It's been 20 years since I've seen one of them. As I recall, the skin was a light tan and the flesh was also sort of beige. The skin was very thin all the way up to the neck. Paul Starnes of Newnan, Georgia, now deceased, was co-founder of FoF and I know he had a copy of the Hunt. Fred Born might also have a bush from that parent. Ray Givan also might have a copy that he took from Paul's garden in a pot in 1994 after Paul died. Also, a gentleman in Marietta whose name escapes me took one of my potted plants. Any help in finding this fig again would be appreciated.

Wow, Candy ... do you make those in 'life size!' I'd love to be a doll & relax on that! ~~giggle What a wonderful gift for your friend ...your creative genes flowing ...& teaching her to sew & saw ... or is that 'seesaw?' Beautiful colors, ingenious idea & your friend's gr'd should be ecstatic when she sees this! TFS! Jeanne S.

FWIW....I do have a couple of "shelf" friends. These are people who -- to me, one-on-one -- are good, honest, loyal, interesting people. However, each has a number of personality traits that are extremely offensive in "normal" company. They have very strong personalities and thrive on disputation. I enjoy such engagements occasionally, but these people are like this all the time and in any situation regardless of company. Accordingly, I enjoy my personal time with them -- one-on-one -- but do not mix them with other company because something bad always happens when I do. Don't mean to sound stuffy, but it's just a fact of life. I keep them "on the shelf" and only share time with them in situations where risk of irritation to others is minimal. Maybe your "friend" will have a place like that in your life.

This has always been a political analogy. There is no friend with a credit card. And yes, welcome to the US. Where some people care more about who wins the next election than the well-being of the entire country. Where many, many people vote not on the issues but because of their hatred of certain parties. Where our elected officials fight like stubborn pre-schoolers while we're left helpless with nothing to do but watch. It's just way too over simplistic to just say "well stop spending" because that doesn't solve the problem right now, which is that in exactly 2 days we could have a crisis. People who depend on social security checks might not get them. Loss of our credit rating means car loans, mortgages, all interest rates will shoot up. Our dollar will fall even lower than it is now. All the people who depend on social security, that they paid into, will risk defaulting on their own mortgages and bills because they don't get their check on time. This painful recession will be nothing compared to what will happen if the US can't pay it's bills and loses it's top credit rating. Anyone who relies on social security, on medicare, on medicaid, on disability, on military pensions, on any kind of government assistance will not be able to rely on that income anymore. Everyone is saying "Don't spend more!" but where do you think these checks come from? And trust me, social security will NOT be the first thing the US pays if it has to pick and choose bills. Figuring out the debt, raising taxes, cutting spending...that's all fine and well but those things take time. We don't have time. I hope everyone who relies on this money has a back up plan.