Very, very nice! I like these, and the more doubles I see, the more I begin to really like the doubles! Beautiful colors! Thank you for sharing all your lovely flowers!

No she seldom visits anymore. You'll have to put up with the rest of us! LOL Seriously, though - i miss her too! I see her on Facebook once in awhile.

Diane, I have noticed your Fourth of July celebrations over there in SE OK always get rained upon. What's that about? Some odd Fourth of July curse? Maybe the clouds will rain themselves out today and then y'all will have a dry Fourth. The timing of the rain is PERFECT for southcentral OK and northcentral Texas because some pastures had become very dry and a few grassfires were occurring (more so on the Texas side than the OK side, but a few on the OK side as well) so all the fire chiefs were worried about fireworks starting grass fires, and all the news stations were interviewing them and they were cautioning everyone to 'be careful'. With the rainfall, the likelihood of big fireworks-caused grassfires has significantly diminished. That's a relief! Paula, We are surrounded by big kids who can't wait for Independence Day to arrive. Here in our neighborhood, people have been setting off fireworks ever since the fireworks stands opened in mid-June. Why save it all for one day? It is only a problem in the city limits where there is a 'no fireworks' ordinance. Out here in the boonies, we've had so many fireworks going off around us that I feel like I'm in a war zone. When Chris and our nieces and nephews were little, we always had a lot of fun here with fireworks, but now that they're older, we don't set off as many. That may change when Maddie is a bit older. By the way, heavier rain has fallen this morning, doubling our rainfall for the last 24 hours from a half inch to a whole inch. I hope it rains all day long, but doubt we'll be that lucky. My rainbarrel is full and so is every bucket and storage tote (they formerly held peaches and plums waiting for their turn in the kitchen) that I could drag outside, as well as Maddie's wading pool which I dragged out of the garage and set under the roof eaves to catch runoff for watering the garden. We can catch a lot of rainfall off the big barn /garage roof. We've 'caught' about 250 gallons in the last 24 hours, but now everything is full, so we won't be catching any more. I may finish up the plums today, although my original plan was to try to work in the garden this a.m. and do the canning in the afternoon. If I do finish the plums today, then tomorrow really will be Independence Day. With heavily overcast skies and recurring bands of rain, it seems like this will not be a day to spend working outside. Blackberry cobbler sounds delicious Paula. We'll be making homemade peach ice cream with homegrown peaches. Dawn

Thanks ladies! I really appreciate your well wishes. :) It's been a very long road to get to this point and a bit of a road yet to go.