Update: Well, I'm back after with a report after a couple of years. That ugly duckling is growing into a beautiful swan.

Here she is in early October, 4 years after planting (and 2 years after me complaining about how awkward she looked).

@foodonastump thanks for responding. I don't disagree with you about drinking and decisionmaking, but we aren't talking about that. When a woman is raped, the decision is taken away from her. The law says if she was drunk then no crime was committed, or can't be prosecuted. That is a ridiculous interpretation of personal responsibility. I do think the analogy of anyone being drunk and punched or robbed, is apt. Why are there no laws preventing prosecution of those crimes because the victim was drunk? There are none that I could find. This is a misogynistic law protecting men who rape.

The whole ”personal responsibility” aspect seems to only apply to victims of sexual assault- and only female victims. I don’t recall ever hearing of a male victim of sexual assault being blamed for being scantily dressed, or intoxicated, or in an unwise place, or promiscuous, or whatever.

But if I leave my car in the driveway overnight and it is stolen, no one points the finger and says, ”Well, you shouldn’t have left it in the driveway.” If a burglar breaks my window and sneaks in and robs my house, no one says, ”Well, you should have had a burglar alarm or a dog,” or whatever. It’s unfair and wrong to blame women for the actions of men who cannot control themselves.

How about expecting men to exercise personal responsibility and not sexually assault women?

The only answer is men stop raping women. And other men.

That is wonderful! Thanks for sharing Alisande.

ETA, Thinking that I could open it because I also have a NYT subscription.

Village penthouse with rooftop 'country cottage' is for sale, asking $10.5M https://share.google/1vKcU1ahhCy2bw6qK

This tells you about it without the need to input your details. Just turn off all the cookies.

Thanks, Floral--this one's even better!

My skeletons will never be in AD. They spend the rest of the year in my storage room sitting in my extra dining room chairs!

Ignore the very dirty Adirondack chairs!

First the ” mess”

Now the positive.

Boneset a couple weeks in it’s new home

Tiny sedums already happy after only a few days

More happy squirrel prunings !

The nursery with more Boneset and sedums

I am glad I can share these photos and please share your plant successes from what appeared to be a failure. c

@cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA) I have tended about a 3 ft strip on their side of the fence for years. I don’t ask I just do it. Weed eating, cardboard with mulch on top , Brush Killer. One neighbor is glad I do it the other ( huge red brick mansion) isn’t on speaking terms anymore but fortunately no one likes him so none of us regret that he doesn’t speak to us 😂.

I have planted Tall Joe Pye which is very happy back there and 6 ft tall and Cup Flowers. I let everything set seed! Hopefully they will take over in time.

At almost 76 I can keep up pretty well.I am fortunate that heavy lifting and sweating are things I love to do. ❤️🤞

@cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA) I have heard that about claiming it lol. DH says we have enough already lol.

@OutsidePlaying you go girl! I saw your gym picture last year 👍. I have my Mom’s arms, shoulders and back and so does DD and now DGD. A good thing to have when ” shouldering the load ”. ❤️

Have you considered putting the two twins on opposite walls? There is enough length to have them against the walls with a table for each on the window wall or maybe both beds on the window wall with the table between them.

Awww, feel better!

That's what I thought.

Feel better!

Purchase 70 items of new clothing a year …. I won’t comment on that.

Choose modern … No choose comfortable and what YOU think YOU look good in. As has been pointed out here time and again ” I saw this woman in the airport/ restaurant/ waiting room and she looked so put together and comfortable and it was just …. white jeans, a nice shirt and laceup tennis shoes with a simple necklace. ”. c

ETA: My reply may not apply. Mine was a Vitex agnus-castus. I missed that you had included the botanic name of the one you are asking about, so that one you want may be different. I will leave my reply here for a day and then delete it, so as not to bore people and waste their time. :-)

I had one here in Northern Virginia. We get temps in the winter that go down in the 20° range, so it would most likely work for you. I saw it at a neighbor's house and thought it was so pretty. A year or two later I noticed hers was gone. After bit, I took mine out as well. They start coming up everywhere and in my experience they start looking 'weedy'. I have switched to planting natives. Still have some non-natives though.

This year I saw a new chaste tree that had come up far away from that one I had years ago. Sigh. Going out to cut it down this week. It suckers and reseeds, so I would suggest pruning it regularly to keep it as a shrub rather than let it grow into a tree.

Thanks Nollie. I've heard of Girona but never given thought to how the climate would differ from Barcelona. Considering it's not far away at all, it definitely has more summer rainfall so I can imagine your area gets even more. The foothills are where this clash of weather systems occurs...Stresa and Maggiore are not up in the mountains, they are just on the lake, but they are quite wet in summer.

Thanks for the UK info Floral. Maybe, like crape myrtle, P. tobira needs our blistering hot summers to fully ripen and be hardy for winter. China is a 'milder' version of a continental climate, but it's still a continental climate vs. a maritime one...and there's every reason to think the Chinese ones would be hardier than those from NZ. (same is true of the Podocarpus...I've tried every supposedly zn 7 hardy NZ podocarp, mainly the small boring alpine ones, and they eventually fail. OTOH the hardiness selected P. macrophyllus from the SE US is fine here)

Well regardless of climate, I’ve planted it in that sheltered spot against a south-facing stone wall, between two berberis bushes. It’s just coming into bloom, so I will enjoy them for a while at least. If we get a mild winter and if I wrap it in several layers of fleece, who knows, it might just survive against all odds!

" Bottom line it is expensve covering health costs for people who are not citizens. "

It is expensive not covering it too, and those non-citizens also pay taxes. Shouldn't everyone who pays taxes be eligible to take advantage of the benefits those taxes pay for?

" Just remember you can't vote out communism. "

Remember, you can't vote out fascism either. Just sayin'

Regardless of who is at the helm, prices of all ilk, will never come down. Corporate greed will always protect its own, and will not allow that to happen!

" waiting for medical treatment, like Canadians are waiting now."

Huh. I waited about 3 months for my total knee replacement, while a friend of mine in Maryland waited over 6 months for her gynecological surgery. I'm not denying that Canadians often wait for surgeries (a friend is getting a hip replaced after 10 months), but it's a lie to pretend that Americans also don't also often wait for surgery or specialist medical appointments.

" Think of the money you'll save waiting nearly a year to get a prescription to even buy drugs when treatment does start. "

Why do you think you can't get prescription meds while you wait for a procedure? What bizarro world are you living in?

"I can't believe the number of people on the waiting list for surgery or treatment who died before their number was called, it's big....really really big. "

Please share the details on that - I'd love to know.

Straightened a painting on the wall.

Partied like it was 1999.

Was there a similar question earlier this month? I think my answer was the same as lucillle posted…looked in the medicine cabinet.

Encapsulation, which is covering the ground in a crawl space with plastic sheeting, is done to reduce humidity in the crawlspace where the ground is very damp. In such damp spaces, dehumidifiers are often added too.

Damp crawl spaces support mold and mildew growth on exposed wood structure that's part of the house and produces unsafe particles in the air that can get into the house. Both are problems that encapsulation helps deal with.

For many years, I took my son to one in PA and it was wonderful. Much better than the one in Maryland. Jousting, human chess on a giant chessboard, a stage where short plays/scenes were performed, etc. The actors were terrific and stayed in character no matter where they wer, even at the games for children. Regal folk, Crafts people, food vendors, and poor peasants begging for money. The best memory was walking alongside a short hedge and suddenly an arm shot out with a cup and a voice said, "Alms for the poor." Very funny. I would like to take the grandkids there, but guess we will stick to the one in Maryland.

Oh, OllieJane, no question that some interesting characters show up! Many (most) embracing the fantasy side of such events. I saw lots of leather, elfin ears, studs, accoutrements in hair. Yeah, not my cup of tea, but the whole event is like pretending an alternate life, kind of like the year my friends and I borrowed Madrigals custumes from our high school to go. But weirder, for sure.

Fortunately I haven’t seen anyone dressed in a manner intended to frighten or intimidate with suggested violence. It’s all in good fun. I confess, though, that studs in unexpected body parts are cringy. And a live rat, which I have NOT seen, can’t possibly be legal in a setting the provides food in open areas. Our faire doesn’t even allow dogs.

Like I said, our city’s Medieval Fair is crawling with weirdos-and I’m fairly sure that includes the people who run it. Rats (not "a rat") and dogs are allowed, apparently.

I would go completely mad in under 10 minutes in that place.

@Kswl For whatever reason, photographers seem to "brighten" listing photos. I almost did not come see our current home because of the photos. Our house on the lake and our current rental listings were/are bright.

The labeled pieces are Emma Bridgewater, which has been around for decades. All of her items are overly decorated. Website

Yikes I can't imagine trying to clean that. Even as a job.

I had to look through the run of photos three times to find the washer and dryer.

I like some of the dairy/food slabs.

Baked bananas seems awfully specific to have a dedicated dish.

This made me laugh!

@carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10 no it’s all clean from the fridge/ sink/ cutting board into the bucket. Just dish soap for everything as clean up.

Stop gap for …? @mtnrdredux_gw

@cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA) I don’t mow over to grind anymore. I only did it once a few years ago and it was too much work and loud! I only have 3 trees and 2 are quite small leaves/ small trees. I just rake the leaves that get on the grass back into the beds underneath . The plants are extremely happy!

I have my big wire homemade bin behind DH’s office/ shed it is blocked from view by a very large Corten Steel decorative panel. I have 5 of them as decorations so it all looks nice.

I'm daring to hope. I feel like I'm going in the right direction, having a pretty good week. I haven't stopped crying years of joy yet, once I let myself dare to hope. Why not? It's been long enough. Surely after all these treatments and people, I'm there.

I'd drop the nutrafol like a hot rock. It's not only expensive, but it did nothing for me. (I also had trouble with the smell and taste...it was yucky.) I'm much happier with my rogaine which has given me even thicker hair than when I was young. It's also applied to the scalp so less likely to cause other metabolic issues vs. something that is ingested. Since you need your liver, but not your hair, I'd opt for the liver every time.

I would love to see a 2-3' version of that!

I would like to see pictures, too, FrozeBudd. :-)

@gardenho_z5, @cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA) re seeing @FrozeBudd_z3/4 property....I can only refer you to this thread having pics I took 10 years ago when I visited his property in the summer of 2016. I will say it again i.e. I am a regular on mutliple garden tours each season and w/o doubt 'Froze's' garden are the most amazing I have ever seen. They are stunning. I am not one to smile much but I recall I was like a kid in a candy store the day I was over. I gotta find a way to visit again...hint, hint.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/4056063/visited-a-gw-member#18081644

'Froze', given my pics are now a decade old, how much different would the pictures show today?

Oh my Goodness FB 🤣 Never did I imagine you’d come up with that good of excuses!! No but seriously, I do recall you mentioning excessive rain but didn’t realize it was that bad. So sorry to hear. I can understand as I had just the opposite here. It really stinks when Mother Nature decides to be ‘witchy‘ and ruin our pleasure of gardening. She sure has been that way alot over the years. I think last year was the best season in quite some time. Of course I’m sad not to see your gardens, and can only hope next season will be a glorious one!!

Rouge I have a feeling his beautiful gardens have changed alot. I know he mentioned adding alot more evergreens and shrubs, plus dividing a Gazillion perennials. Is my memory correct FB?

And hey, thanks for the good laugh and we’ll patiently wait until next year to salivate 😊

Gray. There might be a bit of earthy gray mixed in with other colors in some of my decor, but that’s it. I don’t wear anything gray.

My used vehicle search this year took a while because I wouldn’t consider gray interiors. Found my dream one in tan. :)

We used to call them mosquito eaters. Not harmful at all.

There's no point in arguing over common names. There is no right and wrong since usage varies. It isn't true that 'when used everyone understands'. Only scientific names are universally understood.

Crane flies are not water bugs.

I will take my cranefly to Taco Bell next time I go.

I’ll see if along with the jalapeño, they can add my Tilupa to my chalupa.

We have the Waterhog mats from LLBean. They come in a few colors. They have lasted forever and have been best for us.

I had a coir mat a long time ago and never wanted another because the coir fibers broke down underneath it. Maybe it was of a cheap quality. (?) For the last five or more years I've been using a half-round rubbery mat that looks like a wrought iron design, likely made from old tires. It's effective and still looks new.

When DH proposed he pulled out a cheap amethyst ring (with an adjustable band!) as a joke. Looking back it was actually pretty funny as I can imagine the look on my face.😵‍💫 Then he pulled out the real ring. Forty nine years for us in November, and I still have that darn amethyst ring!

garden while naked

Hired a cabana boy

A whole bunch of native perennial plugs plus 6 native small-ish shrubs (2 Kalmia latifolia, 2 Ceanothus americanus and 2 Itea virginica). It is all for the front yard. Can't wait for spring even though the drought has been hard on some of the shrubs despite watering.

A "Fall in Love Sweetly" anemone and divided a daylily to share with a friend.

Talked goo goo ga ga to them. You widdle sweetums. 🐶

You'll be ok, especially since you took it for a short time. Might take 24 hrs-one week, but probably not longer. There are other treatments for your back if you're still in pain such as massage, acupuncture, tylenol, ibuprofen, or muscle relaxants which would require a prescription. Also heat or ice. Good luck!

It was prescribed to me once, not to reduce pain, though, but for inflammation. It made me very irritable. I had been warned about unpleasant side effects, so figured it would wear off, and it did. Hang in there.

@cyn427 NoVaZone7 We picked up my prescription at our neighborhood CVS and they attached a drug interaction warning for ""elderly patients" but I tend not to read all of the scary stuff because I don't want to anticipate bad reactions. However, this was a warning well acknowledged. I feel like a Zombie.

Aw. That is wonderful.

Pal, your tiny shoes are precious! Especially the sandal.

Mom had saved her red tap dancing shoes, a tad larger than your dad's and falling apart (I think because they were spray painted for recital). I decided not to keep them and no one else wanted. I have my bronze baby shoes, and those of my children. Name plates are on the bottoms of mine, but not theirs.

I purchased these pointe shoes at an antique store and they sit on a night table. Every time I see them, I just think how pretty they are. They belonged to a young girl, as they are not adult size.

Chispa, I thought it was about earth born fossils too. Have you seen the fossilized sand dollars? The one next to it is also a fossil.

Allison, very pretty. Lots of shark/Megalodon teeth hunting in many SW FL beaches. My dental hygienist dives in the gulf for the Megalodon teeth and has found some large and quite valuable ones. I think he sells them to pay for the boat upkeep!

C'mon and take a chance and get-a with this dance -

The Wah Watusi - The Orlons

Time for Part 2, you think?

Link to Part 2

Know them all and have used them all at one time or another.

Does that make me a geezer - or just a nerd?

“I got no time for the jibba‑jabba.”

Some seem to be old hat, but more recently several have made a real come back. It would be very easy today to create a sentence to include a few of them. For example :

A certain Nincompoop continues to Bamboozle people with his Shenanigans, Malarkey, and Tomfoolery as more are wishing that he would Skedaddle before everything becomes totally Discombobulated.

I like the Chat photos. I especially like that the chair is gone.

It’s a beautiful front hall! Just for a zhuzh I would try an area rug and it would soften noise also. The table/“stool” is really nice but a larger table like AI showed would be more useful (and something to shop for!) If the chair isn’t there to sit on it should go.

I guess in early days there might have been a round table in the center?

Delete their account

Take some ‘magic’ supplement

Try a new beauty product

Make their own dinner

Make their own stink bomb, hornet spray, fish cakes, hot rod.

Is there any posibility of changing the stairs to face forward? If you did that it would create planting possibilities on both sides and make a more welcoming entry.

Granny has good comedic timing.

I’m not asking you to, Tina Marie. No need to apologize for disagreeing. 😊

I live on quite a limited income that has lately become much more limited as prices go up and up, especially health insurance. Whilewhat I have is enough for me needs, I know very clearly that even just a little more money to draw on would make my life easier in so many ways. It would be wonderful not to worry about my 16 year old car needing major work or a set of tires. Or deciding to stay with socks that have seen better days rather than buy new, warmer ones. Or not going somewhere because I don't want to use the gas. Or wearing clothing that looked good on me 10/15 years ago but no longer looks right on an 82 year old. Or having to weigh costs when I buy birthday/Christmas presents for my grandchildren. And worse, dreading rather than enjoying when it's time to buy those gifts for my 2 sisters' 4 grandchildren. (My sisters and I are close, the children are still very young and stopping the gifting is out of the question) And every winter I dread even more keeping the house too cold for this old woman because I just can't afford to keep it comfortable.

I also would like to be able to give more to those in real need through charities.

And yet, I know full well that I am so much better off than far too many. I can still afford to buy decent food. And my health is good enough that I grow and put up most of the vegetables I eat. But still... it means that money is always, always on my mind.

I also don't read posts anymore that focus on what others are doing/buying.

cyn, I don't either. I don't feel envious of how others are spending their money, but I just don't relate/aspire to that anymore. I've reached the point where I'm content to spend time with friends, eat healthy food, walk outdoors, dabble in art projects, and give thanks for all the above.

You all have covered the things money can't buy. I agree with you. I give thanks for a roof over my head, food in my fridge, a decent car to get me from A to B, clean water to drink and for bathing. My clothes are getting a little shabby but I hate shopping more than looking spiffy and being sharply dressed really means nothing to me.

What a thoughtful question, Petalique! For me, having worked so many years in hospitals, especially ER, my good health as well as my family’s brings me so much comfort. And, just sitting out here on our (thankfully covered) back portal. tonight with my Teddy during our first real rain in much too long, watching the mountain and listening to the rain is such a joy! It’s the little things that I especially appreciate.

getting out of bed

In my state, you have to be certain to have a Durable Power Of Attorney for Health Care in order for it to remain in effect if the person giving it becomes incompetent. A regular Power of Attorney is only in effect while the giver is competent, only the Durable will be honored. Not sure if this is true in other states but worth investigating. Most places would require a notarized original, not sure a photo would do. If your health system uses MY Chart, it can be entered there. Otherwise, maybe keep in a safe place and be sure someone else knows where and can access it. In case you are both in a car accident or something, or you can’t get home to get it. Good idea to both have back up people with DPOA, too.