Mine sulked all last year, thought she was a goner for sure. Didn't winter protect, and she has made an amazing comeback, only her second year, just put out the most gorgeous blooms; they individually don't last but a day or two, and I don't know what the repeat will be like, but I love the color. I impulsively ordered another orange/rust with the Austins and don't care for it, but I would have to say it's bigger and more robust, but I want to get rid of it. I can't justify sp'ing a perfectly healthy rose, so maybe I will give it away at some point. The spot where I have Pat can't handle a huge rose. It is just right for where it is. If she just keeps coming back even though she dies back almost to the ground, she is welcome as long as she likes. I just love her and will probably replace her if worse comes to worse. And my zone is a lot more iffy than yours. The soil isn't too hot either, I amend now, but didn't know about doing that when I put that bunch in. I just feed, mulch, water, deadhead, and cut out only the bad canes and winter dieback in the spring so far.

Sylvia, You should be a writer. Even nearly 20 years later, I'm sorry on the loss of your father. Doesn't matter how long ago it was, it's still a loss. I lost my first-born, a son, before birth in 1986, then my only other living child, my 18-year old daughter died with her boyfriend in an auto accident in June 2005. The stress of losing my daughter really messed me up, made me forget things. I called some people two & three times, telling them "the news" of what happend to Erica. I had no memory as to calling them earlier. I was putting ashtrays in the freezer. I was suddenly lost in my own neighborhood. Like you said, be kind to yourselves. Do whatever it takes to cope. Emma in PA

I love it when the little things work out and give us joy LOL I can not stand but for a very few minutes and it makes it very hard to do so many of the things we take for granted. I got a little rolling chair for my kitchen, it does go up and down, I am now able to do most everything while seated and I just wheel it around all over the kitchen, it works great on the tile. I am in a wheel chair in the rest of the house but find the little rolling chair so much easier in the kitchen and takes up less room. The first day I got it I had it up too high and did end up on my backside on the floor! Now I know not to try to lean over too far! I have used the really big safety pins on my pillows to attach them to the bed sheet back when I had no headboard to hold them in place. That same rubbery shelf liner is what is used for putting under rugs to keep them from crawling but a large one is expensive, I have found that stuff in place mat size for very cheap, if you buy 4 and attach them to the 4 corners of a large rug it works well if it is a really big rug you may want to use 6, it can be attached with self stick velcro, cost a lot less than the big rug pad. When I have to get up during the night to go to the bathroom I hate turning on a bright light so I found these little bitty led clip on lights at walgreens, they are supposed to be for reading etc, I clip on onto the front of my wheeled walker click it on and have a headlight which does not wake up anyone and provides plenty of light to see my path is clear. I picked up several of those for a few bucks and have found many uses for them. I keep one on my beside table in case the power goes out, takes up much less room than a flashlight but works well enough to give me light to go light candles or oil lamps.

hi thank you for the pics. sure love those windows . I have a back porch with 6 windows like this would be perfect. I hope you can sell these . as far as color she had some good ideas I agree with the black for the frame ,makes the colors pop. the denim ,cornflower blue, country blue stains and wiped on color always seem to be the antique..ee looking one but the greens have the same effect. I had a thought when looking at some of these once if the wood were,nt beat up and smooth and maybe for the frame for some real bright flowers what about that chrome finish spray I,ve used this on things and it is a real nice finish . with the white glass and flowers ? in the auto section this spray is top stuff . I have another idea that was made for this I wanted this look on my cabinet doors but was,nt as talented so I added a picket fence to the bottom and add paper flowers from time to time . the fence was made from scrap and spray painted then tacked to the door with finish nails I glued the pickets on with wood glue and tried to scale it to size. but the picket fence along the bottom of the window witht he flowers poking out here and there or some rose bushes or a scarecrow or or or ????. adds a little attention for no cost. Rick