Without a doubt, my garden vision would best be described as an extension of my personality. It's not all that uncommon for me to be referred to as weird nor for my reply to be a simple thank you. My garden isn't often painted in such a harsh shade but more so in a never seen anything quite like it tone which I generally acknowledge to be a compliment ;-) My motto has almost always been that necessity is a mutha and my garden began under that premise. The landscape was a disaster both cosmetically and structurally. My conscience would not allow me to put my wife through the embarassment any longer and some erosion/water torrent issues required urgent structural changes to a hillside. In an attempt to begin to solve the hillside issues, I started with an 80,000 lb pile of rocks that would soon become the foundation for my 3/4 of a decade 3,000,000 pounds of hardscape garden vision. As that first pile of rocks began to be placed and transformed into a koi pond and rock garden, my vision started to take shape. Knowing absolutely nothing of landscape design or what style was what, I simply decided to take advantage of my odd lot shape and changes in elevation and try to change scenery and style around every corner. Virtually every section has a water feature, a different pathway surface, different specimen type plants and my own fence and gate designs. Some sections are a bit more formal, some more natural but all are filled with a lot of color, both in foliage and flower. Along the way as I was getting closer and closer to it all coming together, I started to recognize the amazing contribution that roses were making to my overall scheme, especially when it came to my constant quest for late summer color. That's what brought me to these great rose forums. While I consider that a great thing, I suppose some who grow weary of my gallery postings might beg to differ. Nevertheless, I am now somewhere between 60 and 70 roses and counting and can finally begin the task of perfecting my care techniques for them.

Like some of you have said, I don't consider myself a good cook. I am an OK recipe follower and I like to eat good food, so I cook. My aunt is a good cook. She can put together a meal out of nothing. It's really amazing, she goes in the kitchen, putters around and you really have no idea what she is doing in there and it seems like nothing, and then she pulls out an amazing meal. She has a great sense of taste and texture and what to make out of what. She is not a fancy, gourmet cook, her food just tastes good. I have also noted that she creates thing bit by bit, which is why it seems like she pulls meals out of nowhere. She starts a dish in the AM or the day before and does some aspect of cooking it and then just keeps going at odd times. She has a grand scheme of her kitchen and food and pantry in her mind. I'm always amazed by her, because she doesn't have fancy serving ware or antyhing, she can serve up the best dessert on a chipped dime store plate. And nothing fancy either, but she knows what pleases. Like when my dad or her son come to her house for a visit, blintzes will be made . . . On the other hand, practice makes perfect if you have a good palate. I am not too shabby with rice, beans, pasta and soup, because I make them constantly. I now have a tasty repertoire of taste combos and techniques in my mind. So some of it is just good taste, knowing what works for your tried and true favorites. That's my biggest problem actually, my sense of adventure. For every "Wow that was good!" concoction that I try, there are three or four "Meh's" and a sometimes a "Yuk." I dunno, perhaps a great cook never goes there . . . but it is my domain most of the time.

I am a victim of my own assumptions. My dad was a custom carpenter. We'd get phone calls saying "I saw the eating nook you built at X's house and I know that you would be the man to help me..." Dad chose every board personally, sighting down it and returning any defective ones to the lumber pile. (This drove the lumberyard nuts.) He learned through a long apprenticeship with his own father and grandpa's partner. He had to prove his worth to those old Swedish craftsmen over and over again. But Dad did not have a millwork setup, he had a set of phone numbers of guys who had lathes and planes and whatever was needed for creating millwork and they knew their craft. Same with hardware resources, flooring, plumbing. A network of craftsmen and specialty vendors. When the post-WWII building boom came along, these men were eventually driven out by the big developers. Dad became carpenter foreman at VA hosp. and drove workers nuts with his high standards. His supervisor considered him invaluable. On the side, he did custom carpentry. So what's my point? I thought I was hiring Dad and his cohort. Instead, I've hired a man who is very good at making things that are currently in style. He can duplicate things he sees around him, but the vision is limited by his experience. I asked about some custom tooling down the spacers at the bumpout; he conveniently forgot about it. I asked about a pattern to add to the inside of the "shaker" doors and he told us to do it ourselves. I said I would buy the knives for the cuts and donate them to the shop and he said, "Nah, we'll just misplace them and no one will want that style ever again anyway. I'll give them to you." He wanted to apply dummy trim to places that have no doors, but I said NO, that those were places for a towel bar, a framed piece of art, etc. I wanted them plain. It took him two go-rounds on his computer rendition to get this right. To his credit, he did remember that we asked for a paintable surface on the outside of the peninsula, to add color and contrast and continuity along a hall-like portion of the room that connects to our new lobby. This man is more accommodating than the other custom shop that bid out the job at an additional $5000, though. Talking to them was like talking to a patronizing jerk. Our man wants to please us and he wants to give his workers some hours. He adds his suggestions and I do listen. It's just that he is a man limited by the bulk processing machinery he uses, the machinery of a modern shop, not one with a library of hand tools and specimens of historic trims to consult. His glass samples "are here someplace" and when he finds them, he clearly is not familiar with them so I could as well be somewhere else looking at specimens. I asked him to save me pieces of scrap oak to mess with for stain effects and he sent me a single 1.5 foot board. I suppose this is a communication problem, or perhaps a generational one. On the bright side, the shop hopes to photo our kitchen if it works out so that they can attract more customers like us!

I have been looking for years, too. Now more intensely because we sold our house and are living in a furnished apt. I'm not a shoes off in the house person, but because this place has that awful cheap, light colored carpet I'm going shoeless and I've injured my toes. I need a house. There are mini-blinds in the bedroom: it's not dark in there. A couple of years ago we found 3 nests one Spring, scattered about the lawn. One was a big, mud-fortified robin's with an escape hatch where there must have been a supporting branch, one a sweet, perfect, feathery finch's, and the third was in between. Figured it was an omen. So when I found a property with a regular house, a mobile home and a really cool tree/guest house I thought maybe we should take it. DH didn't agree and I didn't feel that strongly about it. I keep trying to figure out a business where I could make this search process easier. I'd like to rich while I'm homeless. So the rental will be for you to live in?