The guy with the white strip is Striptease. You have some beautiful mature hostas there. By the time mine in pots get even close to that, I have to divide them and re-pot because I cannot handle a pot larger than 3 gal. Nuts. (trade-offs for living on a small suburban lot in CA). Thank you so much for those beautiful mature hosta pics. Most of what we see here on the forum is new plants less than 5 years old. Congrats on the Masters. Methinks you get a Masters Degree for growing such beautiful hostas! -Babka

love all the space set up for you! and i want that table at the end of your bed... I don't use my fireplace either. That'd be dangerous for me. I don't even use real candles anymore - don't trust myself (or the dog). That's a great room you have - space for you to be alone, read, watch TV, nap etc. I do have an electric fireplace - heater in my bedroom, with a remote control. That's my style these days.

Thank you all for your warm responses! Today was not a good day energy-wise, but it means a lot to me to hear from you. I am both looking forward to and dreading my return to work since just being home can be so exhausting at times that I can't imagine how I will manage actual work. Yikes! I may not be back here until later in the week! Thanks again!

Oh Joe, you remind me so much of myself. Every time something stressful happened in my life, I went out and whacked up the yard. Last year, when I was POd at my older son, I literally hung on a banana plant to pull it down so I could saw it off, then dug up the corm and gave it away, because it had nubs on it that I knew would turn into new trees for someone. Once in North Port, when I was faced with losing my house, I went and took out nearly the entire back hedgerow, and made a pile so high and long that it used up my entire yard trash allotment for the year. After that, I had to stuff as much as I could into my 4 large garbage cans and several 5-gallon buckets every week so they'd haul it off. It's very cathartic to whack things down. I can't blame you for wanting to lighten your load, but someone may have come and gladly dug up that Valencia pride. Too bad it had to go. I'm facing some pretty heavy yard work ahead myself, as I've decided to move to Mexico next year when my lease is up. Can't take the plants with me, so they all have to go, hopefully to happy homes. I may have a "dig up the yard" party this winter and let my GW friends take what they want. You could never bore us. Life is crazy and relationships are hard. I'll always love you both, and hope you do find the woman of your dreams. I know how tough it is being alone, which is one reason I want out of here and am off for another country. I thought Gainesville would be my saving grace, and it's turned into my worst nightmare, so I'm off to live la vida loca! Might as well enjoy that last few years of my life.