The Daily Rave

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Originally Posted by happystuff

Congrats, il. Do you have a picture of the lily in bloom?

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you bet! It is the middle one, shown at the Chicago botanical gardens,

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Chicago Botanical Gardens gives plant societies great support, unlike the Missouri Botanical Gardens here in St. Louis. They provide show space in prime real estate for several days, meeting room space for lectures, and they even store show properties ( risers, signs) for us. My friends are putting on the American Daffodil Society show in Chicago Botanical Gardens due to the ease of working with CBG.

Meanwhile, I have spent literally hours trying to line up space with Missouri Botanical
gardens for an iris show. They have grudingly given us 1 day with limited set up time. We have a $15,000 check for them from the sale of iris we dug, cleaned,and sold from their iris garden. Oh and our group takes care of their iris bed thru the year. Ungrateful much?

cooperation from these two botanical gardens is night and day. Suffice to say the Missouri Botanical Gardens are not in my will.

oops this is turned into a rant! Ha ha. I guess I just can’t help but complain :)

Thanks for posting, but I can't get the picture large enough for me to see. (My eyes are so bad lately!) But judging from all the ribbons - YAY!

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Originally Posted by happystuff

Thanks for posting, but I can't get the picture large enough for me to see. (My eyes are so bad lately!) But judging from all the ribbons - YAY!

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I never know why some of my photos display the way they do, but this one is enlarged so at least maybe you can see some of it.

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Much better! And beautiful! Thank you!

I was going to put this in the rant catagory but have decided to think of it in a different way - we have been waiting for hours (!) for our new refrigerator delivery and I am getting impatient. In the past two months we've had to replace our stove/oven (a circa 1990-ish model that came with our funky house). We had purchased a new igniter for twice in six years. The cost of the part kept going up each time so it made sense to "say when" and just bite the bullet and get a new stove. We've had it for about 6 weeks now and it's lovely. But then for the past year or so the freezer on top of the refrigerator (another '90's model) started making these intermittant weird noises, which if you banged on the fan cover it usually stopped.

Well, in the last few days it started emitting this horrible, dying squeaky death rattle that no amount of banging would shut up. I woke up yesterday and decided, just decided like in a split second that I was going to buy a new refrigerator! So we went to Lowe's and found one and I whipped out my credit card and just got 'er done. I also paid an extra $50 for them to cart the old one away.

The gratitude part of this story is that I have the ability to ring up a big charge like that and the savings to pay it off. We didn't get the fancy side-by-side type; is just a basic model with the freezer on top like I have always had - it was on sale for $679. I have NO RIGHT to be bothered by the inconvenience of having to wait around for delivery (we just found out the delivery guys may be stuck way out in the middle of nowhere making a delivery to someone off-grid near us. The dirt/gravel roads out here in the desert can be a bit treacherous...) when millions of people are in fear of having no SNAP benefits starting on Saturday.

That sounds like a nice new refrigerator! We should do the same thing and probably will before the snow falls, just to make it easier to get it home. Keep meaning to, and then something else comes up, like a new chain saw last week.

A few hours ago, King Charles of England made a bold move with his brother, the disgraced Prince Andrew.


Charles removed all of Andrew’s remaining titles and honorifics, and he has ordered Andrew to vacate the very large house he inhabits with his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson.

Andrew voluntarily gave up his titles about a week ago, but some remained. the King king has done something unprecedented: completely removed the title of “Prince” from Andrew. Andrew will not be known as a prince. He’s going to be a man with a first name and a last name, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.

There is even talk in some circles that Andrew will be banished from Great Britain.

All of this is necessary to address the view that the monarchy is weak and cannot deal with its internal problems. I want to see King Charles take care of the Andrew problem before he dies and his son William takes over. A King William shouldn’t have to deal with old uncle Andy.

this is in the rave thread because I think it’s a good move, a necessary move.

SiouxQ, We recently did same with our 90s or maybe even 80s dishwasher that was misbehaving. A new pump might have fixed it but it was time to start over. Went to Costco and got the most basic Whirlpool one we could find and paid the extra $50 to have it installed and old one hauled away. We are usually avid DIYers but getting old is amending that mindset.

SiouzQ: I believe I did post it in the rant thread, but I tried to apply a similar mindset with my broken tooth. I'm glad I live in the time of modern dentistry, and glad to have the resources to pay for my dental needs.

I too am trying to reset my whine/complain urge. Generally, I HATE to go to the grocery. I do go to Aldi/TJ exclusively which helps (mostly with prices, and with the 50 varieties of the same thing rant). Last week, though, I was so grateful that I could just go to the store, buy what we needed with a few "wants" added, and pay for it. It felt really churlish to complain about it.

I am well aware how lucky we are to be able to do just that. Sure, we made some choices that helped along the way, but a lot of it was luck. Luck to be born when/where we were, to have parents who provided for us, to not have large emotional/mental challenges to overcome, to have good genes allowing us more lee-way health wise - We all like to think of ourselves as "self-made". You'll never convince me that a lot of our success, or lack there-of, is NOT just plain dumb luck.

A rave...Catherine will undoubtedly disagree, but this year, up here on the lower end of the Hood Canal, (Olympia area) and entering the Olympic National Forest the leaves are the best I have ever witnessed and no Washingtonian needs to go to the Northeast to be amazed by blazing colors! In all my years I have never seen them like this.

Finally recd the last distribution from an estate/trust due to a deceased aunt. I think I have written about this before since the incompetent attorney spent 5 years playing around with a simple estate with a trust. During this time she made distributions to two invalid individuals and spent probably 3 years just sitting on the investment assets. Finally, one the beneficiaries got an attorney involved (thankfully a relative) and the trust attorney was reported to the state bar, the courts, and any other state agency they could find. She got her own attorney and her malpractice insurance plus her attorney resolved the issues and got the final distributions made.

I feel sorry for the two people caught up on the erroneous distributions but they only had to make restitution of $25,000 of the $75,000 each recd. The trust attorney or her malpractice insurance made up the difference.

Check is in the bank and I never have to think of it again.

Wow sweetana that is super interesting!I hope this attorney stops doing estate work.

What is worse is that Aunt Pauline took her time and money to set up a trust. In this case the administrator did not do a good or ethical job in managing the assets. My brother did a much better and faster job with my father's estate and he is not even an attorney. Both estates were similar in type of asset and in each case, no one disagreed with the distribution or fought over any assets.

I am just glad that it is over and I do not have to give it any mental space.

Wow, that's must have been such a pita! Glad it is finally all resolved.

My dept at work has meeting with the one owner I can’t stand. Anyway, new guy is working out. Owner has finally realized that the tariff stuff has been a huge burden on me. He’s been gone for much of the year. Anyway, one task is coming off my desk permanently and going to the other coworker that’s been there for 11 years. Coworker did NOT want to do it. He’s been fighting me and I’ve pushed back. He had no choice now. Finally.

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Originally Posted by KayLR

A rave...Catherine will undoubtedly disagree, but this year, up here on the lower end of the Hood Canal, (Olympia area) and entering the Olympic National Forest the leaves are the best I have ever witnessed and no Washingtonian needs to go to the Northeast to be amazed by blazing colors! In all my years I have never seen them like this.

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Hey, East or West--it doesn't matter where a glorious fall foliage display is! Glad you enjoyed it!

My "rave" is not really a rave but an admission of submission--because we're being extra careful about food with DH on chemo, I finally broke down and got a salad spinner--and I think it was rosa who told me there are collapsible ones, so that's what I got. Tried it on a few greens and it works great! And I was able find a place to store it.

So please welcome me into the Salad Spinner Fan Club!

You can always use the spinner as a draining colandar, doible use.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

You can always use the spinner as a draining colandar, doible use.

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Good idea! Cool! I love double-use stuff.

BTW, for Kay, I saw this photo on Facebook by Higashiyama Kaii, and it's so beautiful. I just love a lot of Japanese art. The FB page I follow is Jaded in Japan.

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Gorgeous, Catherine! I have a friend who just returned from a cruise to Japan. She and another woman chose to be renegade and not join the arranged tour one day, but hired a cab to drive them throughout the countryside to just see what life was like outside the city. She's so glad they did that. It was the best travel experience she's had.

I would love to see Japan but DH says no. Think he got enough Asia during the military.

The colors this year in Maine and New Hampshire have been the best we remember; I think it is a product of the weird summer weather and late warmth.

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day, and we had a big push to get the last of our plants and bulbs planted in the Lynn Woods Rose Garden. Everyone in the group is so nice, and the spirit of cooperation and camaraderie is just wonderful. We seem to operate with a very loose, benignly chaotic structure, and it's working remarkably well! People do what they can when they can, and the unstructured nature keeps it feeling like play and not work, although we get an impressive amount of work done! I am so grateful to be part of this group and a participant in this project!

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Originally Posted by catherine

Hey, East or West--it doesn't matter where a glorious fall foliage display is! Glad you enjoyed it!

My "rave" is not really a rave but an admission of submission--because we're being extra careful about food with DH on chemo, I finally broke down and got a salad spinner--and I think it was rosa who told me there are collapsible ones, so that's what I got. Tried it on a few greens and it works great! And I was able find a place to store it.

So please welcome me into the Salad Spinner Fan Club!

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That's great, Catherine, and a warm welcome to the club! I'm a big fan of the collapsible kitchen products. We have a funnel and a pour-over that are collapsible. The metal funnel always used to jam up the drawer, so that was a tiny annoyance solved.

Beautiful colors in my area now as well. Just wish the rain would hold off so I can go out and enjoy it more.

We have maybe 2” on the ground overnight and a winter storm warning that starts at 9pm for lake effect off Lake Michigan. I’m on the edge so probably only a few inches.

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Originally Posted by Tradd

We have maybe 2” on the ground overnight and a winter storm warning that starts at 9pm for lake effect off Lake Michigan. I’m on the edge so probably only a few inches.

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It's snowing here right now. I am not ready for this.

Japan is my favorite place to visit. I love the food, the safety, the cleanliness, the hotels and onsens, the people, the shopping, the food, the food, etc. The only downside is the long trip to get there.

It was difficult feeling like I was 3 years old when it came to communicating but never found any negative or nasty people. Several people on the street stopped to help when we looked confused.

Nice story: We were on a walking tour when I saw a fabric shop. I was oohing and ahing over the beautiful fabric in bins on the sidewalk and trying to speed up buying something. Of course the walking group did not stop. The shop owner ran after me and gave me a beautiful handmade purse. Dont know why but it was a highlight of our interactions with shop owners.

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Originally Posted by sweetana3

Japan is my favorite place to visit. I love the food, the safety, the cleanliness, the hotels and onsens, the people, the shopping, the food, the food, etc. The only downside is the long trip to get there.

It was difficult feeling like I was 3 years old when it came to communicating but never found any negative or nasty people. Several people on the street stopped to help when we looked confused.

Nice story: We were on a walking tour when I saw a fabric shop. I was oohing and ahing over the beautiful fabric in bins on the sidewalk and trying to speed up buying something. Of course the walking group did not stop. The shop o wner ran after me and gave me a beautiful handmade purse. Dont know why but it was a highlight of our interactions with shop owners.

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Sweetana: Did you like the food? You listed it 3 times so it must have been amazing! ;)

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Originally Posted by Tybee

It's snowing here right now. I am not ready for this.

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Same!! We were going to visit my DD for her 40th birthday, but we are weighing the decision at this point. We were really surprised to wake up to snow, since it was so nice out yesterday.

I got in to see my doctor (well, nurse practitioner) within 48 hours for a non-urgent visit. This is a direct patient care practice.I don’t use it often but I find them to be very responsive.

Rosarugosa: Since I was little I loved Japanese food. In fact, our wedding reception was a sit down Japanese dinner. We lived in Anchorage, AK and a lot of service men and Japanese wives lived there. In fact, we went to a tiny Japanese dining spot in Fairbanks, AK. Do not eat much in the Midwest but I don't go to many seafood spots either since we are so far from freshly caught seafood.

In AK, we caught our own salmon, smelt, trout, and halibut. We could by King crab off the boats. Seeing the seafood being brought in to the big markets was an amazing site in Japan.

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Originally Posted by sweetana3

In fact, our wedding reception was a sit down Japanese dinner. We lived in Anchorage, AK and a lot of service men and Japanese wives lived there.

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Speaking of marriage and Anchorage, 49 years ago today my wife and I gathered with a couple of witnesses in a Coroner's Inquest Room in Anchorage, stood before a State Marriage Commissioner, pledged our vows and said "I Do". I was afraid at the time that she'd become bored with me in a matter of months but here we are 588 months later and she say's she hasn't yet. If that's not true love, I'm not sure what is.

Congratulations Alan.

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Originally Posted by Alan

Speaking of marriage and Anchorage, 49 years ago today my wife and I gathered with a couple of witnesses in a Coroner's Inquest Room in Anchorage, stood before a State Marriage Commissioner, pledged our vows and said "I Do". I was afraid at the time that she'd become bored with me in a matter of months but here we are 588 months later and she say's she hasn't yet. If that's not true love, I'm not sure what is.

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Congrats.

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Originally Posted by sweetana3

Rosarugosa: Since I was little I loved Japanese food. In fact, our wedding reception was a sit down Japanese dinner. We lived in Anchorage, AK and a lot of service men and Japanese wives lived there. In fact, we went to a tiny Japanese dining spot in Fairbanks, AK. Do not eat much in the Midwest but I don't go to many seafood spots either since we are so far from freshly caught seafood.

In AK, we caught our own salmon, smelt, trout, and halibut. We could by King crab off the boats. Seeing the seafood being brought in to the big markets was an amazing site in Japan.

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You're making me hungry. sweetana! My only trip to Japan was thanks to a client who sent me there, business class. The travel experience and the food in on ANA Airlines was unbelievable. Here's a pic:

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And happy anniversary, Alan! Great story.

Happy Anniversary, Alan and Teri!

Sweetana: We really like Japanese food too. Sounds like Alaska would be a good dining destination, although I am pretty close to fresh seafood where I live. Your wedding dinner sounds wonderful!

Alan, we were married in the base chapel at Ft. Richardson in 1973. Dinner was at Oriental Gardens which is no longer there.

Currently, dining in Alaska anywhere is hit or miss. Costs, food and labor, have skyrocketed. But there are still some great spots. Fire Island Bakery is unique and one of their locations was 3 blocks from my brother's house so it was easy to get there. And a moose was resting across the street.

Best restaurant I found (in 73 years) was The Cookery in Seward, AK. We liked it so much we went both nights we were in Seward. Cannot guarantee it was the same but when we were there, the halibut came right off the boat that day.

Congrats, Alan!!!

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Originally Posted by Alan

Speaking of marriage and Anchorage, 49 years ago today my wife and I gathered with a couple of witnesses in a Coroner's Inquest Room in Anchorage, stood before a State Marriage Commissioner, pledged our vows and said "I Do". I was afraid at the time that she'd become bored with me in a matter of months but here we are 588 months later and she say's she hasn't yet. If that's not true love, I'm not sure what is.

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awww, that is so nice!

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Originally Posted by sweetana3

Alan, we were married in the base chapel at Ft. Richardson in 1973.

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We were a little more impulsive next door at Elmendorf AFB. We had been dating for most of the year and on Friday, 11/5/76, knowing that my 4 year enlistment would be up in just a few months and wondering what would become of us afterward, I proposed while we were dancing at the Pines Club which I believe was on Tudor Rd. Surprisingly she agreed and we were married the following Friday, 11/12/76. Our reception involved drinks for 4 at the Holiday Inn at 4th & C Streets in Anchorage and our honeymoon involved a weekend stay in that same hotel. We don't even have wedding pictures, but boy do we have memories. >8)