I hope your daughter will recover soon from her health issue. That must have been a scarey time for all. I wish her congratulations on her new engagement. Is there a date set yet ? It sounds as if you have had a few "strange" (for lack of a better word) last few Christmas's... :( Your son wanting to spend some time with the parents of his deceased friend tells me that he is one very great kid...and I also know that the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree. You must be really proud of him:) I hope your next Christmas will be spent at home with your family without any problems :) My Christmas was lovely..quiet and peaceful. My son and his new wife came over Christmas eve and I enjoyed having them for the evening. My oldest son lives in BC and he spent his Christmas with a girl he met out there...And they seem to be serious. He called first thing Christmas morning and we had a great talk. My daughter drove up to NB and had Christmas with her dad...and she called me Christmas morning as well. She had to cut her trip a bit short to miss the big snow Moncton and Fredericton had yesterday. I usually cook a big Christmas feast...but not this year. Instead...My friend and I went out to a wonderful Christmas Day buffet at the Ramada Inn...and I ate my fill there. Everything was yummy...especially the seafood casserole with all the lobster in it...and the dessert table was amazing !!! The best part was just getting up and walking out after the meal...no clean-up and no dishes :)) I think we just may have started a new Christmas tradition !!! We received a turkey through my friends workplace..so I may cook it for New Years. All in all...I had a great Christmas...even thought the cats totally wrecked my tree...and I didn't even mind. I guess I'm getting mellow in my old age :)) It was a lot of fun watching them play in the tree and they had a fun Christmas too :)

So.... just so you know - you enabler, you - this is how my mind works: I thought, "wow, I really like VIOLET TRANQUILITY", so I looked it up, Petit. Went to Petit's website, and low and behold they are having a summer sale (*DON'T, REPEAT, DON'T LOOK!!!!). Then I think, "well, I don't really have enough of Ted's work in my garden... so maybe I should get some". LOL. Oh boy. Thankfully I contained myself and just got ONE from the BOGO sale, which *REALLY* means he will send me three! Aral Sea Royal Fringe Fleet Goddess YIPPEE!!! I think my first bloom was WHEEL OF TIME, which is weird, because it is registered as a mid, but anyway, that was on April 28th. But, I think it would be an outlier and mostly things started about May 11 -15. We had a lot of that same weather pattern, which was great - lots of rain and cool weather!

Thanks for the sympathy! Carol - yes, I do love this June - it seems to have a soft, impressionist look to me... hope it's the same next year. hey_j - i have to say it was a shock - it had showed up so well beside my shed and then there were just these spikes - kinda had to look again...and again! regattagirl - no dog.... there's my mistake... Yes, I dug up 2 Striptease and put them in the trash - that was harder I think because I am optimistic - as all gardeners need to be - for next year for June. I didn't post pics of the S&S, Frances Wms and GE that had been attacked once before & now have about the same appearance.... Von, my Lord, how big must the herd have been - arrrgh. Well, those still sitting on the driveway were spared, at least - Stained Glass, Liberty, Guacamole, Fragrant Blue --- and I'm sure the end of season sales will cause others to follow me home... I have been spraying Deer Solution almost weekly when it says it lasts for weeks. I liked the cinnamon smell so much bettter than Bobbex or other foul ones. Guess the deer did too!

Oh this is so nice!! Summerfield, I just LOVE, LOVE all the details in your drawings! I love the exterior molding, lighting placements, and how you have the arches in the brick area under the back porch! Theses are things I wouldn't have thought of.. all the little details! I have studied and studied everything you have given me (THANK YOU AGAIN!) and plan on incorporating all the little tweaks on the first floor you have improved on with one exception, the laundry room. I really like your set-up better in someways, and less expensive with less cabinets, but wonder if I'll miss that outside window and more countertop space? Do you see any other suggestions in this area? Also, wondering about the size of the island in the kitchen, you have it much shorter than what the kitchen designer(s) were going to use, and would love your thoughts and reasons on the shorter island. Upstairs.. I really was looking for much less, something we could just close off someday, but this matches the feel for the downstairs, and I just LOVE IT! I have struggled over this upstairs now for months, and our "fired" designer just came up with nothing to offer..., just boring layouts. I can't find a single thing I dislike! What do you come up with in regards to square footage main floor and 2nd floor? My design program was showing the downstairs to be about 1995 sq ft, but our "fired" designer calculations were much higher (over 2230 sq. ft)