Thanks for the nice comments, everyone, lots of my friends and friends-to-be (I hope) showed up here. It made me sad to pick those last flowers. I named my photo Late Fall Flowers from a Chekhov short story that had a very sad ending, but the title grabbed me. Thanks for the reassurance that that echinacea will come back. There are several more volunteers out there. The yellow bloomed well enough but bugs chewed the petals this year so they were a wash this summer. For yellow, Bluestone has a prettier version with what looks like wider petals. Harvest Moon is skinny, and I didn't like it, but it makes for some variation and looks well with C. Rooguchi nearby. A few words about Charlotte. It's an Austin rose, it's one of a pair I have way in front with lots of sun, grafted if you know how it works with roses, got it from Pickering in Canada. I've had very poor luck with most of the others. Charlotte blooms nearly nonstop from as soon as they start in early June until past the first frost, beautiful cup shaped blooms, first flush loaded with clusters is the best. Roses just take more fussing than I have patience for so I'm getting rid of them except for Char and a couple others. The Jap beetles ruin it all for me, had to keep Char disbudded during that whole time, a darn shame, and they stayed late this year, and I still had to pick them off the leaves. But when they swarm in those blooms, it makes me sick to my stomach to see it so cut all the buds off to spare myself any more of that. Some they don't bother much at all. The only downside of Char is the blooms fade in a couple days then shatter quickly. This year with all the rain, it got some kind of blight on the leaves, otherwise has been clean with no spraying. One more word about roses, I prefer own root from now on, but the grafting gives them a kick start, and it takes the own root a couple more years to catch up if they're going to. The ones that are hardy here die back to the ground, but Char makes a fast comeback in the spring once pruned, tidied up and fed. Perennials (and some scattered annuals) require far less fussing and are more satisfying overall, maybe a little Bloom Booster now and then and water when too dry. Nasturtiums are the only ones I won't grow because of aphids. We had a late September frost but most roses can tolerate the mild ones and just the most tender plants were taken by that. The ones that hug the ground are still warmed from that, and some are a little tougher. It's very weird for here to have anything blooming by yesterday, Dec 3, and I did nothing special except cover all my new delph plants with soda bottles, caps off. The other perennials some just seem to settle in and die back for winter without a frost. And the alyssum are prettier as ever this am, was supposed to get down to 27 last nite. It's kind of cheery as I need to go get some oil for the gas mix for the snowblower and be ready. Ugh. Not looking forward to it. Sorry I rambled. Again.

Thanks to all of you for your nice compliments. I truly agonized over paint colors, stain choices, etc. It is so difficult to find the right colors based upon a 2 inch square. I didn't have the heart to buy all of those little jars of sample paint. I knew since everything was white and my furniture wasn't there it probably wouldn't help me anyway. I have been so nervous about my choices (especially the blue). I am so glad other people think they look nice too. Homebase: I was hoping you would find this update. Any progress with yours? Lindybarts: about 2.5 weeks...hopefully closing on the 6th! For NC_Sandyfeet, Paintchips and Charliedawg: Main wall color in GR/KR: SW Blonde Kitchen wall color: Porter Paint Delta Green (thanks kygirl---SW actually matched it for me b/c that's where the painter contracts) Dining Room and Laundry: SW/Duron Spanish Brown (part of George Washington Historical color collection) Master Bedroom: SW Jubilee Kitchen Cabinet stain: Minwax Red Mahogany Floor: 2" oak with Minwax Early American stain (only one coat applied thus far) Again, thank you for the compliments. This website has been a great resource for me so I'm happy to share whatever I can. To us, it has gone from new build to a real house. I can't wait for it to become our home. Home, to me, is where my family is. In three weeks, that is where we will be, and it will finally be HOME!

Congratulations! I'm so happy for you. I remember the windmill quilt pic - it was impressive! You're a creative gal! TFS! Gwen

I was out at Lowe's this week, and almost everything was Stainless Steel. I noticed that most of the items had signs saying "also available in black and white -- 14 day delivery", which tells me that they don't sell enough to keep them on hand. I agree with the person who says that the market has become "saturated" with Stainless Steel. It's been "a thing" long enough that it's kind of peaked. It's been wildly popular, and like all wildly popular items, it'll still be available even after the trend has turned -- kind of like Avacado Green and Harvest Gold were available after they'd become something of a joke: First, most of us can't afford to switch out our appliances just because of color; second, even if we need to replace one item, we're probably going to choose something to match the other appliances. My prediction: Stainless Steel has been SUCH a popular thing. I think it has at least ten years before it is really "passe", but I do suspect that we're going to go back to black and white appliances being "acceptable" again. Speaking only for myself, I find Stainless Steel rather cold, and I'm going with either black (which I have now and like) or white in our new house. I've heard about a new thing called Arctic White, which is uber-white and shiney (whereas the white I had in my old house was a bit "soft" and had a pattern to hide fingerprints). However, proving that some people have more money than sense, I've seen pictures of this new where-are-my-sunglasses-color paired with cream-colored cabinets. What could they be thinking?