Looks a lot like my Kardinal Wyszynski from Chalk Hill. I looked for a picture in my Photobucket account, but couldn't find one. I'll try to get one later in the season showing the anthers. Last year was it's first blooming year and I examined it closely and took notes. I was a bit shocked by the blue cast to the red bloom, thinking it would be a truer red. My notes say that the anthers were creamy with darker brown tips. It appears to me that the online pictures at Chalk Hill also show some color on the Anthers and they state that KW has brownish stamens. Here is a link that might be useful: Chalk Hill

Yaya - thanks for the link! I do love that, but DH died laughing when I showed him the price tag. I did order a color card so I can see the colors in person for my next project. Lukkiirish - Yes, the two we're debating between are actually grays with a bluish tone. I definitely can't do all blue, but the grays are much nicer. Nadine - Ooh, I can definitely see blue in both of those! Lovely rooms. I think we've decided (meaning DH has the nerve to take a stand on this one design issue - LOL) and are going with the Nimbus Gray. We'll just do the tiny bathroom first and see what we think. Our bedroom is packed with boxes of tile and fixtures for the new bathroom, and I don't really feel like moving all that around just to paint the bedroom first. If we hate it on the bathroom walls, then I may take the gallon back and have it lightened a bit and try that instead. Thank you for all the ideas and suggestions!

the best advice I can give is: STOP caring! Not that I would say don't care about your SS. Just stop caring what he thinks. Every time you go out of your way to please him and he craps on it, he is in control and has the power. Take your power back. Learn to say "oh well, sorry you don't like it." and move on. I wouldn't run out and buy him ANYTHING as long as he treats you that way. "Oh, your dad can take care of it...." and not worry when dad lets him down. I'll give two examples from my family: SD was 5 when I met her. She didn't have a birthday party when she turned 6 or 7. When she was about to turn 8, I suggested to DH that if BM wasn't going to throw her a party, maybe he could. DH called BM and right away, BM said she had plans for a party. They agreed to split the cost.. yadayadayada. It got ugly when DH put the brakes on the cost, BM whined that he wasn't paying enough... big fight... result: custody battle. So, SD had a party at a bowling alley on her 8th birthday with BM and DH at opposite sides of the room scowling at each other and nobody from school showed up.. BM's mom didn't go and it was less than pleasant. I felt terrible. So, before SD turned 9, BM had met BF and moved away and her 9th birthday was approaching. DH had already decided no more joint parties. BM could have SD on her birthday but chose not to, saying she'll make her a party the next weekend. I decided to go all out. She invited all the kids in her class (about a third showed up), we had a tent with a ton of balloons, castle bounce house, popcorn machine, and the cake I made looked like a three tier wedding cake with butterflies and roses. (it was a princess party) and she was truly a princess that day. She had a blast! THAT DAY.... The next day, she reverted back to not talking to me.. not looking at me.. and I felt she was ungrateful and unappreciative... I felt a little used. She had been so chummy with me as we planned the party, shopped for everything and I stayed up three nights baking & decorating her cake... got up at 5am to start filling balloons, etc. and then she wouldn't even talk to me? So, I had to let it go. The reason I threw such a lavish party was because I felt she had been shortchanged the last few years.... and of course, it probably wasn't MY place to step in and try to make up for it. I guess I also hoped it would be a bonding experience for us.... to help us get along better. I know her mom was laying guilt on her, telling her how I refused to invite her and she couldn't be there so I'm sure that had a lot to do with SD treating me that way. (to make matters worse, the following weekend when her mom was supposed to make her a party, her mom left her with her boyfriends parents and went out... no party with mom. The boyfriends parents sang happy birthday and gave her some cake. She was very upset by that) Anyways, I vowed to not make a party for her this year. (not my kid, not my problem... because her attitude continued for a while) As her 10th birthday approached, I asked DH if he was doing anything... no. I kinda made him feel a little guilty so he took her to pizza with his parents and I made her a small cake. She was supposed to be with her mom on her actual birthday so DH put BM on the spot and she agreed to take SD. Well, she sent her mom and I've already posted about how that turned out. She spent the day calling & texting us and trying to start a fight, instead of actually celebrating with her daughter. She left at 4pm to go back home when SD expected to be with her until 8pm... they did nothing BM had promised. SD came home in tears. I think it made her think about all I do for her. I don't know if she thought about the party I made her but I noticed a difference in her attitude with me. I don't think she would have ever had the opportunity to appreciate me in any way if I didn't back off and let her experience that. It was tough and sometimes I want to jump in and figure out a way to make her like me... I finally realized it will never happen as long as I am trying. It has to be HER idea, not mine. My second example is my dad's relationship with my stepmom's biological daughter. My dad knew her before he knew my stepmom because she used to be my younger sister's best friend in high school. He would do favors for her, like drive her home from work because she would want to hitch hike at 16. After he married her mom, he treated her like his own daughter. For 22 years, he did more for her than her biological father, who treated her like crap. When her mom had an aneurysm, my dad continued to help her and her family... treated her entire family to a trip to Disneyland. I guess the day her mom had the aneurysm, she was planning to leave the next day to Disney with her family and they had to cancel the trip. A few years later, my dad wanted to make up for it and took (and paid for) a week at Disney for her, her husband and their kids. That was something he hadn't done for any of his own kids. She would give him cards on Father's day, his birthday, etc and call him Dad. She would tell him how thankful she is for him and loves him as a dad and so on.... Well, a year before her mom passed away... after she had gotten all the possessions that belonged to her mom.. and then some, she joined her brothers in a court case against my dad. It really crushed my dad.. to this day he still gets upset when he talks about her. He honestly believed she thought of him as a dad and for her to turn on him like that was a slap in the face with a Mack truck! and on a smaller level, I can relate to his pain because my SD will hold my hand, hug me, tell me she loves me and treat me like we are family as long as she is getting her way... then I am the b*tch that said no.. as soon as I impose a rule or say no. I have had to accept that she is someone else's child that is never going to love me, no matter how much I love her. I have to choose to love her knowing it won't be returned and give, knowing it won't be appreciated. Now, someday she may mature and love or appreciate me, but I cannot do for her with that expectation... I do it because I want to. I feel bad that her mom treats her like crap, but that's HER mother. I can't make up for it. I feel bad that her dad isn't 'into' planning fun parties for kids and she may never have another party.. unless her mom makes one or if she asks me. I won't offer ever again. It's the hardest thing to wear your heart on your sleeve and keep a child at arms length at the same time. Over time she is seeing that I won't be manipulated and yet, I still care about her and will do whatever I need to for her protection, but I am not going to kiss her ass and I am not going to allow her to use me. I do what I want for her and when I don't want, I say no... sorry ask your mom or dad.

Well, torrential rain has stopped me planting for now which gives me slightly longer to procrastinate. I can't tell you all how much I appreciate all your thoughts and advice. I actually got all my ideas for roses to plant by reading this forum. I didn't put my zone in my profile as I couldn't decide which one I am in, but luckily I found this helpful page which tells me I am in zone 10a (I am in the third pale pink blob from the left). It's an interesting observation about the heat and protection from the wall, and something I had never though of. Also, It seems I had miscalculated the shape of Mme Ernest Calvat. I was thinking of a typical climbing rose shape, but it seems to be more of a large shrub. If I will let it become a large shrub (if all goes well) then it needs to be further away than 12 inches/30cm. When you Google roses you often get mostly close-ups of the bloom and it's harder to tell the final shape, I think.