Judith, I thank you so much for your kind words and we are keeping a few that have been able to cope on their own, but all the burdens of rosegrowing which we have experienced over the past few years have naturally pared the garden way back. We have had our share of RMV,the ravages of RRD, a myriad of fungi and insects, a blight that killed most of the Noisettes, and in the past few years, such very late and hard freezes in late spring that pruned some roses so far back, they never rebounded, so the garden began to look pathetic, and we knew we were not going to be able to maintain the laborious physical and monetary schedule we had, in the past, while acquiring so many roses and maintaining them. We needed a gardener 2-3 days per week, and sometimes more often, lots of fertilizer, pruning, using chemicals and our water bill was rivaling that of the national debt. We are slowly replacing our losses with a few evergreens, conifers, deciduous ornamental small trees and some lovely ornamental shrubs, e.g., camellias, tea olives, gardenias, etc. We still have many climbers and ramblers remaining, enough so that we will have a beautiful late April/early May show. We still love roses as much as ever and I love coming here to see what everyone else is doing but in our area secondary to the condition alluded to above, it is, unfortunately, a decision we did not come to lightly but growing and caring for hundreds of roses is a love we must leave to others.

Thank you all for the wonderful Birthday wishes! Friends and family came over and they even cooked the dinner,:) (Wow) not used to that! then we had cake & ice cream. So it turned out to be a really nice B`day! I want you all to know I appreciete how loving and thoughtful you all are, your the best! Karen

Sorry I missed your birthday, but I was not on the computer last week-end - I was having lobster in your honor! I hope your own lobster dinner went well, and I do believe that it is much better to have your lobster at home rather than at a restaurant. I'm only cooking it at home from now on. I hope you are continuing your celebration!! I'm looking forward to the pictures. Lars

It looks like I'm going to be freezing a lot of my lemons, as my tree is pretty much loaded at this point, and it won't be later in the year. I freeze the lemons whole and then defrost them in 10 second intervals in the MW - practically as good a fresh, but they do get a bit softer, which is great for limes, a bit less so for lemons, as it makes it a bit more difficult to zest. Nice to know that you are a fellow designer, Sleevendog! At one time I had hoped to be a set designer, and when I first moved to L.A., I was across the street from what had been MGM studios in Culver City, and I could see the MGM lion on top of one of their buildings from my kitchen window. It was no longer MGM by then, but the lion was still there, although it has been missing for some time. Kevin works there now and it is Sony Studios, but he unfortunately is not in any of the design positions. When I was a clothing designer in San Francisco, I also designed and made costumes for the stage, but never for movies. I will try to check out all of the stores recommended - I really should replace an office chair at home as well, now that I see more interesting options. I really wish I could get some of the dining chairs I designed for my house - or at least an occasional chair, but they would have to give me a deep discount. Thanks for your comment, Sally - that really makes me feel better! Sometimes I do not feel appreciated at work, except from my boss. If I get new chairs, I'll post photos, one way or another!