Wow, what a mohnin' montage, glittering dresses designed to securely hug shapely contours as well as bring tears to the eye's of the photographer, discussions of "manly" birthday stew, combination kitchen/"li-berries", and epic posts from those thought long lost. What could be better? That is a pretty dress, Brenda. My first Barbie (I still have her) had an evening dress (which I no longer have) that was similar in silhouette. It must be a trifle overwhelming to see your baby girl all suited up for her nuptials, but very special, too. Nice to indulge something besides Cat. diesels, huh? When's the big day? I didn't quite understand what happened in the cornfield with the bike. Did they impale it with one of those pointy things on the front of the combine? How about a shot of the Combine and a basic lesson on what the parts of it are? that will prove important next harvest when the Idyllettes descend on the your farm like Grackles on a lawn. And "ladies foundations" are indeed the order of the day for those with "fuller" (Rubenesque?) figures, though they should NEVER be uncomfortable if they are properly fitted. Many moons ago I was an alterationist in a very swanky dress shop that also sold ladies foundation garments. The women in that department were all older and were "corsettieres", they knew exactly how to measure and fit undergarments and specialized in prosthetics for mastectomy patients. I learned A TON from them and found the niche fascinating and very rewarding. Every woman should go to a good lingerie shop to be properly fitted for a bra; and drive right past some place like Victoria's Secret. ;) The discussion of awfice temperatures made me smile, Cindy. I see that as the next potential conflict in the shop, since there are a lot of windows (that are drafty) and all the baseboard is covered with used pattern material, dust, etc.. It's chilly in the morning and sweltering in the afternoon when the sun streams in the windows. My "office sweater" is a fleece-like arrangement with a zipper up the front and a snowflake motif on a black background. It was left in the shop by a worker who "couldn't take it" after realizing that sometimes sewing can be downright frustrating. Anyway, it has bits of foam "dust" stuck to the front of it and the visiting cat frequently sleeps on it when it's not in use. I cut quite a picture in it. 'bug, I'm to open all windows in the Salon for the first few fires in the new stove and not touch the painted castings as the paint becomes soft with the initial heating. I have a ways to go before "firing that mother up", though. The helpmeet put up the trim pieces that cover the edges of the pulldown ladder to the bahn's attic yesterday. I've dutifully filled the finish nail holes and will sand and finish it this afternoon. And he has all the posts and rails for the stairwell finished, too. I went over them yesterday evening, removing errant pencil marks, filling the deeper, more jagged areas and generally "distressing" the sharper edges. They're made of Hemlock and the wood's grain is quite pronounced and tends to be sort of brittle. It's not ideal for any sort of woodworking for that reason, but it is pretty when it's pickled (I did a sample last winter) and I'm willing to fuss over the parts to get the splintery parts sanded into submission. I've spent a lot of time thinking about your individual trials and family worries, lately. Sometimes it's hard to know what to say, but do know that I try to send good thoughts to the cosmos for each of you and understand that sometimes the toll can be very high. Sometimes just knowing someone understands is helpful. So are "boring" peeks into someone else's mundane existence. ;) I have to "suit up" for the chilly morning. Unlike TCS I'm pretty good at bringing all the accessories home. And like TCS, I sometimes misplace things in safely zippered pockets, too. And it's confession time, Julie. Yesterday I peeked under the couch as I was on my way up the stairs (the railing around the stairwell is open and you can look across the floor at eye level). A scary sight, indeed, with tumbleweeds of animal hair and get this: a full tick, dead as doornail, about the size of kidney bean. She must have succumbed crossing what must have seemed like a tick's equivilent of the Gobi... And on that note, mes amies, I shall head off to work (very late!). Be productive and have some laughs, OK?

Linda your rose look like GAT to me. I got my GAT from an OGR nursery. The Rose is grafted on Rosa Canina rootstock Ann! I can testify that GAT really is a rose that is hard to grow well, since it is so prone to fungal diseases. It gets PM and BS really bad in spite of spraying. But some years it has looked really great with hundreds of flowers. This year it got damaged by a hard late frost and already has BS really bad. I took this picture tonight:

AWESOME new pics, Mike, so fun to see. It's great to have some plants that LOVE our blast furnace summers isn't it? You've got a ton of eye candy going on there. Great stuff! I posted a separate thread on crinum lilies, but just for fun here's 'Ellen Bosanquet' in bloom this morning. Plus good old "climbing snapdragon", Asarina scandens still flowering in full hot sun on a metal obelisk that gets insanely hot in full sun in summer. Asarina doesn't seem to mind at all (available in pinks, reds, whites, and this purple-blue): Not blooming, but here's a fun 7 foot tall spineless prickly pear, Opuntia ficus-indica, that I started from a single pad six years ago. Wilson the tennis ball is wedged in there to show size, LOL. This is looking ESE in my little garden. Happy gardening all! Grant

You have to look around to see what grows well where you are or get recs. from people familiar with that grow zone. As flowering trees go, redbud has a tremendous range and is usually available locally ... and it's a nice, beautiful tree. Dwarf Yaupon Holly is one that can be kept below windows, if it grows well there. For small, multi-trunk foundation planting trees, look at larger shrubs that grow there: burning bush, lilac, pg hydrangea, mock orange, etc. ... not shrubs that sucker rampantly or form billions of shoots (like forsythia.) The ground cover should show up as something different from the lawn, and not just a continuation of lawn. I don't know what does well there.