll have to come up here and stay for a few days". Of course she can't do that. She can't cook for herself, remember her pills or take care of her urostomy by herself... she wasn't really capable of really grasping the extent of her inability to be self-sufficient. It was wrenching to watch. But we were brutally honest with her about what was going to happen to things. She was told, unequivocally, that her unwillingness to get it done when she was able meant that WE would take care of it now. She would participate, but she would NOT be "in charge". My brother and I have spent the past 2 years getting her estate in order; isolating valuable assets and establishing powers of attorney for both legal and medical situations. It hasn't been easy, let me tell you! Painful though it may have been for her, she has to know that she's "off the case"... she dilly-dalleyed too long and neither my brother nor I have the time or inclination to be pulled through a knothole because she was unwilling to "take care of details". PERIOD. I thought I was going to lose my mind the weekend of the funeral. My brother, more removed from her daily care than I am, offered some excellent ways to "deal with her". It's helped immeasurably and I'm looking forward to another 2-3 weeks "off" while she stays with him. It's hard. I sympathize, and can offer little more than my own stories... hang in there.

Michelle, thanks for looking for us, we are always looking for deals here! Judith, dh was amazed how much we spent on c-ap! My friend went to Christmas tree shops over the weekend, and called me from the store, She had gone upstate, neat Tam, (have you heard from her??) to visit an aunt, and I made her promise to go. I gave her a short list..She is coming back Wed. I hope I find my camera card which I lost,,or I will have to buy a new one!!!I want to take pics of the goodies!