I was feeling a bit low today and was napping. I go outside to get the mail and I see this box tucked between my planter and the side of the house. Joan THANK YOU! You can be late any time. :o) Oh MY! She sent all kinds of goodies. Are you sure we are not long lost sister? She read me like a book. I cheered up right away and forgot I was not feeling well. I immediately went outside to plant the Collards and Brussel Sprouts seedlings she sent. I actually had Collards for lunch today. I have been late and did not put in seeds yet and when I ordered the collard seedlings, they were sold out. I craved Collards and bought them at Whole Foods. I cannot believe what they charge. Now I know why I have a garden. Also included were: A HUGE jar of Pickling Lime A HUGE bag of Mrs. Wages Bread & Butter Pickle Mix Another HUGE package of Spaghetti Sauce Tomato Mix A Package of Freezer Jam Fruit Pectin A beautiful door Hanger that reads~ May our Hearts be filled with Thanksgiving Recipe Cards w/ Pen Memo Pad A Calendar w/ Kittens- You must have seen my email address 2 Packages of Almond Roca- It is my FAV, I swear WOW! She sent her recipes for Pickled Green Beans, Pickled Beets, Chow Chow and Pickled Hot Peppers She sent Bush Green Beans, Cayenne Peppers, Mammoth Table Queen Royal Acorn, Nantes Carrots, Large Red Cherry Tomatoes, Alaska Peas, Sweet Basil, Detroit Dark Red Beets, Giant Noble Spinach~ I have been planting Spinach and ran out, how Joan knew, I have no clue and Nebraska Wedding Tomatoes were on my WISH LIST. Thank you so much Joan! It was a PLEASURE. Nancy

I am from the U.K. but now live in Crete, Greece. It is a beautiful place to live, with wonderful people. The view from my village. The view from my dentists waiting room. No. I do not trust the banks at all. For example, I have both a euro account and a pound sterling account with my local Greek bank. When I need funds sent over from my U.K. pension, I instruct my U.K. bank to send sterling to my local sterling account. I then transfer some or all of it to use into my euro account, WHEN THE EXCHANGE RATE IS ADVANTAGEOUS. The last time I did this the money did not turn up. My U.K. bank swore that they had sent it. It had certainly left my U.K. account but had not arrived in my local sterling account. Weeks later, it was found in my euro account at a very, very, poor exchange rate. But how had it got there? This was a different account number which I had never given to my U.K. bank. It turned out that my U.K. bank was not allowed to transfer my money directly into my local bank. Apparently, it has to go through a middle bank. Why? I don't know. The intermediary bank was Deutsche bank. Deutsche bank stole some of my money by forcing my local Greek bank to give them my account number for my euro account so that they could change my sterling into euros at a very poor rate and then pocket the difference. The day the money was put into my euro account, my Greek bank was offering 1.20 euros to 1 pound sterling. Deutsche bank changed it at 1.15 euros to 1 pound sterling. That is a big difference when it was thousands. After many weeks of expensive telephoning and trips into town to my local bank, I finally got some of it back from Deutsche bank. Not all of it , but it had made me so ill, I just gave up. So, Deutsche bank stole....my local Greek bank should not have given them my account number information.....so no, I do not trust any bank. Daisy

@pk66, I've used ALL kinds of things in my Miele washer but I tried the Miele Care detergents and just love them. Honestly, I find them just perfect. Smell is nice and light (and is a lovely smell) and they clean beautifully. I follow Miele's dosing recommendation on the package and dose down if my loads are smaller. I find the Miele detergent recommends less than others to begin with. You would be fine with almost any HE detergent I'm guessing. Many hear love Persil (German version from Henkel). I find the smell unpleasant and too strong but many love it. Many here also use Tide HE and are happy with that. I am using the Miele Ultra Care powders mostly (and I'm really happy with them). I haven't used powder exclusivley for many years but I really enjoy these ones. However, you do need liquid for certain loads like comforters (which is another great setting) and express. I have the Miele Ultra Color liquid as well. Miele also makes special detergents for items like down and outerwear. I've used several and they all seem to work very well. Dosing is very important to master correctly. It's very easy to overdose as there is so little water it is not very forgiving to a little extra detergent. Consider your water quality, dirt level of the load and size of the load. Start with the less is more philosophy and add more as needed. I'm attaching a UK article for you to read regarding smelly washers and how to avoid them. There is detergent and dosing info in there that might help you. As for fabric softener, I stopped using dryer sheets years ago when I read that they never decompose. I did use Shaklee FS until they changed the formula and I really dislike the new scent. I have a little left that I'm still using on my kids clothes (I just loved the old smell). I use Downy Free & Clear (just a little) or Seventh Generation or Miele FS. I use very little FS in only certain loads. Never on towels or sheets. I buy my linens at a very nice shop and they explained to me how FS "clogs" the pores of fine cotton. Fine cotton over time gets softer as it's washed. I find this true with my nice percale cotton sheets. My Turkish and Egyptian towels feel just great without FS. Good luck with your new machines. I certainly hope you love them. I enjoy mine all the time. I might suggest you select sensitive (extra rinse) all the time. I leave it on permanently. It's up to you though. The European machines do more rinses than ours do so I try to do as many as possible. Proper rinsing is key (as is proper dosing) to not having any residual detergent left. My fav feature is the delay time. I washed white towels this morning and did extra white, extended and extra rinse. That takes almost two hours. I set it last night and woke up to clean towels ready for the dryer. LOVE it :) Also, keep in mind that your Miele will not use the interanl heater on the "normal" setting. If you want to ensure a warm, very warm, hot or sanitary setting - choose any other program. Here is a link that might be useful: Smelly Washing Machines

Renee - Yup, I'm still adding fertilizer to the water. Same way, didn't really change anything with that. Michael - Outside is a big mix of genera (Mesembs, Crassulas, Gasteria, etc.). Many I am very careful to not to get water all over the leaves because they are extremely susceptible to rot. Generally, water in the rosettes is not an issue with Haworthia IF you have good airflow and reasonable humidity (60% or lower). Mine get wet a lot of the time and I don't worry about it because I know my conditions are good. The sprayer head I'm using below has many settings. My favourite is the 'powerful jet', which turns into a thin and straight stream that is easy to aim and doesn't dislodge smaller top dressings. There is also a full flow shower-style setting, which I use for my larger pots of Sempervivum, Jades, and Stapelia that are not so picky and can be totally drenched from above. Palmandsnow - It's very exotic, found at your local Home Depot. =) The adjustable hose sprayer on top doesn't turn down low enough, so the flow regulator lets me turn it down to a trickle just like my modified watering cans. And it never runs out of water!! Lets me water over 100 plants (many which I have to be careful not to drench the leaves) in about 25 minutes, which is makes me pretty happy.