De-lurking here to say it's not just you! We had a strange spring with wild weather swings (up to 40F from daytime to night), and I have to say...this is the crappiest rose season I've had in 8 years. Very abundant number of buds--probably the most ever--but the quality of the individual flowers just stinks. Like the worst thrips damage ever, but each and every rose has it. Some roses had stunted/balled/withered buds, others had blackened petal edges, still others didn't bother with blooms. My Queen Elizabeths, easily the most prolific roses in my garden, haven't bloomed yet. There are some old, established bushes that hardly went beyond their pruned size and only spewed a few deformed buds. Thrips are normally a problem on my light colored roses, but this blight is affecting every color. The later developing buds are better--if on the small side. It's the roses that developed first (late April to early May, which is quite late for us) that were the worst. Surprisingly, the roses that seemed to shrug it off best were some of my David Austins--Jude, the Dark Lady, and a few others. But some of the DA's (Abraham Darby) and other shrub roses and climbers (like Sombreuil) were just horrific. My mom came over and said "you know, if you just look at the roses from the house, they're not so bad." Sigh. And we had such a lovely, rainy winter (for us) that I was sure the rose flush was going to be awesome. And the numbers were truly impressive--hundreds of buds on some of my small (3 ft) bushes, which is the best I've seen. But again, the actual quality of the buds was the worst I've ever seen. Some tried and true winners from my garden were hard pruned just because I couldn't bear to look at their browned/blackened/crinkly/balled horrible little blooms. These included: memorial Day, Queen Elizabeth, Sheer Bliss, Peace (sob), Marilyn Monroe, Daybreaker, New Zealand, Just Joey, blue Nile, Evelyn, Abe Darby, Charles Darwin, Autumn Sunset, Golden Something(normally gorgeous downturned sunny yellow blooms, but this time they didn't even open!),Chicago Peace, Tamora, Pink Peace, Mirandy, Mary Rose, Secret (double sob), McCartney Rose, Tiffany....I could go on, but I'm feeling kind of nauseous. To put it in different terms: I have over 160 rose bushes with few repeats, and this year I have only brought six cut blooms into the house. SIX. But who can really blame the poor roses? Last week we hit 100 degrees on Monday, and on Thursday the high was 54 with rain (snow in Flagstaff, poor buggers). What is a plant to do in these conditions? Apparently, they sulk. Now it's getting to be blistering hot again, with humidity in the single digits. Spider Mite season. I won't likely see a good bloom until September, and then the deer and javelinas will be moving in for their Autumn feast. I'm thinking of getting into daffodils. At least the lilies, Shasta daisies, coreopsis, and cannas are doing well. And the glads look like they might actually open this year (last year they were all duds). I'm off to sulk myself. Heather

That is the prettiest backsplash I have ever seen. I love: - the surprise sparkly squares - the color flow between the backsplash and the granite - the large amount of bright white in the backsplash and granite, with a minimum of grey (I like silver/gold, but not grey tones) - how the cabinet stain seems to match a hue in the mosaic backsplash... PERFECTLY! As though the cabinet stain was designed for that mosaic or vice-versa. Wow. Also quite clever is that curve-around feature on the peninsula. That looks very fun and very practical. Questions: Do you do cartwheels into this kitchen every morning from sheer glee? Did you put brackets under the granite curved out part? What chairs did you settle on ? Thanks to the person who linked to this thread from a posting today!

I think I have to agree with daveho. Overall the floor looks quite good. It looks flat, even in sheen and free of debris/puddles/drips/holidays and such. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask that the putty either be removed or painted over with something that would match the floor better. The orbital scratches are unfortunate but in the whole scheme of things, don't amount to a failing grade. Keep in mind that floors are judged from a standing position. Judging by the closeup, the patch could be darker but in the other picture it looks better. Considering the character your floor has, I think that the putty is the only thing I'd recommend addressing. Darkening all or some of the light patched boards might end up making the floor look worse.

Sue, I'm not sure who you are asking, but I can give a few reasons why I like the Thanksgiving get together so much. For one thing, it isn't preceded by trying to figure out what presents to buy. I love buying things for my children & grandchildren "on-the-fly," all throughout the year. But birthdays and Christmas are more difficult for me simply because gifts are expected. So it requires a lot more thought and planning. Secondly, I love the decor of Thanksgiving. The cornucopia filled with gourds, dried ears of corn, Autumn leaves, etc. I get out my Pilgrim and turkey candles and my husband and I "argue" about lighting them up when the family arrives. It's an ongoing joke that has now become tradition. I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable, but I love the few hymns specifically associated with Thanksgiving. So I enjoy banging out "Come, ye thankful people, come" on my piano and singing along. Or maybe I should say, croaking along. I really like the fact that Thanksgiving isn't as commercialized as Christmas. There's no "Thanksgiving" music blaring in every store. Very few, if any, TV specials. There isn't a 3 month prelude of Thanksgiving stuff -- activities, music, media, etc. It's still a rather simple holiday. Also, I honestly do like the meal, even though ours is never as elaborate as many other forum members. And I really like the turkey scrapple I make with the carcass. My husband and I look forward to eating it for breakfast.