It was not love at first sight. I thought he was too serious, aloof and self assured. It was the summer before my senior year of college and his sister and I had become friendly while working at the same store. He was 2 years older, teaching bio-chem and every now and then he would come into the shop to give his sister a ride home after work. He barely acknowledged my presence, giving the impression that he had better things to do then make small talk with his younger sister's friend. Yet I noticed that as the summer progressed he came in more frequently and even managed an occasional hello. My brother had a new boat and we made plans to spend the day at my parents' lake house, picnicking and water skiing. My girlfriend asked if she could bring her brother and since we needed an extra driver and car I agreed. Spending the day together I realized that I had misread him. Yes he was serious. I was right about that. He still is. But he was also shy, quiet, thoughtful with a keen intellect and a a strong inner desire to do good, to help, to teach. We dated for 2 years and became engaged while I was in grad school. I graduated that August and a week later he left for medical school. I applied for jobs in the same city so that we could get married. I found a job as a librarian and we married at the end of his second year. As a new employee I wasn't entitled to vacation time so we planned our wedding for June because Flag Day was a city holiday and the library was closed. I even had to take a 'day without pay' so that I could get a long weekend. We married on Saturday and we both returned to work on Monday. We recently celebrated our 40th anniversary and DH will retire from his oncology practice soon. He is still serious and thoughtful with an inquisitive mind and a philosophical streak. I think it might be time to take an official honeymoon. This post was edited by maire_cate on Wed, Feb 12, 14 at 6:04

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? BOTH - sorry! Egg Nog w/ nutmeg or Hot Chocolate w/ a shot of Butterscotch Schnapps. 2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Wrap, wrap, wrap, wrap, wrap! & he always seems to know what color's we've decorated in that yr.! 3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White in various sizes & finishes. I would like to do the house in colored lights just one yr. though. Not the tree though! 4. Do you hang mistletoe? I keep meaning to! My Nana ALWAYS did! 5. When do you put your decorations up? Usually 2nd wk. of Dec. although I'm finally getting it together & we've already begun! 6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Hmmmm.... My mom's corn pudding. But her mashed potatoes are perfect. Her Ham is too. Did I mention her cherry pies?! 7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Well.... It's not my favorite but my family discusses it & laughs about it every yr. at my expense. When I was little I would get so worked up, excited & anxious about Christmas Day that on Christmas Eve I'd start getting sick & w/o fail every Christmas morning until I was 8 or so, I'd throw up as soon as my feet would hit the flr. Everyone would wait for me every morning while someone took me to the bathroom as soon as I woke up. 8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? When I pulled the beard off of Santa & made all of the kids start crying. My mom always reminds me of how I yelled "YOU'RE NOT THE REAL SANTA CLAUS!" & yanked his beard off. We were asked to leave. 9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, it was the only way my mom could get my nerve's to settle. DH asks me every yr. if I need to open a present on Christmas Eve & I always say 'No thanks, I'm a big girl now!' 10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? In gold. Also with ornaments that look like old mirrors and old Russian icons. Okay - that sounds really pretty!!!! This yr. I have a red whimsical tree in the LR, I'm aiming for an elegant woodland tree in the office & I'd like to do a small cars, planes, trains & boats theme on a small white tree in the playroom. 11. Snow: love it or hate it? LOVE IT! But I'd better be inside enjoying that doctored up hot chocolate by a fire. 12. Can you ice skate? Nope. That'd mean I'd have to go outside. 13. Do you remember your favorite gift? There are so many great gifts, but last yr. my sister who lives out of state & doesn't have much money to spare, put together a small basket of her favorite things. It makes me feel like we're together during the yr. sharing & introducing each other to new things. You can't beat that! 14. Whats the most important thing about the holidays for you? The shear magic, wonderment & joy of it all. My heart just sings - it feels like anything is possible! 15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? My mom's cherry pie. 16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Watching It's A Wonderful Life w/ a bottle of red wine w/ DH. 17. What tops your tree? Usually a finial but I just found a great angel that I hid in the back at Bombay. 18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Totally giving! In my family we look all yr. long wherever we go for each other & we never ask for lists. You never know when you'll find the most perfect thing at some little dive on a wknd. trip in August & it was probably under $10! DH's family seems to always ask for lists & go at the last minute. Then they never get me anything off of it! It's taken me a long time to get used to the whole list & generic wrapping/ bag thing but I finally have. 19. What is your favorite Christmas song? Holy Night by Bing but I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas is a real close runner up! 20. Candy canes??? Sometimes at DS1's insistence. He always wants you to have what he has. 21. Favorite Christmas movie? Either The Santa Claus or Elf. 22. What do you leave for Santa? In our family -- we ALWAYS leave out the Best Scotch and shortbread. Mum always says that Santa will need a "warm-up" by the time he gets to our house ...... even when I was very little -- Santa always got a crystal glass of The Best. Milk & cookies but I think we may be starting a new tradition this yr.! Thanks Teacats!

Congrats Chris!!!! Paul thank you for sharing this rose! What a great way to let people know about it! this rose has to be the most romantic of gallicas with its fascinating freckling and poetic name.

Since we just went through such a hard week for ourselves and our gardens, we all need a break. This week's gardening theme song reflects that and is just for fun....just a happy song to make us smile. Fun, Fun, Fun by The Beach Boys Last week definitely was not fun for our gardens or ourselves, but we get a little bit of a break for a few days before temperatures warm up again. I hope everybody and their gardens made it through the very tough weather week in good condition. Our garden is struggling with the lack of rainfall and very high summer heat. Yesterday really was stunningly hot so early in the day that it was mind-blowing. We were 103 degrees with a heat index of 105 before noon even arrived. Really? What did we do to deserve that? lol. We peaked at a high of 111 and a heat index of 113, and I would love to believe that yesterday will be our worst day of the summer and that there won't be any more like that one. After a week of weather like that, parts of our yard and garden look as if somebody took a blow torch to them. I'm watering really heavily and really often, for me, in an effort to keep the flowers in the garden going for the pollinators because they need them. There's not many native flowers left in bloom for them as most of them are dried up and either going dormant or dying. At least the native sunflowers are hanging in there, so the pollinators have those. There's a couple of patches of frogfruit in bloom in areas where I have made puddles of water for the small wildlife. At this time of the year, every single wildflower counts. The vegetable plants are not amused by the mid-summer heat. I have shade cloth over peppers and a few of the tomatoes and that is helping, but everything else including the fall tomatoes is sitting there roasting in the sun. Even the okra leaves wilted badly yesterday and their soil was plenty moist. The harvesting continues, albeit at a slower pace---okra, lima beans, peppers (hot and sweet), and tomatoes. The first planting of southern peas has finished up and the second planting isn't producing yet but the Lima beans are filling the gap nicely, although they are late. At least they're finally producing, which seems like a miracle of sorts in this heat. Because butterflies love the heat, the garden is overflowing with them now. They are simply everywhere which is great. So are the grasshoppers, which is not so great. It is, however, typical of what happens when the weather gets hot and the fields dry up and the grasshoppers migrate in huge numbers to irrigated areas. I hope everyone is seeing lots of hummingbirds. I think we have had more hummingbirds in the yard and garden this week than ever before. I suppose this is happening for various reasons---the heat and drought conditions may be driving them in out of the native woodlands and grasslands to homes with irrigated yards and gardens. It could be the abundant blooms in the garden for them---I selected so many flowers specifically in mind for them this year. It seems like they are visiting the feeders a lot more---just like they do as they migrate, though it is so early that I am not sure that they've begun migrating yet. Still, their southward migration will begin soon. I also set up a lawn sprinkler in the lawn in the midst of a bunch of trees and run it for them for a few minutes every hour, and they really seem to enjoy flying through the mist of the sprinkler. I'm not sure if they are bathing or playing, but they seem happy no matter what it is that they are doing. Maybe they just need some heat relief too. The garden itself is full of birds searching for insects to eat. I hope they are devouring grasshoppers. Are y'all planning fall gardens? Has anyone got anything going yet other than fall tomatoes? Due to the prolonged lack of rainfall here, I don't have much of a garden plan for fall yet. I'm waiting to see what happens between now and mid-August. If some rain doesn't fall, I don't think I'll plant anything in August. It is just too dry. I feel like it is going to be challenging enough just to keep the current garden plants alive, including the fall tomatoes, from now through mid-August. Historically, our worst summer heat in my county occurs in the first half of August, although I'd be perfectly happy if this year is an exception to the rule. The grass? Our bermuda grass looks pitiful and I don't really care, except that withered, dry grass becomes a fire hazard, so I guess I'll try harder to get it some water this week. It is so dry that its' green color is about gone, and it doesn't spring back after you walk on it....so footprints from the day before are still visible in the grass each morning. Fire activity is picking up down here, not just in our county but in other counties on both sides of the river, and burn bans are starting to pop up---in some cases on the Texas side in the form of emergency burn bans implemented without notice because the weather situation suddenly seems so dire. It really isn't too bad in our county yet, but I feel like it has the potential to turn bad quickly. So, what's new with everybody? How did your plants handle the extreme heat? Are you excited for fall gardening? Just hoping to survive the summer? Beyond caring? Remember to stay hydrated if you're still having the heat. Our cool-down has begun but we aren't really cool yet---the nighttime was cooler. It was nice to wake up to temperatures in the 70s instead of the 80s, but our high still is expected to be 106 today with whatever heat index comes with it. I'm looking forward to Tuesday when we are not expected to hit the triple digits....but they'll be back by Thursday, so the weather reprieve is brief here. The chickens were allowed to leave the mud room and free range around the yard late yesterday evening and spent the night in their coops. The mudroom has been cleaned up, swept and mopped but I haven't moved the furniture back into it. I'll do that today or tomorrow. Covering the entire thing in 4 mm plastic taped down to the floor so they couldn't get under it worked out really well and made clean up a breeze. Have a great day everyone and a wonderful week as well. Dawn