veilchen: yes in general it is milder here, because of the costal location (We have the sea all around us ...so it takes longer time to get cold here (water takes longer time to cool down than land surfaces) than places with inland climate) and as long the the west wind blows and we have a constant stream of low pressures coming in from west it is mild here 34-45 degrees most of the winter. But every year a high pressure builds up and the bitter cold from east and north comes our way and temps drops below -16F- -10F or more for weeks sometimes months. And then it is certainly a zone 5 here and I choose roses accordingly. Only push the zones in sheltered locations and south facing walls. (Last winter was more like a zone 8 winter ...never seen that before here!!!).I always hope the winter is going to be mild ... At the end of winter in February and march we see very low temps since the ocean has become so much colder ... but yes a zone 5 with inland climate is much colder for longer time than here since the cold are more constant and comes earlier than here where we see great fluctuations. I love Papa Meilland. For me it is the quintessential red rose. Dark red, with a sheen like velvet! And a very, very strong perfume. Perfume Exceptional as Meilland says... It may not be an easy rose to grow (very mildew-prone here) and the plants are very small and barely hardy here. I have a few groups with 3-5 plants in my garden and a row of 12 in my cutting garden so I can cut one of these wonderful red roses many times during the season. There are many better HTs out there that are more disease resistant and hardier than this and looks better as garden plants...but that exceptional strong rose perfume and the velvety petals make forgive the flaws this rose have. And sometimes I am lucky enough to capture the beauty of almost perfect flower like this one... I really do like all classes of roses ... but I prefer roses with a very strong scent. Yes I also like the glowing colors on the Autumn picture. It may not be very sharp and a bit out of focus, but it did not make the impression worse since it captured the essence of Autumn some of the places I go fishing (Another one my hobbies). I sometimes make large prints of some of my pictures and frame them. I have really bought better cameras and lenses and hope you will enjoy some of the results next season. And no I do not Hibernate ... These days I really try to get in better shape so I can handle working harder ... making gardens for my clients (which takes good strength, especially a strong back and stronger shoulders)... I swim, do Pilates and work out with weights and work on better and healthier eating habits. I have lost 45 pounds during the last 15 weeks. I also need to take some courses so I can make some good homepages. One for my garden design business and one about the joy of gardening and roses. And another one about flyfishing and flytying (I am one of the best fly tiers in Northen Europe and have won many awards for my innovative designs). So I certainly do not have time to hibernate. Soon the holidays are coming and I am visiting friends in Chicago and Iowa. Hope to get to meet Foghorn Leghorn and maybe Aliska? Take Care all of my rose friends on this forum. Niels

Oh, yes, I'm feeling far better today than a few days ago. I was really ambushed by the blues this year for some reason. It's been tough year in a few respects. Financially: I had much less freelance work than I need to support us. So there was a lot of added stress. All is fine now, though. Romantically: Also disheartening. But I am stunningly healthy and I have wonderful children who only make me a little crazy. Today is Alice's other winter formal. Alice is a trooper. She's been beset this week by a sty on her eye (just beginning to bloom), a cold sore (just fading), a chest cold (still hacking), and the high likelihood that she and three other girls will look like the hot pink bridesmaid quartet at the dance tonight. She learned on Thursday that 3 other girls have her exact dress in hot pink. She is still looking forward to a fun evening. We gave her a spray on tan last night. I wouldn't let her get acrylic nails or a real tan in a booth. Mean mom! I'm playing fairy godmother to my little Cinderellie. The mice are hard at work hemming her dress and the bluebirds are fluttering around the room. ;) Lou, I know you've had a much more difficult year than anyone deserves. And you do it all with aplomb and joy. A good example for dour me.

Shareclub usually meets in the boardroom of a daycare behind a Lutheran church, while the caretaker cleans. When we arrived tonight - door locked. Called the caretaker - he's sick. So we arranged for a room in a nearby library, at a fee of $26.50 for a non-profit group. Usually about 20 there, only about 14 tonight (probably some were missed by the notifying person at the door of the daycare). We've been meeting for years - usually have met where room is free. This is the first time that we've had to pay, that I'm aware of and I've been attending for about 7 years, I think. On return home, female canine (changing her title to "feckless canine") had torn the bottom out of a grocery bag hanging on the kitchen chair, chocolate bar wrapper strewn all over floor, she'd eaten some of it. When she was here some time ago, pulled a bag of choc. covered almonds off of a kitchen chair, ate quite a few, threw up after a while. Regurgitated almonds, even though (still) choc. covered, are not an appealing dish. She doesn't like being left alone - the other day, she'd pulled the garbage bag all apart, strewing junk all over the kitchen floor. After my return, I made the mistake of giving a tart a minute of microwave - to smoke when I opened the door, and some raisins rather charred. Glad it wasn't yesterday - or I'd have thought it an inauspicious start to my new year. ole joyful

Thanks again guys... I took the Bernina in and they made and adjustment right on the spot and even gave me a free pack of needles and it worked fine there... of course the minute I try to use it at home, well... we'll see what happens. The lady told me not to threaten it or use bad words because the machine will misbehave even worse! I'll try to be good... I ended up not having to work the second job last night... another guy showed up because he misread the schedule and since he doesn't have a car and I do and only live 15 minutes away, I let him stay and I traded days with him :o) Lars, I know enough to know that Mr. Foxworthy's first name is Jeff and not John :-p Nice try though.... maybe you were on coffee break when you had your redneck training session... I bet you also missed the lesson on how to spit tobacco into an empty beer can and how to keep your double wide on the ground during a hurricane as well :o) Partymusic, I'm sorry nobody has done anything for you in the last 7 years... sometimes I wish we here on the CF could start our own neighborhood or compound or something so we could all be together and enjoy and celebrate and all that happy stuff :o) Ellen, I'm going for LPN... some hospitals aren't hiring them anymore, but it's a stepping stone to get to RN. The RN classes here are hard to get into and have long waiting lists and one is more readily accepted if they are already and LPN and do a bridge program... I have to take an admission test in January and I've already purchases a huge thick study guide so I can brush up on all the stuff I forgot since high school... at least there are things called Youtube tutorials now :o)