Mr Gary, you are a good gardener, and probably a great neighbor as well. That is a gorgeous picture of a comfortable immaculate property. I like the jalousied windows and the chance to sit and view the peaceful gardens. What on earth did it look like before you discovered hosta? They are the jewelry of your garden. ............ Now, where do you keep the Emerald Stain? :)

I read both your posts. That mottling of the leaves looks like boron deficiency. There may have been too much nitrogen in the fertilizer you used. However it is easily corrected. You'll find Borax in the same isle as laundry soap. It is often used as a laundry booster. Borax is 11% boron. Mix 1/2 oz.--2 teaspoons to a gallon of warm water. Put it in a spray bottle and spray the entire plant. Don't use too much Borax because too much will kill the plant but the right amount will correct the plants deficiency

I know it's discouraging when your picks get criticized. And the last thing I want is for someone's vision for their kitchen to get nitpicked down into the lowest common denominator of "safe" choices. So before I say what I think, I want to ask, what is YOUR vision for this kitchen? I don't mean specific choices, but what kind of overall look you want to achieve. Can you post some inspiration pics? I ask this, because I really can't tell where you are going based on your choices. The floor is quite rustic, the cabinets are solidly transitional, and I would probably put the counter in that category as well. Both backsplashes, this one and the one in the previous thread, are quite modern. I think you can choose two of the three (modern, transitional, rustic), but trying to include all three is to make your kitchen elements fight with each other. I think that is why people's reactions have been negative. It's not that they don't like the individual elements, its that they don't pull together for a cohesive design. I liked the backsplash in your previous thread much better than this one. Mosaic tile, in my opinion based on about a zillion pictures of kitchen that have them, are really hard to get right. They have so much going on that they don't brook any competition from the other elements in the kitchen. You need a very low-pattern counter, and they are better with slab-front cabinets. With your choices, all three of the cabinet, counter, and floor will fight with the mosaic to some extent. In the previous thread, Anglophilia was the odd-person out for calling out your cabinet choice as the problem. If you really want a modern looking backspash, then I'm going to agree. Replace the orange-toned shaker with a slab door with a cooler, darker stain that plays well with the floor color and I think it could work with the old backsplash choice. If you want to keep the floors and cabinets, I'd still tone down the orange in the cabinet a bit to work better with the floor (or warm up the color of the floor to play better with the cabinet), but I'd choose a rustic or transitional backsplash. Both of your counter choices look fine with the floor and the cabinets, and with the earlier backsplash. I don't like either with the current backsplash choice because the mosaic tile works best with a solid-color (or close to it) counter. Try not to get discouraged!

Great trip and at the best time of the year for that location. Northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan tend to have a rainy season starting after May 15th and lasting through June 15th. However, this is not predictable; Each year is different. I live west of Milwaukee and have traveled roads in Illinois, I do have advice about potential routes from Missouri to Upper Michigan. I do not know which route you will be taking. The best route for a trip like this one is to explore and let the road take you to points of interest, an unplanned amble. I do have an aversion to certain locations when I'm on a pleasure trip. Listed below are places best avoided. Traveling from west to east through the heart of St. Louis to cross the Mississippi into Illinois. It can be congested, drivers ignoring the rules of the road, with potential for accident. 2. Chicago: Traveling south to north on the toll way. Yep, I94 is a tollway in Illinois from I80 north to the Wisconsin border. Avoid the morning and evening rush hours plus noon time. Sometimes, this route works and sometimes it does not. The best way to handle tolls here is to purchase a transponder at an Oasis or other locations. Go on-line and fill it with $20 to $40. This section of the tollway has high speed gates suspended over the road. The only rule is don't change lanes while passing through the gate. In the Chicago area, toll charges using the transponder is half of that for the manual gates. This is an I-Pass system and works for many other toll roads in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, etc. An e-mail notification is sent when the account runs low on cash. Also, you will be notified by e-mail when it is time to exchange the transponder. Apparently, it is battery powered and needs to be changed out when the battery runs low, or replaced by a revised unit. Typically, the unit we have lasts about 5 years. 3. Milwaukee can't seem to ever finish building an expressway before revising it. Summer is road construction season with lane closures. Almost every morning during rush hour, there is an accident in this system. Its assured if it rains or snows. With the above comments in mind, these are the routes I recommend. For passing trough St. Louis from the SW, bypass the city. If you are arriving via I-44, take the beltline, I-270, to the east and cross the river, then follow this road north to I-55/I-70. Of course, this will shunt you around the St. Louis Arch. If you wish to visit this item, you'll have to deal with the city. Travel northward on I-55 past Springfield and Lincoln to Bloomington. Here, decide if you will continue on I-55 to Chicago, or turn due north. I recommend due north on I-39 to Wisconsin. The main problem you'll have on this stretch is staying awake. There is very little food or fuel stops on this part and radio stations don't have decent music. Bring you own music if that is what you like while traveling. At Rockford, IL, I-39/US-51 blends into I-90. This part to the state line is tollway. A short distance north of the state line, turn NE onto I-43. This road will be uncongested until the outskirts of Milwaukee. Unless you are familiar with the local roads, there is not good way around Milwaukee, therefore, I'll plot a path keeping to the main highways with minimal road changes. When I-43 meets the beltline of the city, go east. It should be labeled i-43. At the east side of town, turn north. It should be labeled I-43. Stay on this to go north out of town and continue the trip. I-43 goes to Green Bay (Home of the Packers!). There, pickup US-41 to take you to Marinette, WI, and Menominee, Mich. Points of Interest: A. If you are interested in geology, this part of Wisconsin has features left over from the last glacier. Geologically speaking, it was not long ago, only about 10,000 to 11,000 years. These features are found in the South and North Kettle Moraine units. The best kettles, eskers, and kames are in the north unit. There good examples of drumlins where I live and I know the location of a crevasse fill. It is more rare than the other features. The western part of Wisconsin was not covered by the last glacier. B. Milwaukee County Zoo. This is a very good zoo. You can spend most of a day viewing the exhibits. C. Milwaukee Baseball Stadium. It has a retractable cover over the entire field with a heating system. D. Port Washington (north of Milwaukee). One hundred years ago, this was a fishing village. Today, its a quaint small town nestled by Lake Michigan with a marina catering to sport fishermen. It has restaurants in full view of the lake. Standard fare is Fish Fry on Friday nights. E. Sheboygan. The best sausage and bratwurst in Wisconsin are made here. F. Elkhart Lake. Road America Race Track. G. Green Bay. Home of the Green Bay Packers Football Team. H. Summer Fest Grounds. These grounds are located in downtown Milwaukee and on the Lake Front. Several weeks of the summer are filled with ethnic festivals. Irish Fest is one of the largest Irish festivals in the world. I. Cedarburg Covered Bridge. This bridge on Cedar Creek is the last remaining covered bridge in Wisconsin. There are a few other small covered bridges, but these are mostly late model props to attract clients. The Cedarburg bridge was open to traffic until 1961 when it was retired. Its unique feature is that no nails or bolts were used to hold the frame together. It is fastened with 2 inch dia. wood pegs. J. Oshkosh. EAA Air Museum with examples of old aircraft. Oshkosh airport is the location of the annual week long EAA Fly In and show. K. Milwaukee: Harley-Davidson Museum Menomonee Falls: Harley-Davidson Factory.