This spot that I put the rose garden on has a tragic history. I had it plowed, to be a giant veggie/flower garden. Next, I got a hundred lilacs, to go along the fence. I came home, and the neighbor had planted caragana along there. I put the lilacs in the far end of the garden, planning to move them later. 15 years later, they're still there. It became a great place to hide the junk. This garden was divided in half by a gravel path, which became a great place to dump rock. The other half of the garden was equally tragic. We went and got the free city compost. Did they compost grass and leaves? No. We introduced every nasty, vicious thug with deep taproots that occurs. The worst are the thistles. You can't actually find anything that kills thistles commercially. There's a product called Torgon, but you have to have a license to get it. Half of this half of the garden went back to grass, to choke out the thistles. It has a crabapple tree and a hedge. So the other half became a rose garden, and me and the thistles and roses co-exist. Canadian bull thistle grows massive amounts of underground runners. I've tried 2-4D, vinegar, boiling water, gasoline, etc. AND they're back. So I just dig them up. After all, roses have thorns, too. This part of the garden has an arch with a gate, and a little cement path to a small pond with a solar powered fountain. These are Chinese junk. I'm on my third one. I did finally read about the Oase solar water fountain for $369, which might be the ticket, If I ever have the dough. Another vicious self seeder I planted there was saponaria. Now, I love this plant, but now I have thirty. The nicest thing that came out of the city compost was wild verbena, which I let happen until I was sorry. That's interesting, how mulching could keep the rain out: another dilemma.

I am so pleased that the whole family is enjoying the Dipsticks. We love them! I have all of the Marcia Adams cookbooks EXCEPT for the Christmas one that all of you are talking about. I will have to look for that one now. I love Lars's description of the show. The quilts and pottery that she has at the end of the show are always quite interesting. I have not seen the show in awhile. I know that it is no longer in production because Marcia Adams had some heart problems a couple years ago. However, the show was still running for awhile after that. Not sure about now though. Anyway, I am really happy that you are enjoying the items that I sent, and I hope you save a little of the apple jam to try out that coffee cake. Gail

I decorate for all major holidays & seasons. I have to say it's actually not so much fun doing the decorating but I love the end result. We went pumpkin picking so in the front of my house I have bales of hay with pumpkins, ghourds, mums. On my front walkway I have metal jack-o-lantern buckets with mums. I change my holiday flag for all seasons plus the outfit on a little "welcome dog" & there are always a few garden stakes that change. For Halloween we also had a scarecrow & an inflatable ghost/jack-lantern ballon. Of course I change my door decorations as well & even my door mat. On my patio I added a windsock & change the 2 wall decorations. In my daughter's room I take out all her holiday plush. My diningroom & livingroom have a change of candles & I add cornucopias plus I have have silk mums & several asst. Halloween items. Now that Halloween is over I took off anything CLEARLY Halloween & in its place added a turkey here & there, plus I changed my flag, doormat, dog's outfit, balloon to a turkey, etc. It's allot of work. And this is nothing compared to Xmas where my sister & I spent 2 days decorating my house, which even includes changing dishes BUT I don't even consider doing outside lights. It's actually getting to be too much. Michie

Great....love this nature shot!