Here is how it went in my garden. I started planting perrenials and butterfly attracting plants and vines to redo my garden starting in 2001. Then added lots of shrubs. By the time I got the rose crazies I was running out of usable garden space. But my yard is multilevel and I had all these places gardens never worked because of the steep slopes. So in 2007 I started with the hardscape and had project after project done these past three years. During that time I concentated on roses, then daylilies and lilies. Because of the construction and needing to move things, plants that I used to have growing here died out. I was so busy planting daylilies many times I just did not replace them. This year I am on a strong campain to bring back those plants only many times in an improved version. Also started growing things again that were annual but not here for the past few years that I used to grow. All this to make it even more cottage garden and have an endless series of bloom. It is all coming along pretty good. In case anyone is worried that I am getting rid of my daylilies, its never going to happen. But like the roses with the rose beds, they daylily beds are full. If I want new roses, I have to move stuff around or get rid of something. That is were it is now at with the daylilies. I don't know why but if a rose displeases me, I have no problems kicking it out in favor of something better. But I just hang on to all my daylilies. I have sent away some that just couldn't cut it but its time to evaluate and stop enlarging beds.

Wow, thanks everyone, for your welcoming! I must say that it's a foreign feeling to find people in the same situation as myself!!! Leaves me a bit tongue-tied here, in a nice way. :-) chargreen, thanks for the compliment on my member page. I got the idea for adding the "funniest thread" after reading Cactus Joe's member page. I never laughed so hard as I did reading his! It's good for a lift, everyone.

lukiirish - It truly is disturbing. I think the reason prosecutions fail (read: don't happen at all) in these scams is because the people are beyond the reach of U.S. jurisdiction. Technology is such that these people can set up (or more likely clone) U.S. telephone numbers, email addresses, etc., so people believe they are speaking to someone in the United States, but they are actually speaking to someone 5000 miles away, where the costs and logistics of bringing them to the US for prosecution are prohibitive. The crooks know there is zero risk of prosecution, which is why they are so bold. I wanted to state more clearly what I alluded to in an earlier post: It is IMPERATIVE that you learn how to conduct legitimate transactions over the internet before you buy or fall victim to a scam. In my experience, eBay and credit card companies are generous with their protection policies, but you have to conduct the transaction within the company's terms of service, in order to receive the protections. For eBay, that means setting up your account, enrolling your method of payment with PayPal, conducting the transaction ENTIRELY within eBay's borders, and knowing the timeline and process for filing a claim should something go wrong. You cannot conduct any portion of the transaction outside of eBay's domain (PayPal is a part of eBay). If you follow these rules you WILL be protected if the worst should happen. Finally, do some research on who you're buying from before you contact them or place a bid. You want to look for a seller who has a lengthy history on eBay and a perfect customer satisfaction score. I personally will not bid on anything unless the seller has been on eBay for 2+ years and has a 100% feedback rating. Keep an eye out, too, for sellers who have only been on eBay for a short time but have dozens of excellent feedback in that short period of time. That is a tell-tell sign that the feedback is manufactured to set up the confidence game. I know this is of little use to the OP, but I hope it helps someone else avoid being taken advantage of in the future.

Thank you so much for all the recommendations. I'll be traveling a lot soon and I'm sure I'll read a lot of these. I have Aunt Dimity queued up to read, along with the first Ngaio Marsh book. I'll probably try Miss Read next and/or Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. Many of those mentioned I have read. Rhys Bown mysteries, Amelia Peabody mysteries, Georgette Heyer, Mitford books, etc. But it was helpful to have those recommendations because it was lovely to see there are others who enjoyed those books as well. And I will try the audiobook of the Amelia Peabody mysteries because I often fall asleep to an audiobook, so it's helpful to have a good recommendation. I tried A Man Called Ove and I'm sure I'll finish it, but it is unbearably sad to read it right now so I laid it down. I have a friend who has cancer and also a suspicious spot on her liver and she is the light of her husband's life. I want to escape from pain and loss right now. A murder mystery like Agatha Christie writes should be sad, I guess. It's murder, but somehow that doesn't reach out and snatch my heart out like the pain of Ove losing his wife. Another time in my life I would probably have liked A Gentleman in Moscow and A Man Called Ove. So thank you so much to all of you for taking the time to respond. It will be nice to have this thread to check when I finish the stack of books I have now.