Back on topic - Lithuanian Crested Pink (LCP) My seed for this came from a trade with Steve "forgot his name but it's written on the packet" at least 7 years ago. I've been saving the seed from the largest, meatiest tomatoes with the smallest and fewest seed locules. Most of the time this is a wonderfully productive plant. Even cursed by the early blight this year, I had some productive, but not exemplary plants. ( I sprayed with copper sulphate at the first sign.) LCP is mild, sweet, fruity and my family loves it so it goes in every year, make as good addition to canned tomatoes because it has so few seeds. Wonderful salad: LCP sliced lengthwise, dress with 1:1 mayo: sour cream, thin with lemon juice, dill snippets, thin sliced red onion. My daughter and husband prefer Rose overall. I've mentioned this previously. Johnny's seeds of Maine advertised that Rose was better than Brandywine. I grew and ate both side by side - Rose won and goes in every year. It Also produced this year in spite of blight. The flavor is very fruity and you can tell when this is included in a sauce. I've saved seed for more than 10 years and have some fruits that have so few seed locules, they *almost* look seedless :-) New love this year: Coustralee - a keeper, big, flavorful, only drawback is the large, plentiful locules. I squish the seeds out before canning. Polish Pastel - like this one, productive, though it's a bit bland. Nice for canning since it is firm and keeps some shape. I think this may be unstable though, as one year the seed I planted had little resemblence to the yellow bell with pink highlights. John from Australia has not answered my email lately :-( Bless him for sharing this one with me. Tomatoes should not be political fodder - if you love one that does not mean the others are no good. It seems the different varieties are suited for different localities and weather conditions, different palates, personalities and uses. Peace through tomatoes. Back to lurk-land Maryanne in WMass

If I'm remembering correctly, there was a post from someone here who actually used it for white marble counters. They were going to try it on their kitchen but then thought a smaller piece in their laundry room. They showed pictures and I believe they could have a gloss or matte finish and (if I'm remembering correctly) they liked the finish ok initially but their edge was an ogee and the finish could only be a flat horizontal surface and not that curved part of the edge, so the "finish" stopped at the flat part which looked kinda funny. I remember the pictures of a blue edging around the small laundry room counter as they did the process. I think they commented if they knew they were using that finish that they would have gotten a straight edge and it probably would have looked a lot better. They might have commented that the untreated marble had the glow that natural marble has and the other did not. I was looking into that at the time myself to see about using on an onyx countertop and I had contacted Dry-Treat for info. It was still new and they were waiting on fabricators to step up and be trained and buy the equipment. It was not for DIY. I wanted a sample and was even going to send then a piece of my stone for them to apply the finish but they needed installers first. I kept waiting and some time went by while I got busy with other things. I saw the actual rep I had been talking to at a local granite and tile place and I asked for an update. He said that they were having problems getting installers / fabricators and that most didn't realize the time involved and they (the fabricators) could not justify the man hours, training time and expense and the equipment expense for so little of their business. They (Dry-Treat) was going to pursue restorers instead. It was a real PR blow to them. It was technically a successful product but it required so much training, that they would have to rethink how to capitalize on it. I have not checked with them recently on that. I had seen the installation videos on their website (or was it YouTube?) and they did have to use a UV (? or something) light that cured the liquid, that had to be a specific distance from the surface as well as travel rate. The small samples they did on a larger stone piece looked very easy. Easier than a finished and fabricated countertop. I asked if it could be put on a slab prior to fabrication and I believe he said he finish had problems along the cut line. Maybe they are working on it again? I'd contact them directly to see where they stand now and if they have anyone in your area that can do the work. And all of their hydrocloric acid and blowtorch tests were very impressive. I can report that I have used their sealers and they have been really great. I did several tests on my various stones that were a mix of polished, honed and tumbled as well as sanded and non sanded grouts and all had great results while showing less sheen than all of the others. And I even tried their poultice to clean a bad spot in a remnant that took an unknown dark splot out. So I've been pleased with their other products. You know, a bit off topic but related, thinking about this just reminded me of my great grandmother when I was little. She used to polish her marble furniture once or twice a year with a special wax and once I helped her. It was a soft paste wax and everything beaded up on her old marble and did there were never marks if any kind on her furniture - on the marble or wood parts. And we drank lots of homemade lemonade! I remember the finish was less shiny than polished but more than a flat finish. Her wood floors were waxed too. I have heard of people saying that you should not wax stone but maybe it depends on the type of wax used? Maybe additives or something drys it out or something?? It sure worked on all of her things. I think I will try several kinds of wax and do a few samples so I can test this myself ... Hope you can find out something current for your situation.

Off Topic... For those who don't know this part of the globe, my drive to Ashland from St. Paul was not quite half a day, leisurely ambling along Hwy 2 from Duluth-Superior. Driving was good on a Thursday in the pre-tourist season on a sunny day. It's such an early spring that the natural world seems out of whack. Lots of ducks and geese to watch and the pussy willows have already gone past the pussy stage and have iridescent green fluff on them in silhouette. I spent an hour at the Timeless Timbers warehouse + gift shop and the rest of the afternoon in the archive at the visitor center that also houses some of the Wisc. Hist. Soc. stuff for the area. Because this time of year puts deer on the road in early evening, I did not waver off the highway very much on return trip. Did buy some of DH's favorite beers but had no time to seek out my usual cheese shop haunts in western Wisc. and no time to poke around on Brule R. or St. Louis R. where I usually spend time at parks watching spring water flow gush through the historic waterways. Did find some cheese ends for cheap at a grocery store. Left at 9 am, got home at 9 pm. I am very familiar with Madeline Island and Bayfield and Cornucopia and will be up there in a few more weeks to look at spring wildflowers (and perhaps to pick up two pieces of butcherblock countertop if I weaken in my resolve to keep to budget). Might also paddle a voyageur canoe around the Apostles if my calendar works out for summer. rjr220: There's an internet page "going around" right now that shows places in U.S. which have more bars than grocery stores and guess what? Wisconsin wins! If you know back country Wisconsin, you know that the local bars are the community gathering places. Go Packers! If you get a chance to visit the Timeless Timbers lumber yard at some point, would love to know what you think of the products. The Cheese, Beer, and Wine promotion councils of Wisc. have a great promo map of the state which is a hoot to follow, if you need a diversion when visiting. Personally, I think they need to add sausage joints to the map also, and maybe pasties. Watch out for the speed trap in Iron River! P.S.--Timeless Timbers needs about 3 week lead-time to produce countertops currently. Your results may vary. The visitor center has large area of Timeless Timber flame birch used in front hall cabinetry. Good place to see actual use of the product as furniture, not butcherblock.

THanks so much, Willow. Yes, the marble is polished. The slab came that way, and I thought it was going to get honed, but it didn't. I decided to try it out like that, partly because it's so pretty, and partly because I thought the kitchen needed a little bling -- muted colors, matte soapstone, brushed stainless, why not try something polished? I do not baby it. I haven't left red wine on it all night or anything, but it doesn't seem to stain at all. I do not know what sealer they used; I will contact the fabricator and find out. It was in a big jug with no label, just sharpie pen "marble sealant" or something like that. I imagine they just refill from larger containers. Yes, there are etches. I pay little attention to them, they certainly don't jump out. There is so much going on in there, that frankly I don't think they are very noticeable. I get a lot of natural light, so there are trees reflected in it. And there are tons of different colors and shadows already, maybe you can see from the pic of the slab. Not only white and gray and gold but black and rust and beige and pale pale gray, etc. So maybe it's different than having something a little less active. Or maybe I just don't see things that others do. But so far, it's been wonderful!