Hi, again. I went to the nursery this weekend with a friend that I garden with and we came back with some four-foot Swan, Unique, Limelight, The Moth, and Quick Fire. And some pictures. If you want, I'll email you the original pictures which would be larger files and better quality than the ones that I've got at Photobucket. And I'll post or send you some more pictures of the Swan that I took, similar or different, if you want. The Swan in the pot we bought and the ones planted out in the Nursery had been kept pruned to encourage a tighter structure (and I'm getting the idea that this is an uphill battle with this plant), and so the pictures might not reflect the real habit of the plant or its flowering. When I first approached the planted Swans, I thought that they were suffering from a lack of water, but, I think the droopiness is the nature of the plant. The owner of the nursery is a fan of hydrangeas and said that this droopiness with the wonderfully large-petaled (sepals?) flowers will be appreciated when it gets to be a large speciman. Another thing you see with this plant, especially in comparison to all the other varieties planted out along side it, is that the plant is a much paler shade of green than the other varieties. This is all very much fun. I haven't had much experience with the Paniculatas, but here I go. Hay.

Ill trade you a view of some of them red rocks that stick out of the earth. Glad you enjoyed em, there very peek in NH and in the general rose forum theres a very nice spread of pics by far NH is hands down much superior to anything here in Mass

Hi Everyone, Thank you, you are all very kind. It is a truly ecclectic mix, but that was sort of my signature style in design, "relaxed formality". Old and new. Inherited and acquired. Reclaimed and restored. Found and fixed. We ALL have it in us, just find what makes you comfortable. And yes, my place is heavy on mirrors (and I missed a few!). Since I need to retake the DR photos tomorrow when it is light out I'll try to get the BR and one other mirror. igloochic, are my kitties out of place? If so, I will send them with the desk. But my babies being Persian, then I need to send you the Persian carpets (there are three, room-sized) that they go with. And if I send those ... LOL! L, We are using an old oak kitchen table in the dining room. It is impossible to entertain with. We shipped our stuff here before we even had a place to live and opted for a small table which will go in the kitchen in the Victorian house. I will buy a mahogany DT (or maybe a 10' farm table or something of the sort) at auction when I return to the states. I have a great gold-tan and sage green silk set with tons of pillows and a full canopy in the bedroom. The problem is the bedroom is TINY and it is near impossible to get a good angle but maybe I'll try again this tomorrow. Again, thank you all. B

DH and I were both a bit older, settled into our careers and each had very nicely furnished apartments when we married. Mine was a cozy Cottagey Shabby Chic. His was Contemporary Elegant but very comfortable. Combining our two homes was both funny and frustrating. Over the years, though, we've developed a common taste in furniture and art . . . at least most of the time (LOL)! DH has very good (and expensive) taste, while I'm still much more hesitant to spend a lot of money on things than he is. I prefer haunting antique and consignment shops. He'd rather head to some upscale furniture gallery, order it and then head on to a nice restaurant (with me) to relax. These days I pretty much have free rein to buy the smaller things, but DH likes to go with me when making major purchases to help decide. As many of you know already, I'm a passionate collector of art. Most of it, DH has thankfully liked. There are several pieces, though, he barely tolerates and one he flat-out doesn't like. Darned if it's not a beautiful, large, original painting that I adore! At the moment it's hanging over the laundry hamper in our bedroom foyer. I'm hoping he'll eventually come to tolerate it. On the other hand, I've gotten rid of a number of his Contemporary art pieces over the years. That or they're stored away in closets. My bad (LOL)! He doesn't have a "man cave". The closest he comes to that is his study, which does have only the art, furniture and rug he chose. So, we compromise where we can because we love each other. Every once in a while, though, he gets a wild hair idea to choose certain things by himself. Sometimes I let him (LOL). He picked out our new pots and pans (All Clad Professional) that I'm not all that crazy about. This was a compromise on my part. He'd originally fallen in love with ~and bought!~ an extremely heavy and cumbersome Le Creuset covered cast iron skillet. I agreed he could keep it, but nixed any more LCs. I still avoid using the darn thing . . . but every Sunday morning he happily makes us eggs or something in it, so how can I complain? I also gave in and let him buy all of our knives (Wustof), which I admit are nice. (Sigh!) now he wants to go out this weekend with me and insists he gets to help choose our new vacuum, omelet pan and coffeemaker, all of which have given up the ghost in the past week. I'm afraid to let him go by himself. Grrrr! Lynn