Rita, Boy do I ever wish that the daylilies came in those shades! You never know what the future will bring though! ETOSHA is a favorite of mine (although I say that about half of my blooms I think!) It is not only pretty, but the bloom is 6+ inches. It is usually darker in color, but it is one of those "washed out" ones that I grow...warmer weather growers have a lot more color but I like my version better!

You and I both have our pears come in about the same time, which seems to be earlier than other folks. Here's what I put up, and you might want to try some of these. Canned pear halves, also did quarters and diced for other batches. Pear Honey (So Easy To Preserve, page 225) Pear Sauce (Ball Blue Book), page 22 I could live without this, but I don't eat a lot of apple sauce, either. Pear leather (after I realized I didn't care all that much for pear sauce, I used the pulp in my excalibur dehydrator and made some good tasting fruit leather. I roll & cut into tootsie-roll size chunks and wrap in parchment paper. As good as candy. Pear Jelly (Ball Complete, page 111) Very, very good. Tastes like apple jelly. Made two batches of this. Linda Lou's Apple Pie Jam Pear Juice (Ball Blue Book, page 21) for drinking...and adding to iced tea Pear Preserves (So Easy to preserve, page 40), two batches Pear Mincemeat (Ball Blue Book, page 21) based on licking the spoon afterwards, will make really great pies, tarts, etc. More canned pears... And...for the piece de resistance... Upside-down Gingerbread pear cake. Wow, yummy! Still on my list...more canned pears (I had no idea I'd like these so much since I don't care all that much for store-bought canned pears), ginger pear preserves, brandied pears (the Spirited Pears recipe in the Ball Complete book), and probably some more pear honey and pear jam and/or preserves. I'm guessing I still have about 120-150 lbs of pears left to process. All picked and waiting on me. I'm pretty tired. I have also given away a few boxes of pears. BTW...I found out my pear tree is the Pineapple Pear variety, which is an old-timer cooking pear often found on old homesteads and farms. I live on the family homestead and this pear tree has been here for a very long time. Your pear looks just like mine. I beat the squirrels this year, yay! Jill

Chisue, I don't think it was pollution. The moon got less orange as it rose, and by the time we left the lake it looked the usual color, except a whole lot brighter. Thanks, everyone.

Thanks guys! JJ I live to enable... (hee-hee) Sutekesh, I honestly feel overwhelmed sometimes when I'm out there in my yard. The weeds, the pine needles needing to be raked, the bugs, the deadheading... and now the planning of all those beds now that I have more sunny space with the septic re-do and tree removals..... OMG I have no time. I work 6days a week and take care of my 96yr old mom on two the 4 days I have off every month. Plus all the extra times I have to go over there when my niece needs a relief (my son takes care of her 3-4days a week too) So I really have overloaded myself. But I figure when Mom is gone, I will have more time to relax and get out there and do my thing. But the way she's going, she could live to 100, and I might be dead before that. LOL Seriously, you never know. But for now I plug along and do what I can. Sometimes my husband will help, but not that much. The roses always seem to jump out and bite him and then he gets all pissy. So I'm lucky if he pulls a few weeds for me. Or rakes out the pine needles. But when I see all those beautiful blooms, and still get compliments from neighbors even with all the weeds, it just makes me want to keep doing it. It's the nature of my OCD and my need to collect things.