Before I say "thank you", I want to apologize for being such a putz lately, not posting, and then showing up on my birthday. I know it's rude of me, but I just want to tell y'all how much it means to me to be remembered. Days like today can be hard when you can't spend them with the people you want to...your child, your parent, someone (anyone) who cares. So, thank you for the wishes, thank you for remembering, and mostly, thank you for caring! To say I've been busy is an understatement. Last year, I helped deploy over 60,000 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines, on top of running my normal operations, and chalked up over 500 hours of overtime. This year has been tough so far since my one and only remaining employee jumped ship on me in December and took a job in Korea. On top of the normal deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, I'm now sending folks to places like the Horn of Africa, South America, and points in between as well as re-equipping units who have just returned. Stress has become a normal facet of life, but I'm proud to say that I've still managed to ward off the first grey hair! Of course, the payback is a few more character lines on my face and dark circles under my eyes from lots of sleepless nights. But I won't complain, it's a small price to pay compared to the ultimate sacrifice our military makes. I wish I could explain the emotions that wash over me when my phone rings in the middle of the night and it's a Soldier who just needed to hear a voice from home, or it's a Commander who is calling to say thanks for helping him get gear after his convoy was hit by enemy fire, but there are no words that adequately describe it. I've often wondered why I was put on this earth, what my purpose for being was, and now I know. It's to make a difference in another's life any way I can. So, when I do have down time, I'm busy baking and packing care boxes, or writing long letters, or listening to nervous soldiers talk. I spent my birthday doing the things that make me happy...spending time in the bookstore, baking banana bread to ship overseas, baking cookies for a friend who just returned from a deployment in Colombia, SA (where the work he did was paramount on the release of the hostages held by the FARC) who drove 600 miles from an airport in TN to wish me a Happy Birthday before he makes the 800 mile trip back to his home base in FL tomorrow, hanging out for an hour with my DS (who is now 15 yo, 6 ft tall and weighing in at an offensive guard's weight of 203), digging in the dirt, and just being thankful for being able to be part of this life. Thanks, again, everyone for being part of this special day! Maryanne

Aha! I knew I should have known what that rose was Carla! Makes me hungry everytime I see it:) Thanks for the birthday greeting Judith and I hope your garden is holding up well under winter conditions:) I always smile everytime I see you post. Hi Judy and thank you for your wishes, your blooms are beautiful. I agree with Kate the cupped roses are lovely whatever they are. I'm glad you enjoy my rose pics, yours are very enjoyable also. Thank you Celeste, it's always nice to know I touch someone with my love on minis. I've told you before I saw the roses sitting on the table at the nursery waiting for a ship date to you and admired what you were acquiring:) Very beautiful roses, tell me which rose did you find for Grace? If it was Grace Seward by any chance, you will be very pleased with that one. It looks like doves in flight. I spent hours looking at all of your pics initially, I believe I have a couple of roses in my garden thanks to you too:) I'll tell you what I did Kate, even though the minis might look dead, don't give up on them, keep watering them along with the others in your spring, as own root roses, they can come back from the canes and the roots. They're pretty tough roses, so don't pull them out too early and give them up as dead too soon. I know this from experience and can show you from pics. Thank you again Celeste, you were one of my first friends on here and I'll always remember how you helped me:) Les

Hey, everybody, sorry I've been late responding. Thought Marianne might post something. I was off work Monday and Tuesday and don't have internet access at home anymore. Then our power went out at work yesterday with the storms. Anyway, everything went really well Saturday. We were dreading the cold temps, but the caretaker at Rock Castle, Tom, generously offered us the run of the vistors' center. I'm a naturalist in many ways, but God bless central heating. We had a much better turnout than we expected, given the weather. We were all heartbroken, as I'm sure thousands of people have been, about losing some treasures to the cold temps. But Mother Nature is a great teacher. About the swap: Five people showed up after having heard about our swap on Garden Web, three of the master gardeners who maintain Rock Castle, a few other people that I lost track of and can't honestly tell you where they came from, (I'll have to consult our sign up sheets later) and the five of us who put the swap together, plus several of our respective family members and friends. I was afraid we'd wear out our welcome at Rock Castle, but Tom said he's looking forward to hosting our spring and fall swaps every year! We had a really good plant selection. I got some great stuff, we donated several plants to Rock Castle. Mostly, though, we had a blast. Everybody said they'd come back in the spring and fall and we hope to keep building the group. We are definitely planning on expanding to include a pot luck this fall and may add a speaker at some point. Those of you who missed the event, we definitely understand and look forward to seeing you this fall. We have a tentative date for the fall swap of Oct 20th. The 13th is already spoken for at Rock Castle, but if they have a cancellation, Tom promised he'd let us know. I'm planning on coming to the river for the MTPS in May, and am really looking forward to it. We have the perennial sale this Sat. at the fairgrounds in Nashville, and the herb sale on the 21st! Always something to look forward to. Thanks again for all the help an interest we've gotten from everyone!! Here is a link that might be useful: Perrennial Plant Sale info

hi everyone! i almost scrolled right by this warm welcome back! thanks lydia for seeing me and to everyone else for the kind posts. things are about the same with me and my condition. no chance of getting out of my "chariot" so i just deal with it......life could be worse. my rearend still rebels from sitting all day so only get spurts of computer time. my move back to my home was the best decision i could have made although i employ two very lazy caregivers and need to make some serious changes! i could write a book...... july has been crazy with my kids and grandkids coming and going. anywhere from 2 to 12 extra every day except for a week. loved every minute..well, almost every minute except for the ones when i'm glad i didn't have to be the patient parent.lol. thanks again for finding me and bringing back good memories of good cyber friends. i'll try to be here more often. julie