You are so lucky having that lake view and that mountain view and improved on that even with your beautiful plantings, congratulations! But living on a city lot, we can also improve, I only have a little pond and a lot of hostas, improving on that. Bernd

I only have experience with Heavenly Blue MG's and they did not do well in a pot. They did indeed insist on climbing and then I think they just ran out of root space because they suddenly stopped growing and flowering.

At our old house, our stove died and for YEARS, I cooked with a 2 burner hot plate and a toaster oven. We did not replace the stove until we moved into our new house, do not know why. I guess I just made it work. Now, I always have backups to cook. In addition to the pink air fryer and toaster oven, I have an electric skillet and electric griddle (both in a beautiful shade of pink, to match everything else) just in case the stove dies and I cant replace it right away, or more likely, delivery is delayed as is was for the fridge. They are both still in the box. But I like having them, just in case. I find takeout less and less desirable now, and do not remember the last time I went through a drive through. I just feel so much better eating home made food, I cannot imagine going for a week or more eating nothing but takeout. And SO will almost NEVER eat food that is not homemade. He thinks everyone that is not me is "nasty" about cleanliness and food prep and hygiene. He's gotten worse over the years. I have a glass top stove and like it fine. Its easier to clean. I can very quickly adapt to any heat source for cooking though. My parents and sister have gas stoves, which are easy to cook on, I have an electric glass top, which took a bit of adjustment because I had to learn that the burners STAY HOT for a long time after you turn them off and you have to factor that in. Same with my stove at work, which is electric with the coils, with I find fiddly to clean and wouldn't choose that for my home. If I ever have to replace the one at home, I would get another glass top. As for my day, it's just getting started. Work work work. I MUST remember to stop by the store on my way to work tomorrow night and get the last ingredients I need to cook the finger food feast for my sister and our own Christmas feast. I need chicken and a baguette. I do NOT want to have to go to the store on Christmas Eve, after working all night, in the middle of a cooking binge. So I hope that I haven't forgotten anything. For tonight though, I am going to settle in, pick which Christmas movie to put on the projector for decoration for everyone to enjoy (either Elf or Christmas Vacation, cant decide) I play it on repeat all night, and hope I have a slow, uneventful night.

Yes. I'm not big on these. We don't really distinguish between the two, especially since there are so many hybrids. They're all generally referred to as Christmas cactus or, occasionally, Winter cactus. After all we don't have Thanksgiving. 😉