Well, maybe it will eventually get some leaves on it. Now that it's out of my face, it doesn't really bother me. And like yours, Ines, mine had only the little air roots all over it and the (formerly inactive) peduncles. I do cut the long leafless stems off my pubicalyx, after they are mature enough that it's obvious they didn't produce any peduncles. It's already so huge and in-the-way, I can't afford to let it take any more unnecessary space! Jo, I was disgusted with my reverse kerrii this spring because you could hardly see any variegation at ALL in the new leaves, so I whacked it back and took two short cuttings and put them in a "public" pot outside by my GH, figuring if they burnt to a crisp or died, at least I was making an effort to make it go in another direction. The two cuttings rooted quickly and I did lose one leaf on each, but then both are now putting out new growth with obvious variegation. AND the main plant put on a new growth point back towards the soil line that had more obvious variegation. I'll be very excited to bring in the two new cuttings and put them in with the old plant and see how they all look after a winter in the GH. Denise in Omaha

Jane, so glad your pneumonia is starting to improve. I"ve had that a few times and it's no fun. The air quality has not been good here, and thats in the mountains where we are supposed to have "clean, pure air", so I have been having to use my aburitol almost every day. Breathing problems run in my DM's family,nearly all of my 8 aunts and uncles as well as my DM had asthema or COPD and I think I just inherited that from them. It is raining here today, so the air doesn't feel hardly so bad, but it sure workd on the artheritis; my optomologist (SP) told me one time "that getting old was not for sissies" and I think he knew what he was talking about, probably from experience sense he is a few years older than me. Summer did fly by didn't it? I really dread winter snow and ice, but I really believe that I feel better in the winter than in the summer. I guess it goes without saying that spring and fall are my favorite seasons.Take care of yourself, and get plenty of rest so you will get to feeling like a spry "teenager" real soon. Prayers, Janet

clinresga - Olive branch accepted. (I wish riosamba could follow me around at my elbow, speaking gentle interpretations of life's more chaotic vicissitudes. None of us know what preceded a post, none of us know what piece of reality has prompted our current enthusiasms, or whether we should be grateful that someone was able to find any kind of diversion from other things. I wish I could send her a cupcake. Or encourage her to work for the government on international relations.) To the OP: If you love something enough, it's aging makes it more dear, I would think. (I love my husband so his grey hair and the crinkles around his eyes now when he smiles are just charming patina.) If you don't think you are that way with marble, maybe know that ahead of time. Personally, I think marble that has been "broken in" a bit is quite nice, but then, I like the grey in my husband's hair, too. For what it is worth, all the marble in Italy is quite etched (from not-such-nice ph in rain); no one seems to think it diminishes it. Maybe marble should look a little "loved" (maybe not to the point of the Velveteen Rabbit, but loved just the same) and it still retains (or even enhances) the essence that is marble's attraction? I live in a very historic town and I rather prefer the truly old brick homes - even the ones with patched areas where the bricks don't quite match and mismatched mortar (because repairs were made over the last couple centuries) - to the shiny, spangly ones that are going up by the river. I tell you this so you know where I am coming from regarding things that are no longer looking new, and you can decide whether you want to take credence from someone with such views. (Our flat has a good number of "quirks" erected 250 years ago, which I find to be things to love, but my sister thinks are irredeemable flaws and we should have bought something less "weird" and new. It is good and appropriate that she lives in a brand new build; I think it feels hollow.)

Some of these are big mistakes IMHO. For example, the kitchen is tight but she really wants a lazy susan, which I agree is fine, but she couldn't fit the 36x36 so one place offered a 33x36, but she went with the one that was a 33x33 which leaves only 9" opening to get things in and out of the susan...way too small in my book, but she'll have to live with it. Another big mistake is, she's opened up the wall between the dr and the kitchen which is really nice. But she's determined to set the dr up for the holiday dinners which are maybe 1 or 2 days a year. She says the rest of the time they don't use it. I keep trying to tell her she will now that it's opened up...in fact that she'll get a lot of use out of it. But she won't believe me. To fit her crowd in for holidays she wants to put 2 tables side by side, but doesn't want to deal with a fixture hanging in the middle of the room between the tables, so she's centering a fixture over the table with the table only 24" away from one wall leaving a huge space in between the table and the island for the other 364 days of the year and a really tight fit for people to get in and out of that side of the table. But again, her house, her money, nothing I can do. I can see in the future she'll be buying a new fixture on a chain and swagging it to the middle of the room so it looks right. At least I somewhat won the argument to enlarge her island now that the wall is missing...not as large as I would like, but it's better than what she first wanted. And I'm still coaxing her into a color scheme that's less schizophrenic than what she currently wants. But it ain't easy. And I'm dealing with the frustration that I tell her something and she disagrees...her sister tells her the same thing and suddenly it's a great idea. Oh well.