Lisa, while it may have been a good picture day, I thought the same thing!

Going BACK to the Shaker Lemon Pie.... this is something I can finally speak to with authority as I've eaten and made it many times! Somehow, the Shaker legacy has followed me around having lived in Niskayuna (the initial US settlement), now living nearish to Pleasant Hill (Nanadoll, the entire KY area is still as you remember it... enchanting) and my Dad lives on Sabbathday Lake, home of the only extant Shaker Village. However, my main interest is the pie. ; )

It's not for everyone as bitter flavors seems to have fallen out of favor and it's the bitter chewiness of the skin combined with juice's sourness that brings this pie to life. I recently read a recipe for it that called for PEELING the lemon. Well, that just wouldn't be SLPie! I think Meyer lemon would be good... different, but delicious. Definitely cut down on the sugar in that case, although I do anyway.

The only real suggestion if any of you try it is to please use a good non-butter crust. I love butter crust, but the richness of the filling calls for flakiness as opposed to the crisp, crumbly or melting texture of butter. Some butter might bring out the flavor, but all butter may be too much. Also, more maceration improves the entire thing, especially enhancing the rind. However, these are just my opinions so please report back with your experiments and results! I love to share this dish and most seem to like, although they may just be humoring me!

Trish, I didn't mean to go on so about the Italian thing, but your house sounds even more interesting now that you've told us some of its history. Does it have two or three stories? It sounds huge with the second apartment downstairs. I want to see photos more than ever...plus some travelogue text along with the photos. It's nice that you have your kids so close at hand. Do they help much with the house? I think Holly's idea of all of us coming down to help with the scut work sounds marvelous.

Jim, what happened to the snow? All I see is Julia-ha. Lovely photo, though, to make us drool and remember how it was--seems like yesterday. I noticed when walking around the yard that the wretched deer had even eaten those last blooms of Julias that I was so proud of, the ones that had made it until December. That means the deer had to walk up our front sidewalk, almost to the porch to reach the blooms. Brazen creatures.

I'm glad we made your day, Lisa, and I still find it amazing that you have kids of those ages. My daughter is 48, and her older daughter is just 18. It's wonderful you have such a good relationship with your kids. I didn't realize you lived so close to San Diego. I can remember, even farther back around 1974, going to the original wild animal themed park in SoCal. It was called "Lion Country Safari" and we all drove our own cars right to where the animals were. You could stop, and giraffes would come right up to the car. One even licked my mother in law's car. It was quite an experience for my little daughter, but I don't approve of such treatment of the animals, and nowadays driving right onto their habitat wouldn't be permitted, I'm sure.

Carol, I understand your comment on the other thread about Just Joey---how my Abbaye de Cluny photo looked like Jude the Obscure in one pic. I've found that reds and purples, in particular, seem to have totally different colors when they are photographed in the morning (reds predominate) or the evening (blues/purples predominate). Augusta Luise also looks so much more bluish pink, depending on such factors. Diane

Abbaye de Cluny, looking more orange

More like an apricot Austin

With a heart shaped center

A bud with pink showing

Diane, this is a shot of the Spartan Pines planted to hide the Besser block wall (hopefully prevented from falling down by wooden struts tied in at the top), and the house next door. That's my daughter's terrace below. The house is 3 storeys. I live in the top two. My front door is also at ground level. Loads of steps, as I've said before.

Here they are again, photo taken from my son's balcony (middle level, and next to the lounge room, where dogs destroyed cushion!). We've had 2 days of steady rain, not something we've had much of in the last several years. Rain usually comes as downpours these days. I fertilised the roses yesterday. Been too dry till now to do it. We had a very wet Winter, and a very dry Spring.

And here are more, planted around the 'Tea Circle'. I love the look of them when they're drooping.

Holly, I love the sound of your previous Californian house. I dream of having a central courtyard. And charter that flight! What fun! We could do a tour of Australia - I've hardly seen any of it.

Trish

Thanks for posting these impressive photos, Trish. I particularly like this last one. Wow. You have planted a lot of pines, and they are beautiful. Do you have any photos showing the entire outside of your house? I'd love to see the whole facade, but as tall as your house is, it's probably pretty hard to capture the whole thing.

Yes, Holly your California house sounds wonderful--mission revival, probably, a favorite of mine. We even have mission revival homes (and Boise's train station from the 20s, too) here in Idaho, and I've been fascinated by the style since I was a kid. Diane

Oh Trish, I love your place! It looks so romantic and original. What fun to garden there! Lisa

Great pics Nanadoll & titian1! Really enjoyed them!

12 degrees right now so just trying to stay warm...lol... I just ordered our kitty cats some heated beds for Christmas... They been sleeping on the computer tower or anything throwing heat instead of there old unheated beds SO...lol

Jim, I'm glad to hear that. Their old bones will thank you. My little ones loved hopping up to the radiator covers and looking out the window during these months and when one got too weak to jump high, I built her a little staircase of vintage suitcases. She loved that.

I finally bought her a heated pad from a nearby Farm and Feed store that was sold for outdoor pets and was waterproof for a quite reasonable $$ and could barely get her off it! Now that she's no longer with me, I'm thinking about using it to provide bottom heat for seedlings. I think she'd approve.

This can't be comfortable... New heated beds will be here late Monday...:)

Jim, you are such a good cat dad. I think your Polar Vortex has hit, and the beds will also be a hit. But kitties are strange--they often like really uncomfortable looking beds; they are such contortionists with those floppy bodies, that what would be awful for us isn't so bad for them. A while back, Clancy took over a little throw rug in front of the fridge and was in everyone's way. So we bought him his own little throw rug. He would have nothing to do with it. Go figure....what are your temps like? It's raining here now and eating away at the snow. Not very cold, but by tomorrow night, it will be down to 4F; next night 2F, as the cold moves eastward; then it's a little warmer.

Vaporvac, I loved your details about the Shaker lemon pie, plus you live near Shakertown. I loved staying there in a former women's dorm, and eating the wonderful food. But the countryside was the star. I thought for sure we were lost when we took the narrow country roads through the greenest countryside. I'll never forget it. Diane

A few purples from the past, but trying not to repeat myself too much....

The Prince

In November looking a little singed from the cold

In the cold of November

In the late Fall

Diane, how does The Prince measure up against Austin's other deep red/purple roses? I only have Tess of the d'Ubervilles and Munstead Wood, but would like two or three more. I'm thinking about Heathcliff for one and open to suggestions for the others. I have Dark Desire and Wild Blue Yonder and getting Twilight Zone for sure. Would you choose The Prince over Shakespeare 2000? Thanks for posting those pics. Spring seems so far off.

Great pics Nanadoll! Its 9 degrees right now and according to my mini weather station wind gusts up to 41 mph...

Diane - Your AdC looks soooo gorgeous!!!! Does it have any fragrance??? Wow!!

Titian - I love your yard!!! There's nothing here that can compare to what you have!!! Gorgeous!!

Jim - sounds like a great Xmas present for the kitties!!

Jellybean hovers between frail and fit. Who knows?? Today she didn't use the dog ramp to get in the back of the CRV - she jumped up. Yet, she fell over walking the other day and gave herself (and my carpet) a bloody nose. She fell over today...but didn't seem to hurt herself. Part of it is probably because she has cataracts and can't see very well...but part of it is getting dizzy and falling down after turning (walking) too quickly. Every day is a blessing to have her here with us.

Carol

Well, anyone else up? It has been pouring rain here. We probably got about 2.25 inches in 24 hours. That is a lot for us considering we only get about 12 inches a year. I practically had to put pontoons on the car to get home from work yesterday. Where I work, they don't believe in something for the streets called a "storm drain." So the roads just flood. We had to call the city twice yesterday because the water was up over the curb and flooding into the floorboards of the cars and it was like crossing a small river to get in and out of the building. When I left last night, I was lucky to get out of there as the roads were closed due to flooding and they had a big tanker truck trying to pump the water out of the street. Also, street lights--tell me, what are those? Most of my commute, it is in the country, so there are no lights for you to see any flooded areas before you hit them with your car. Yes, much to the dismay of the cars behind me, I crawl to and from work. Ah, when can I retire???

It won't be any easier trying to get into work today. Yesterday morning, a lady in a car hit one of the turns a little too fast for the wet weather and spun out right next to me, almost hitting me. Ah the joys of working! When can I retire???

Have not been able to check on the garden since it is dark when I leave and dark when I return from work. Looking forward to the weekend. I get to leave early from work today as it is the only time I get to bring my car in for servicing. At least if I have rain on the way home, it will be light instead of dark. Then, of course, since we had all this rain, next week, we should be having our famous tule fog. Two weeks ago, the visibility was down to zero. Instead of snow days (although they have those in the mountains), we have fog days for the school kids. Schools start and end on different schedules because you can't see. Unfortunately, work doesn't stop and we have to get there on time no matter what. I usually drive with the window down on the driver's side and hug the white lines on the roads. Sometimes, if I am lucky, I can see up to three lines ahead of me. Other times, I can't see the lines at all. What I love is driving and telling myself that there are railroad tracks somewhere around here and then go oops! There they are! Good thing a train wasn't on them! Ah, when can I retire??? Tule fog Another link talking about the pollutants in tule fog

Shaker pie? Have never had it with Meyers. I have made it a couple of times with "regular" lemons. I let the lemon mixture sit more than 24 hours in the fridge in order to make my very thinly sliced lemons more tender. Otherwise the peels can be a bit much to try to eat. It is a toothachingly sweet pie. Lots and lots of sugar. In reality, it is not my favorite of lemon pies. I prefer something with less sugar and a bit more creamy. But it is something different and good.

Love the puppy and kitty pictures. Also love the brugmansia pictures as well. I am afraid that mine is done for the year until next spring. I just love those flowers.

OK, I am winding down again and need to get a couple of hours of sleep before my next commute in and back for the week. Can you believe that next week is Christmas Eve and Hanukkah? Ah, the holiday merry-go-round starts. In my family, it has been a tradition to travel and spend the holidays with as many relatives as possible in 24 hours. As a kid, we had Christmas Eve (starting early afternoon, late morning so we could prepare the traditional Italian meal) at my maternal grandmother's house, left there about 10 pm to travel an hour or so home so we could go to midnight mass that starts about 11:30. Get home about 1:30 in the morning. Go to bed. Get up at 7. Eat breakfast and clean up the dishes. Open our gifts. Get into the car so we could hit my aunt's house before noon. Wish all the extended family there, Merry Christmas. Get back in the car. Drive home. Change clothing to nice clothes. Get back in the car and spend Christmas afternoon and dinner and after dinner with my fraternal grandparents. Get home late--between 10 and 11. Go to sleep. Get up at 7 the next morning and take down all of the Christmas decorations and put everything away. Believe it or not, there are some fond memories of this!

I will be doing something similar this year as well. Just longer commutes by several hours and hundreds of miles. So in goes the car for servicing today to get ready for it. Unfortunately, both sets of grandparents are long gone (miss them every day), but I will be traveling about 700 miles over the course of about 24 hours. Am pleasing my parents with this one otherwise I wouldn't do it. Hope the weather holds out. So, if you don't hear from me over the next couple of weeks, that is why. Happy Holidays everyone!

I'm glad you made it home safely, mustbnuts. Driving through flooded streets and almost being hit sounds horribly dangerous and stressful. Wishing all of you safe traveling this winter.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Mustbnuts, Glad you're safe driving through flooded streets. 700 miles in 24 hrs, that's a long trip! I'd do the same if my parents are 700 miles away. :-) Drive safe! We got 1' of snow, and more snow is coming tonight, and then tomorrow temp will be 40F, snow will melt and then more rain/ snow is coming, will be icy this weekend.......

Gee mustbnuts things sound so hectic your way, makes me appreciate our snow after hearing about flooded streets, dense fog, etc. WOW! I'm also glad you made it home safely...Hopefully you get some time to tend to your garden and to sleep...And to top it off you will be off soon on a 700 mile trek... :-O Be careful!

Mustbnuts - Yikes!! Sounds very dangerous! I agree with you - when can you retire? :)

Carol

Wife and I went to a live nativity last night... It was very nice! First time our town had one of those since they had them 30 years ago or so... Those folks braved low temps in the single digits for two hours each night for the past 3 days...Wife and I got a good parking space so we stayed in the car to watch. We did brave the cold for about 15 minutes but it was too much for my wife whom has MS.

Nice Jim. I'm glad to see it! Lisa

Hi flowersaremusic--I'm finally getting back to you and your Prince question. I've had my plant for years, and it's grafted on multiflora rootstock. It has a beautiful growth habit, and forms a lovely four foot shrub, but its blooms are sparse and far between. After reading what Ken has to say about The Prince (see current Austins'e on Fort thread), I would recommend getting The Prince grafted on fortuniana rootstock if you want to grow it. I just remembered that fort rootstock requires a pretty mild climate, probably zone 7 is the coldest it would reliably tolerate, but I could be wrong on that. I don't have any experience with Shakespeare 2000. I think Munstead Wood is probably the best red/purple Austin. I do grow Young Lycidas, and I like it very much, but it does have floppy canes. Where it grows it leans very nicely against other stronger roses and fits in well. It's not pushy like many bigger roses and doesn't threaten its neighbors. YL has a gorgeous scent, too. Other purples I grow are not Austins.

Jim, those are lovely photos, and the actors are truly dedicated. I don't know how they can stand the single digit temperatures. It will be down to 4F tonight here. I feel so sorry for the birds and animals out in this weather. Are you Easterners and Midwesterners experiencing the predicted polar vortex yet? It sounds like Jim is in Pennsylvania, and summers in upstate NY. Mustbe is having a different kind of vortex, but it sounds ghastly. Even here in the desert we have storm drains, for petessake. Stay safe, mustbe.

I hope all of you are caught up on shopping, baking, and other seasonal preparations. All I want for Christmas is mega bags of manure, and I know I won't get it. It weighs too much for Santa's sleigh! Diane

Young Lycidas (sorry for repeating this photo)

I'm not sorry you repeated that photo, Diane! It's yummy! I appreciate your input on the purple roses. There was a thread awhile back and I should have checked there, but your pictures got my attention, so had to ask while it was on my mind. I agree Munstead is the best. Young Lycidas is on my list, so I'm glad to know it leans. I like the big, full, ruffled blooms on Tess..d'U, but it doesn't have that purple cast, and, it's definitely an octopus! I was pleasantly surprised at how these dark roses brought my pastel garden to life. Now, I have to watch that I don't over do it. Oh, and I'm with you on the manure!! Better than diamonds!

To everyone.....sounds like many of us have dangerous driving conditions right now. That's always a worry during such a busy time of year. Be safe, all!

Not much else going on here... We have 6 inches of snow and we just had a ice storm of about an inch so just plain slippery out there...lol

That brings back fond? memories, Jim. Our first ice storm was during our first winter in the north woods after living all our lives in So. Calif. Had not even unpacked and didn't know a soul. No power for almost 2 weeks. But, it was so beautiful it was breathtaking. I don't think I've ever been that cold since. Hope you can stay inside!

Hard to take a pic of ice...lol

Brrr! We are having wild weather here. Friday it was 17 & tomorrow the predicted high is 72! It's crazy!

I'll take that 72F, Holly. Tonight it's supposed to hit 2F or -3F, depending on the forecaster. We last had a negative temp in 2013. We are supposedly having an "Arctic blast". It's the Northwest's version of the Polar Vortex. I just hate looking out at the poor roses. At least there is some snow cover for them.....How is that last paper coming? Will you be baking any of your delectable desserts for Christmas?

Jim, that's a dramatic snow scene. It looks like the wind has blown it, or maybe that's the ice. Verrry cold scene. I still don't have any good snow pics.....We need to lasso someone to start a new winter thread. Who out there wants to start it? We'll pay you a cool million to do this--hahaha. Million snowballs, that is. That was a bad joke. Seriously, this thread is getting pretty cumbersome, and officially winter is almost here (been here in Idaho for quite a while, in fact). Diane

We're getting warmer weather (we have chinooks which are warm winds that blow from the mountains - they can be as warm as 20C (68F)!!! So the cold/hot winter weather is really, really hard on roses that overwinter outside. We're expected to get up to 3C (37.4F) next week!!!

Diane - that Young Lycidas picture almost makes me want to keep mine (I'm giving it to a friend because I don't like floppy canes)!! What a glorious rose you've shown!!

Jim - Lovely Nativity shots - and great job on looking after your wife when she gets tired. Been there. :)

Carol

Carol, I should be in bed--the sun will be coming up soon. Just wanted to tell you that you were right on the other thread concerning my Abbaye de Cluny pic looking like Jude the Obscure. That's because it was Jude the Obscure. The photo got in the Abbaye listing. I saw it a couple of hours ago, identified correctly, as I went through this whole thread--very enjoyable to see everyone's pics and posts again. So, you are correct, and I goofed yet again. Diane

This is Jude the Obscure not Abbaye de Cluny

Jude the Obscure looks good Nanadoll... It snowed here then high winds caused some drifting then ice storm over that... Frozen dunes...lol

Hope you're able to stay in, Jim. It's beautiful, but dangerous. What I remember most about our ice storm of about 20 years ago was how every individual pine needle was encased in perfectly clear ice. The field of weeds across the road looked like something out of a fairy tale. The slender stems of the tall weeds were each individually enclosed in ice like sculpture. Everything had a sparkly crystal chandelier look. I'd never seen anything like it.

I'm growing Jude the Obscure (new this year) as a shrub, Diane. Since I planted it, I've seen where some grow it as a climber. I hope I don't have to move it. It must be another Austin octopus.

Flowersaremusic, Jude is very upright for me, but grows very large here--like about 8-9 feet tall. It's slow to take off, but just keeps growing. I wouldn't try to grow it as a climber myself......We don't have ice storms here, but we get a buildup of hoarfrost from the nasty inversion sets in around January or February, usually. It's heavy fog, stale air, or smog, that stays for weeks, pressing down on the valley. The moisture from the fog builds up as hoarfrost on plants and looks beautiful. Beautiful or not, I'd rather not have that awful inversion, which we have almost every winter.

Jim, thanks for all the beautiful winter photos. Diane

I've had enough of winter already...lol

Roses from Christmas past: lol

Mister Lincoln:

Diane, if Jude gets as tall as yours, I will have to move him. He may stay smaller here, since we are a couple zones colder. I'm glad to hear he's upright. I thought he might be another floppy one.

I've heard of hoarfrost, but didn't know what it was. Sounds like another reason to stay off the roads! I am a scaredy cat when it comes to driving in bad weather. I've ended up in the ditch a few too many times.

Those roses are what we needed, Jim. I'm getting a little winter weary, too. Do you have a favorite out of those 4?

Probably Precious Platinum or Livin Easy flowersaremusic! Yep winter hasn't even offically started yet and I'm weary...lol

Thanks, Jim. I've had my eye on Livin Easy. I'm starting to appreciate orange roses more and more. They mix with other roses surprisingly well. The only one of those 4 I have is Outta The Blue.

Jim, thanks for the lovely rose photos. So you must like Livin Easy better than Easy Does It? You removed EDI last year didn't you? I still have my runt, and I keep saying his days are numbered. I sure can agree with you about being sick of "winter", and it hasn't even started officially. It's about 7F right now. Enough already.

Do we have any volunteers to start a new seasonal thread? Shall we keep it going? I think it's been a lot of fun, and if you need great rose reading and photos, just go to the top of the thread and start reading. I did that last night, and enjoyed it so much. I re-read the entire winter thread last year, too. Loved it. I think it's too bad we can't make a book of all these posts and photos. Flowersaremusic, do you want to start a new winter thread? That's about all you have to do, plus post when you feel like it. I'm feeling like a nag right now, but winter's almost here, unfortunately. Diane

Sure, Diane, I'll call it Getting Thru Winter.

Diane - how cool that I was right! Doesn't happen all that often on the rose forum!!! :) It is soooo easy to get roses mixed up from our photo files!!

flowersaremusic - what a lovely description you gave!! You are a poet at heart!

Jim - lovely roses from past days!! :)

flowersaremusic - great title!!

Carol

Carol, thanks for the Rosen Empire--it was a great thread. See you on getting through the darn winter of '16.

Flowersaremusic, thank you, too, for starting our new thread. Now, it's time for me to get over there and get on with winter. Then, I suppose it's finally time for bed--ha.

Jim, please turn out the lights. See you on the new thread.

Diane

I believe we owe Jim a big applause for hosting this "Fall of the Rosen Empire" thread. You did a great job Jim with your wonderful contributions to this community of rose loving people.

Hans, it was Carol who was the host of "Fall of the Rosen Empire". Jim hosted the thread previous to the fall one. I know it's hard to remember--they all kind of run together. Diane

Diana, I see my mistake, so sorry, in which case I need to thank Carol just as well. I am probably still impressed by Jim's earlier thread.

Ok turning off the lights everyone... Wait a minute.....LOL...LOL...LOL

Carol needs to turn off the lights... :-) Now I am as mixed up as Hans...lol

See you all on the new thread... :-)

Great job with this thread Carol! :-)

Ok, getting ready to switch threads to winter in more ways than one: yesterday it was 71, and right now it is 36 & dropping!

Jim, Diane, flowersaremusic: ♡♥♡♥

See y'all on Getting Thru Winter!

Thank you, Carol for a great thread. It is still Fall over here for me. This weekend, I filled two large barrels with leaves and there are still plenty more on the ground. It was windy, so all the leaves came down at once. When I moved leaves away from my roses, I discovered two new basal breaks on roses that had lost canes last summer. That was a happy discovery! Well, see you on the winter thread.

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Say goodnight, Gracie!

Goodnight, Gracie.

Carol

Carol, you're a hoot!

Goodnight, Carol (it's not night anymore); I'm going to miss this thread. Diane

:)

We'll all be together on the next thread. :) Onward and upward, tallyho, tut tut and all that. :)

Carol