I don't have a photo, I didn't own a camera on the month that the man brought me the incredibly large rose blossom. I've compared it to every thing I've ever seen blooming at vintage gardens home garden and at san jose heritage rose garden, and my journal notes about exceptional roses, and no description or image comes close to it. From its shape and style of bloom it appears to have a strong H.P. influence. One blossom has a great weight, for a rose blossom, a hardball baseball came to my mind when it was in my palm. The little scrap of foliage on the cutting the man brought me appeared somewhat typical for a H.T. but these were only 3 leaflet leaves. I would guess from those traits listed above that it could be a first or second generation Hybrid Tea. I would think that it would have been bred in a warm climate because it only opens fully in 80+ degree weather No Identification yet, as of March 9th, 2011. I would guess that in the modern age since patenting that such a rose would not have a great commercial value, because of the limitation from its requirement of heat to fully open, I've been looking among H.T.s that were introduced between the 1860's through the 1940's for an identification, to begin with. I've moved since getting the rose blossom and haven't seen the man who owns the rosebush since, but it is still on my mind. thanks all, Luxrosa

Forgot to address this. I'm a wine nut, I admit. Because of the inconsistency in corks, and the heart break of opening a bottle of wine that you either paid a lot for or saved for its perfect age, only to discover the cork had failed, vintners are moving to screw tops. I don't even see synthetic corks. Believe you me....it's very strange to open a recently purchased bottle of French wine that you've drunk for years and have to un-screw the top!!! But I get it and I appreciate the effort to ensure our wines remain drinkable and enjoyable. Now what are we going to do with all of the wine opening gadgets we've collected the past few years?

I think that it's fine for lighter colored wines to be bottled in dark glass. It gives them more protection from damaging sunlight and, as you say, you can always put it in a decanter for people to see the wine. Personally, all of my wines and meads go into dark bottles since I want people to focus on the wine when it's in the drinking glass where it can really shine and be appreciated. Congratulations on the blackberry wine! When it's well done, blackberry is very tasty and the color is beautiful. Fizzy while you're bottling can be a couple of things ... either coming out of the racking tube into the bottle very fast and splashing around inside the bottle (which isn't too bad) or the wine is not done fermenting (which is only good if you're intending on it and using champagne bottles). I'd move one of the bottles to a warm spot for a few days and then open carefully to see if it's settled down or if you're making bombs. A little harsh at bottling time is probably not too much to worry about depending on how long you've bulk aged the wine - a lot of that harshness will hopefully go away with a few months in teh bottle. I've never used screw top bottles with a cork and I haven't seen it recommended. I think it's something to do with the design of the neck on the screw tops and possibly their strength to hold a cork but I don't remember exactly. I haven't bought labels in a long while - I just grab a graphics package like MS-Publisher or Photoshop and create them there. Then I print them on normal paper, cut to size and attach to the bottles with a glue stick. Works well and it's pretty fast if you have a little help. For the vin ordinaire that I just serve at the house for friends, I'm really lazy and just write what's in the bottle using a silver or gold glass marking pen from Staples. I have to get brewing again this weekend - I've just been overwhelmed at the though of racking 15 batches to free up some glass but the thought of starting a mandarin orange metheglin and some cyser in season is getting really exciting. Good luck with your batches.

ritaweeda, I think a lot of it depends on the age of the deer and what they've been eating. Old bucks are going to be tougher and taste gamier than young ones. Those old ones make nice trophies but they aren't very good eating. When my grandfather grew grain on his cattle ranch, the deer often grazed on it and they were always more tender and less gamey than the deer who foraged mainly in the forests. I've made venison stew several times and the meat becomes tender through the long cooking time, but retains it's wild flavor. We've also grilled venison tenderloin which was both tender and flavorful. Venison sausage or salami usually has some pork added to it for the fat because venison is so lean that ground meats will be too dry. I have a friend who has a husband who is a duck/goose hunter so they eat a lot of wild birds. I'll bet one of their roasted goose dinners would be delicious with some sort of fruit sauce or glaze.