IÂve been in listening mode as well (can you hear me listening..?) Woohoo  Deanne, you do everything with flair! I bet Doug was scared to death  and you gave yourself a shiner? how terrible  adding insult to injury w/ the flu  I do hope you take it easy and rest  youÂve got a lot of entertaining to do soon w/ your Idyll guests! I do love that butterfly  and leave it to Marie to know what kind, etc., it was. Your party sounds like a wonderful way to break up the winter doldrums  Im planning to go to the Phila. Flower Show in early March  so thatÂs what Im using as a "break-out" of winter event. V- glad to hear youÂre feeling better and cannot be held responsible except via Âweb to have passed that flu along to Deanne  I hear you about the coughing though  I had severe flu about 20 years ago and coughed and popped a pelvic artery  landed in the hospital (it was a close call). . . .for Xmas because of it (they didnt know what was wrong til they operated). So I must confess I am extremely paranoid about hard coughing of any sort now & have been ever since that happened  weird things do happen. I confess on the health front I continue to be totally puzzled by all the conflicting reports  low fat, high protein, no protein, high fat  whatÂs a person to believe any more? I think your attitude is probably the correct one, Marie  celebrate with food  after all if we donÂt have fun with it, whatÂs the point? Honey, I meant to tell you that I truly love the red also (I in fact love all bright & deep colors) and am amazed that you pulled that all together because of wrong furniture fabric! One would Never know  youÂre an artiste. Mary, I imagine youÂre starting to count the days til the big trip  it sounds glorious  you and your entire family will have a blast  a trip to paradise, how neat is that? I imagine the children will remember it forever  and it will be a nice memory to make for Annie to put next to the loss of her dear friend  a good memory to overtake the bad one in this year. Michelle, - I ordered the Cl. Laura also  it looks gorgeous doesnÂt it? For some reason I ordered mostly Type IIs this year  Im probably crazy to do so  but my others have been doing so well that I am getting bolder I guess. Of course, if this is a failure and they all croak this summer or get horrible wilt, IÂll be going back to sticking w/ the IIIs I guess  but I wont know until IÂve tried. I ordered a total of 6 clematis this year (altho my list was much longer, but I tried to restrain myself & limit to a budget $$). I know thereÂs other stuff to comment on but I better get to work. Im hearing that 4-letter word in our forecast this weakened (S***)  ugh  of course, Im planning to drive to Phila. to check on the parents  it never fails  IÂll probably wimp out if it really says itÂs gonna happen  I donÂt know how you do so much intrepid driving, Martie, with your...

I actually had a lovely blue flowered dwarf iris years ago but it died out after a year or two. That was before I realised Bearded Iris should not be mulched like I mulch everything else around here. So now that I am back in bearded iris, I am sticking to the TB. But those little guys are still really cute. As to the Dutch Iris, they do have a very different flower form than do the bearded types. I am sure its just a matter of opinion as to weather they are as pretty or not. Personally, I love the form and color of the Dutch Iris and also the TB. Hurray for both.

We're scheduled to get 1"- 5" here in coastal South Carolina late today and tonight! Last time it snowed here was in 1989 and it closed EVERYTHING, because there's no equipment to deal with it. I'm dreading that would happen again. It's already raining, but won't be cold enough until evening to freeze. I love snow, in the right places, but coastal SC ain't the right place!

I have a Vitamix and it fits on my counters under the cabinets and we use it daily. Here's lunch (Although I do understand it's an aquired taste: Emerald Ecstasy Green Smoothie Recipe Put Ingredients into the Vita-Mix in the following order: 1-2 cup of Green Grapes 1/4 of a large Pineapple or 1/3 of a small Pineapple One whole large Banana Half of an Apple 4-5 cups of Spinach 2 cups of Ice This will make 2-3 LARGE servings or 4-5 smaller (juice glass size) servings. Blend until the icy slushy mixture turns into a smooth liquid. This is a "beginner" Green Smoothie. As you get used to the taste of the greens, you can increase the proportion of greens to fruit, try out some of the "stronger tasting greens" (remember, Spinach is one of the "magic veggies"), and use fruits that are not as sweet - like berries for instance. And here's my kids absolutely favorite breakfast - their friends sleep over just so they can have... Sweet Crepes (served with Nutella and sliced strawberries) 2 large eggs 1 cup whole milk 6 tablespoons water 1 cup bleached all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon table salt 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for brushing pan 1. Mix eggs and milk in blender. With blender running add all ingredients except melted butter and flour. Still with blender running, SLOWLY add flour. Mix for 3-4 seconds, add melted butter. Mix for 3-4 seconds more. SMOOTH, LUMP FREE BATTER. Transfer batter to covered container; refrigerate at least 2 hours or, if desired, up to 2 days. 2. Gently stir batter if ingredients have separated. Make crepes 3. Spread crepes with Nutela and sliced strawberries, roll up and "inhale"