I'm especially glad to have rain in my garden! :) GaAlan, that is gorgeous! It must be especially welcome in a gray landscape like today's. The foliage on my thunbergias was for a few days a significantly less vibrant (but still very pretty) version. I do have to try some Sparkleberries where they can be seen from the house with sun behind them; I saw a picture yesterday of a well-tended pair that had me hyperventilating. Georgia Rose, I've planted some spring-blooming spireas that show no signs of being invasive--VanHoutte, Reeves, and thunbergia. Our neighbors across the street, however, do have a very upright bridalwreath-type one that does seed about pretty lavishly; I don't know what species. I love the ones I have, though. On strolling about the other day, I found another glad-to-have: a compact form of winter honeysuckle, Lonicera purpusii. It won't be blooming for another few weeks, but I'm glad now because, even thoug deciduous here, it's still green in a gray landscape (surprisingly with our drop to 8 degrees). Actually dots of green--a grader last August mistook my directions and scraped my nice clump away, burying the whole thing under a foot and a half of earth. I dug and dragged it back out (NOT easy!), hurriedly sawed the root ball apart into a number of pieces, and shoved them in shallow holes I scraped in baking soil. Today they're all alive, scrawny tattered relics of their former self, but this time next year the bigger ones should (almost) be handsome arching (green) mounds once again, getting ready to cover themselves with fragrant winter flowers.

My dog ate a cellophane wrapper from a packaged round steak. I did not know she ate it until she threw it up. Boy was I surprised. I was very careful about what I put in the trash after that. She also ate a suction cup off of one the darts my son's played with. She did not pass that with out help. I had to take her in for the reg worm check when the vet discovered it. She would never have passed it by herself because it had swelled up with all the moisture. I was very young and was not aware that you had to watch over a pet the same as a toddler.

so frustrating...had to hit Verizon again to pay bill...they removed me from paper bill in error...then headed up to best buy thinking they had repaired my big computer...(not done) so ok... headed to wal mart. none of my special chai tea, none of the sugarfree candy we like...did pick up some pantry items...BUT! walked out into a downpour! by the time I got home, pulled a container of stew, and crawled into bed to warm up...but it was really good for the dreary day...we were luckier than some in the Detroit area...they had flooding!!

John, you sure have an eclectic group there. I hope your Pescatarian and Mike did manage to create some sparks, and I'm sure everything was delicious although I had to pause at the brie cheese gelato, and I'm still thinking about that. I suppose it was good, because many times brie is served with sweet, like that brie and fruit in crust thing... Dcarch, I hope you enjoyed your dinner and are still around to talk about it, romaine is sure getting some bad press lately. Brad, your dinner sounds perfectly festive, although I do like turkey and I'd rather have sweet potatoes than the traditional mashed white ones. I also LOVE creamed onions, yum. Although your group was small, it's always nice to have family together. Momj47, I'd forgotten about that picture, and it still made me smile. Happy Thanksgiving! gardengal, I hope you get your Yorkshire puddings soon. And just think, you really can eat them all yourself. (grin) Makes it all worthwhile.... sleevendog, it was cold here too, didn't make record cold, which is 7F, but it made it down to 12F. We spent about an hour outside setting hay and repairing a hay feeder and coaxing the very cold tractor to start, and that was enough. I don't blame you for skipping the parade, a week outside is more than sufficient in this weather. Because our family dinner will be on Saturday we had chickpea flour waffles and a venison stirfry, definitely not the traditional Thanksgiving Day meal but still better than I had anticipated. And tomorrow I cook..... Annie