Thank you, each and everyone for the thoughts. I found your understanding very sweet and comforting. I am sure we will enjoy our new location once we get things "wrapped up." I will miss all the roses I have grown, but drought, blight and viruses have already accounted for about a 25% loss of what we grew a few years ago and now we have shovel-pruned others due to disease intolerance, lackluster performance, etc. So we grow less than half of what we did just 5 years ago; we are down to fewer than 200 roses. My Noisettes, (including the beautiful Crepuscule) all took to their death bed over the last few months, on the coattails of losing many other roses to RRD in recent years. I was told the reason for the noisette/ornamental cherry tree losses was a soil-borne "blight..." I got the official report but I was inundated in pressing matters such as a new roof from a storm, floors from a flood, putting the house back together after having to move everything out, wash it, clean it, dry it and do it all over again, to the pressing health issues of a family member, so I just filed it away, knowing that this too would pass. The verbal report (and what I read in the local paper were similar), that many other people in my area had the same thing. It sounded to me like going to the doctor with a sore throat and low-grade fever, getting an antibiotic,a steroid and a pat on the back with the infamous medical statement, "it's a virus, it's going around,I have seen ...cases....blah, blah, blah..." You just take the medicine and move on. We will grow a few roses, but the "powers that be" sort of determine what one can and cannot grow. Fortunately, since I have worked with the master gardeners in the historical gardens, perhaps they will be more lenient. I want to grow Crepuscule again, so I want to try it at my new home. Duchesse, Caroline lives about 80 miles east. I know that you too have probably noted this as I have, that people think because we live in Alabama, we all live close together. In fact, Alabama has a pretty diverse terrain in terms of physical features (and diverse zone conditions as well as a diverse citizenry), from the world's whitest sand/bluest beaches on the Gulf Coast, to the state capital (and former Confederacy/Goat Hill in Montgomery), to the marble quarries of Sylacauga, (home to the world's finest and whitest marble), to Birmingham formerly known as Pittsburg of the South (now one of the fastest growing cities in the country with cutting-edge medical teaching university), to Mt Cheaha, the tail end of the southern segment of the Blue Ridge, also part of the Cumberland Plateau and even my little area (the oldest industrial/manufacturing city in Alabama). Thanks for allowing me to vent!!!!! http://www.prattville.com/Default.asp?ID=5

I'm so sorry for your loss. I understand how you feel; tomorrow will be 4 weeks since my precious mom passed away. I'm numb yet full of sadness and heartache. Losing her has left a void that nothing can fill, and watching our precious father lose the love of his life breaks our hearts. They were married 65 years, together for 70, and modeled unconditional love for all of those years. I don't know how I can ever find joy again. My kids have always been the source of my joy and I know they will bring joy again, yet Momma always shared in that joy with me, so how can I feel it in the same way as I had her to share it with? We will continue our Christmas traditions of gathering in my parents' home, as those are important to us now more than ever. Momma and Daddy started these traditions and while it is the hardest thing in the world to see her empty chair, it is important to us all to be together in the home that we were all brought up in and spent so many loving times together. Your children mean well, they have not lost their mother, though, so they cannot know fully what you are feeling. II have read several articles about grief and all advise that you live through your grief in the way that you need, not the way that others advise you. My children, all adults, were extremely close to my mom, and it's been very difficult for them, too. If it were not for my children, and my father, I would skip the holidays this year. My daughter made me see, though, that Momma would not have wanted us to do that. So I will move through the motions of Christmas, as I did at Thanksgiving. I hope that you are able to find comfort and peace throughout the holidays. I know it will not be easy for either of us. Blessings to you and all who loved your mother.

This news video shows the childproof door locks which the mother had on the doors and the child disabled. They gave the mother peace of mind but the product obviously does not work and should not be sold. I do not think they should be showing photos of the child on the news. He is four years old. A four year old does not know moral culture and probably does not view walking into an unlocked house as wrong, nor taking the clothing and wearing it. The only 'bad guy' in this story is the neighbor who answered the door when the child rang the doorbell and DID NOTHING about it. Later the child entered the unlocked house and then left wearing one of the xmas presents. He hid the others around the house. I don't think a four year old thinks of this as "stealing". I'm sure everyone is grateful that nothing bad happened to the child wandering the streets. It is a rather bizarre chain of events. Here is a link that might be useful: Video

I just read your reply on Alisande's post about your person of the year being your kids and you mentioned they are 22 and 21, so I had to come back here and look again. Holy cow!! I thought they were about 18 and 15. Let's hope those youthful looks carry on with them for many years LOL!!