urk, well it is something of a mixed bag on this side of the pond. After we all faced hosepipe bans after months of drought, it started to rain in April and has not stopped since apart from 1 freaky weekend of real summer heat (for England, 26C is almost tropical), So, blackspot has definately arrived early along with many, many evil beasties, Even so, some roses are quite stupendously lush as is (almost)everything else, especially weeds. I don't get around to doing much staking and boy, am I paying the price now, after another wet and windy week - giant foxgloves leaning drunkenly into oceans of massive ox-eye daisies and giant sowthistles which appeared practically overnight. So, I am finding myself somehat glutted with abundance, a tad anxious as I am really not keeping up with tropical levels of growth (East Anglia is the dryest part of the UK and water has always been much more of a limiting factor than heat or light) and the awful spectre of early blight is looming - although my tiny tomatoes are so small, any self-respecting blight spore will surely move on to leafier pastures. On the other hand, the tree-like potatoes are presenting a much juicier target. On a more rosy note, the multifloras (Ghislaine, Goldfinch), hybrid musks and the wichuranas are full of promise - just starting a full-on bloom cycle but the chinas are emphatically not happy with our cool wet spring (Mutabilis is a ghastly skeleton of mildewy and sparse foliage and Sophie's P and Cramoisi are looking glum. Bourbons are not having a great time either whereas a couple of rather 'meh' modern floribundas and climbers (Arthur Bell, Penny Lane, Meg) are having the time of their lives - I may have to make more of an effort generally with watering - after doing the veggies and rudbeckia type perennials I misguidedly planted (My ahem 'prairie'), I am dying of boredom from standing about with a hosepipe (there are shared standpipes at the allotment so soaker hoses and timers or sprinklers are not allowed).The slugs and snails are epic. Have resorted to sluggo for the first time in my life. It is a terrible year for butterflies too - almost as rare as hen's teeth.

Well 15 of the last 22 days have been 98 or above with 12 of those days over 100. The "Coolest" it has been is 103 in the last week. I am getting so use to it now, I hardly take breaks anymore. Yes I drink enough water, Yes I work slower, but it was 105 yesterday and I was out planting during half the afternoon and picking tomatoes the other half. It is our county fair week and we have obligation in the mornings and evenings. It is the only time I have to pick, weed and plant. The first week kills you. The second week gets better. The third week you forget about it. We are on the way to 106 today. I have been watering non-stop for the past three weeks it seems. Crops are doing ok. Yields are down. Markets are slower, but prices are high and I am not dropping them anytime soon. No one is complaining about prices. Many people are appreciative of the work we do. Jay

The gloss finish on Onyx Collection products is a very high grade polyester gel coat. The gel coat is applied to the molds and then the product is cast in afterwords creating a bond that will last forever (also stated in their guarantee). As for the matte finish. It has more of a dull or corian finish that is essentially the same process except the finish is sanded off (product is still sealed). The matte finish (a little more expensive with less color options) will show less water spots but as stated before the maintenance and cleaning of this product (both gloss and matte) is exceptionally easy! Here is a link that might be useful: Onyx shower colors

Um, yeah, right there with ya! My son started kindergarten monday and I got so wrapped up in my garage door drama (came to intall and had correct door but wrong opening!) that I almost forgot to go pick him up!! I drove 16 miles in 10 minutes and was only 3 minutes late, so he never knew he had been forgotten...poor baby. We were supposed to be done BY friday. Countertop guy flaked out on me and isn't coming until friday or saturday (was supposed to be here monday of this week), so plumber is scheduled to finish next monday. The floors are done, they're supposed to finish trimming today and finish touch up painting tomorrow. We got our doorknobs put on last weekend, will do closet racks and cabinet hardware this weekend. So hopefully monday will finish us up. Except for the garage door, which will be a week from today. I'm just tired, I don't even care about moving in. :-P Vonda