Grandad..... no..... though I answer to Grandma to a couple of sprogs. Frieda, you are very partly right in that'Dido' is from classical legend of course - Queen of Carthage - and I love references like that; also poetry, yes, and I particularly love Purcell's opera 'Dido and Aeneas' with her dying lament, 'When I am laid in earth' before she climbs her funeral pyre as her lover sails away to found 'another Troy on Italian soil'. The opera also has a very beautiful viola solo - I used to be a viola player and have played it in several productions, up and down and here and there. But also, in another life I was a Diana.... let's not go into that, shall we..... but when I had to change, I realised I can't seem to let go of my name totally - it's me. So 'Dido' was one of the closest I could manage: even so, simply Dido was already taken so I had to put a 1 after it. Reallly, I should have registered as Dido Jones which I now consider to be my alter ego, though at first it seemed strange. For a while I felt like a different person, having a different name. Now I've just reverted to my old, grumpy, usual self. And, to cut a long story short, I suppose I look fairly Welsh (what I am - hence the adopted surname 'Jones'), being smallish (5'2", 56lbs), with dark-brown eyes, ex-dark hair (now white) and of an 'excitable' nature (have been known to throw things like ashtrays, in the olden days when there were such things lying around in any old places) Dido

woodnymph2, I spent vacations on the Outer Banks for several years and loved the area. I am now in a charming seaside town in Washington State. I recently moved here and have found a corpse. Oh, and did I mention that I can now see ghosts and that one of them wants me to solve his murder, which was over a century ago? In an alternate life (book) I'm a tough, dedicated, hot (and not just beacuse there's a heat wave) NYC detective stuck with an irritating journalist following me around. I don't know whether to kill him or maybe, just maybe, admit there's an attraction. Bur first I've got to solve two murders before there are more.

I haven't really noticed much of a change in what people have been spending their money on (friends at least), but one thing I have noticed is that we don't eat out so often. Lots more cooking now. I have just got out of hospital where I was for five days. People tend to assume that you have lots of time to sleep and read when you're in a place like that, but it aint' true folks. I found that it was easier to sleep during the day than during the night when they seem to save all the tests for then. Don't understand it, but there you go. As for reading, I was on a 24/7 morphine pump so I was pretty loopy for most of the time. I didn't read a thing which is a shame as it would have been a good bed to read it in - electronic backrest, elevated foot rest, good light and plenty of time. Oh well. Maybe next time!

I am glad to see you back Frieda. Don"t even worry about deleting the posts or explaining everything again. But I did want to mention something I forgot to say earlier. You may have already addressed it. But, I noticed when you had the other photos posted, there were two very dark brownish black hexagons right next to each other. While he is at fixing all the other crooked tiles, please consider having him replace those 2 tiles. You can get two tiles that are more the grey color to blend with rest from an extra sheet. Those 2 black ones really stood out because the rest were the greyish tones on that whole run. All I kept thinking was that it looked like a big blob of black "mud" (or something else that I would not want in my kitchen) was flung onto the back splash. Maybe put something in front of it? Sorry, if it does not bother you, just ignore me. ;-) Best wishes sent your way and please do a reveal when everything is fixed. It really is a gorgeous tile with your countertop!!! I am dying to see the whole kitchen with all the other finishes you chose with it.