DISCLAIMER: ridiculously wordy post below! Advance apologies! My belated thanks to you all for your compliments, and for the laughs--maybe I should start calling Donna S "Mad Max" or "Wonder Woman" LOLOL Nothing cracks me up more than recalling memories of our collective 70s-80s past :) K, do you suppose my cousin would KILL me for recollecting on here how he used to stick a towel in the back of his shirt, and then spin himself around like WW? LOL!!! (But not me...I never did that...nope, nope...) OK, Jen, speaking of dating one's self: I am so freaking clueless when it comes to computer issues--I have absolutely no idea how to make my photos larger! Perhaps you can help me--you use Flickr too, right? I'm all ears :) To your question, Jen, Donna S was sluggish to come out of dormancy this past spring--by the time she did, two of her three tips had sealed over. Those two both eventually branched profusely (4 each, I believe), and on one of those two, the biggest new branch popped an inflo. The second inflo is on the tip that did not seal over. Clearly, this tree wants to put out flowers...and I ain't complainin'! K, you next: beer and snails?...discuss... :) Mona, how totally cool that you work at a plant farm!!! I'm jealous. BTW I'm 40 exactly, so my family relation with you would I suppose depend on how young you would have become a mom LOL that's YOUR call, not mine haha :) but son, brother, good either way! :) So sorry to hear about your Charlotte E, but how nice to hear of the generosity of Tally in sending you a replacement! Sending a shout out and a thank-you to her too! Simi, thank you for your kind words. Haleakala is a stunner, for sure--I'm tickled with it. Tell you what--if Haleakala continues to be unavailable in the years ahead (which would be a real pity, gotta say), reach out to me...perhaps we will be able to arrange a trade. Based on your lovely photos, I am certain that you have some beauties that I might be interested in! Deal? Lynn, like I always say on here: we addicts help each other remain in denial by continuing to enable each others' addictions. You don't have to thank me LOL it's my pleasure :) Besides, your amazing collection has made my own wish list considerably longer too mmmkay? ;) Kim--thanks, and please, please post photos of your Titanic when that ship comes in!! I coveted that lovely flower and bid on it multiple times in past years but never came out on top. Peg, thanks to you as well, and you'll be pleased to know that your Veracruz Rose is becoming a lovely little baby tree :) It was probably all the better for our waiting on the shipping. You'll have Christmas at Thanksgiving in St. Pete!! :) So exciting, right? Brian: thanks! Do you have Waimea? It really is one of the best, both in appearance and in scent. Houston: I giggled when I saw your post, and appreciate the kind addition to my Bat-post LOL I have been admiring your gorgeous photos as well! Shame on me for not adding my compliments to your post. Good work! OK, call me Mr. Diarrhea of the Mouth...I'll wrap this up, but, I appreciate everyone's insightful comments on the topic of general growth habit as our trees age. Next season will be the year where the majority of my collection will turn 3 (so, so many bought in the frenzy of 2010--yeowza!) and I hope and pray that I will be able to report next year at this time that year 3 is when our trees "stop the madness" and become adults, thereafter growing slowly and modestly. If it turns out that they continue to grow as fast as they have so far, I'm gonna have a big problem on my hands! Holy hugeness! In closing: here's a phone camera pic of Haleakala from early this morning-- as Jen aptly says: THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!! Have a great week, all. Greg

I hope you have a wonderful time baking tomorrow rhome! Double ovens.. swooonn.. lol. Boy am I a slacker compared to ya'll. For the New Orleans boxes I made regular chocolate chip, peanut butter with colored sugar [as per tradition] and fudge. The kids only like certain stuff and the fudge is Christys family tradition so she has to send her sister and mother some. I sent them a pecan pie too. I've also made meltaways, world peace, milk choc choc chip, shortbread, more fudge and caramels for Christys fellow employees. The caramels sure did turn out great this year. I forgot to put in the vanilla. lol. I think I like them better. You can really taste the butter. The execs got pecan pies. I have dough in the fridge for the rest of the milk choc chips and I took some of that dough and instead of chips I added bunch of old fashioned oats to it for me. I am weird in that I don't like cookies to sit around very long. I'd rather have them fresh, so I tend to make doughs and just bake off a pan or two at a time. So, as it gets closer to Christmas I'll be still making our ricotta cookies, some rugeleah, sand tarts, and for the Christmas dessert I'll make a pecan pie and chocolate pie. For Christy's stocking I'm making Ann's crisp truffles and some chocolate covered raisins. So, let me make a list.. hmm.. Standard chocolate chip Peanut butter World Peace Meltaways Rugeleah Milk chocolate chocolate chip Oatmeal Shortbread Sand tarts Ricotta cookies Sugar Cookie cutouts [maybe, I like to make the shortbread into cutouts, so that might do for this year] Fudge Caramels Crisp truffles Chocolate covered raisins [she doesn't like nuts] Pecan Pie Chocolate Pie Yup, I'm a slacker ;(

emagineer - This is from the blog Cote de Texas that I provided a link to in my post. Since it's been all about "Something's Gotta Give" I thought that Nancy Meyers' follow up movie "The Holiday" needed a closer look. Just as the star of Something's Gotta Give was the Hamptons house itself, the star of the "The Holiday" wasn't really Cameron Diaz or Kate Winslet, but their two homes, one in Los Angeles and one in the English Countryside, respectively. And in another connection between the two movies, the production team was led Jon Hutman - but Beth Rubino, so wonderful on the set of SGG, was absent for The Holiday. And just as with Something's Gotta Give, Nancy Meyers' personal interior designer has photos of "The Holiday" houses on his web site, but he is not mentioned in the film credits. The Holiday, coming so soon after Something's Gotta Give received a lot of prepublicity hype concerning its premise: two women swap houses for the Christmas vacation and both find love. For lovers of the SGG house, a new Nancy Meyers movie about TWO houses was almost too good to be true ! Jim

I certainly did better than usual on the book-front this Christmas. From the DH I had asked for Katherine Swynford by Alison Weir. I gave the DD Selective Memory by the well-known English journalist Kathleen Whitehorn . . to be read by me later! From an American friend Memories of Times Past a collection of stories/articles on the slower pace of US life in years gone by. From a US Aunt In the Shadow of the Blue Ridge by VA writer Carolyn Feagans (Mary, do you know her work?) and finally from the boyfriend of the DD Roy Strong's A Little History of the English Country Church. I must say these books press all the right buttons; I can see those I have from the library going back unread.