Californian (OP) said: "Black Cherry-OK, but not sweet enough for me" Funny how different tomato lovers have different taste. Frankly, I absolutey love the acidity of Black Cherry, and can't pass it w/o taking a handful when out hunting hornworms. Somehow they remind me of my boyhood in New Jersey in the Fifties stopping at the veggie stands for fresh tomatoes on the way home from the shore. Btw, veggies in New Jersey - you bet and I dare say they're terrific, but I digress ..... Our worst tasting diasppointment this year has been two Yellow Pear - mushy and tasteless. No, I didn't intentionally plant them, unfortunately, the nursery (or their supplier) had them mismarked as Lemon Boys. Aah you say, Lemon Boy isn't exactly a big winner in this forum either but it sure has been good to us over the years - prolific, disease resistant and on the acid side, too - yummmmm ..... Another surprise is Kentucky Beefsteak, not prolific but mighty tasty.

I was glad she won. ALL of the contestants did very well, in my opinion. My only complaint about the finale is that they wait until the very last second to announce the winner, and then there's not even a couple of minutes for them to let that winner speak, etc. Vannie, you say you slept thru the ending? I always set the recorder to tape it while I watch, because I've been known to do that. I looked at the clock at 9:58 pm eastern....(YES, only two minutes left)...and dozed off till 10:01 !!!! I was sooo glad to have it taped. Shirley

I think both Mark and Kelly have shown some real growth this season. I believe that Mark learned something when he went home and got to see himself the way others see him. If he's faking all the tears and softness, he deserves an Academy Award. As soon as Kelly weighed in this week and knocked him below the yellow line, he still yelled out a 'good job Kelly'. And trust me, I despised him earlier on. I don't like Roger at all and it doesn't seem like the other contestants or the host think much about him either. Maybe Dan idolized him but the maturity level on the ranch skyrocketed after Dan left and Roger didn't have anyone left buying and selling his fratboy/college football player malarkey. I think he's a bully but since he's always been a candidate to be the BL due to his size, he was given a soft edit. I think they need to reconsider what makes the BL the BL. By going just by percentage, it's unfair to those contestants who just don't have as much to lose as others. That's why I kind of like the gameplay aspect of it (which was way overdone this season) since that's the only chance some of the other contestants have but when it comes down to the final 3 or 4, there's an unfair playing field since the smaller players just can't lose the same percentage of weight and still be, well, alive and well.

Hi Kids, Well, another season of The Amazing Race is now over. As seasons go, I don't think this one was all that great. It was very fast, seems like it just started and it's over already. Was it my imagination or did they do less with the 'back stories' this year. I don't remember any 'issues' with any team or any team member...no gay, Goth, deaf, Autistic that came into play during the race. We got lots of potty mouth and whinning but nothing to give us anything to love/hate/be drawn to, just regular people. Not sure if I missed that aspect of the show or if they always made too much of that to begin with. I'm not sure if any of you have noticed that; I may be looking for a reason that this season was just a bit bland to me. Once the KY Boys were gone I really had to figure out who was worth my interest. I was happy with the team that won mostly because I could see some redeeming qualities in both of them. No question, they were the strongest theam from the very beginning and I can only guess what they went throught while Dave was in Iraq for so long. So, good for them. The Border guys were just yuckie. I sure hope they follow through with their pledge to give the KY boys that $5,000. That was the only time during the show that I liked that team. Loved it during the last challange when the guy could not make it to the bottom of the hill. It seemed to me that he defeated himself. As for Rachel and Brandon...OMG! Brandon must be a very smart guy so I sure hope he thinks through his relationship before he marries that whinner. Spoiled Brat comes to mind. Team Vanessa was just a bit off for me. Not a very good history in their relationship so I don't think they are very good/nice people to begin with but man-o-man, she sure gave that chicken game her all. Still glad they did not win. So that's it untill next season. This season was not the best but I still love this show. Great to see so much of the world without having my to leave my own home. sooey