Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Dan--check your e-mail.  And go out right now--right now, I say--and
buy "Finder" by Emma Bull.  You will looove it.

All this talk of roses makes me want out of this town, and into a big
old Victorian fixer-upper with a big yard in some little town *now*.

Pamela--Yay!  I'm glad you're feeling better, and that you had such a
good time!

Christy-sounds like fun.

Mary (up waaay past her bedtime again, and she can't even blame Dan,
Tara, Maure, or Debbie)
  

    
Ooh, sorry, Davey. I scrolled up really fast to find the person that
talked about roses and glommed onto the wrong name!

I had to laugh about the squirrels and the daffodils. A girlfriend  of
mine here in Houston had big problems with squirrels and plants of all
kinds, specially daffodils. She must have planted hundreds and
hundreds. She was constantly at war with them. They even ate through
the incoming electric lines. Then she got dogs for the back yard
thinking that NOW her gardens wouldn't disappear over night and the
dogs dug the whole yard up and destroyed ALL of the gardens. That was
diff, of course, she loved her dogs.  So, she made do with her front
and side yard gardens.

Which roses do you have? I was (and still am tho sorta dormant) and
antique rose person and a HARJ (Houston Area Rose Junkie). I can tell
you all the best nurseries from here to Austin and a whole bunch of
good catalog nurseries for the hard to find roses. I'm not so much into
the modern Hybrid Teas for growing though they're what I have on my
desk now that I stop at the nice little shop in a tent down the street
and buy a dozen for 5 bucks. Today I have a dozen lipstick rose pink
tipped with whity pink backs except there were two very red roses in
the group. I bought lavender chrysanthemums. See, I'd planned to get
the lavender roses they also had but couldn't resist the double colored
ones. They don't smell as nice as what you can grow in your yard. I
could write a book about roses I know so much. 
  

    
Thanks for the congrats, everyone! Like I said, it's not a pro mag, so
I don't really know if it's a big deal or not. It's a small but
important step, I suppose. 

It sounds like everyone had loads of fun in Chicago. I spent all this
week moving--suddenly-- upstairs into a larger two bedroom. I think
this is the fastest we've ever moved. My sister is moving in with us
this weekend. She's jobless, without a vehicle, and living with her
ex-boyfriend in Indy. So she's going to stay with us a while so we can
teach her how to be a responsible adult (or try). She's 19 and very
naive. I think it will be exciting for her though. She's never lived in
a city before. Nor has she ever known any crazy Italians. And now
she's going to work for them....

Jinx- Congrats on the house! 

I love The Last Hot Time and, yeah, I've been wondering about
John-Mike too. WHERE ARE YOU?

Is it just me, or has Neil just begun using exclamation points lately?
I mean, surely he's used them before and I just never noticed. But two
in one week? That has to be a record:D 

Obviously I'm procrastinating when I should be unpacking my clothes.
Oh great. The cats made nests of them already. I must now go rectify
the situation. 
  

    
jinxie - good luck! and hang in there.

dan - you didn't say a thing about being a bug. between the hair and
the mannerisms (don't ask, but the bug definitely had something of your
personality in its movements), it was pretty obvious. oh, and the
flight could be worse. it could be *departing* at 6:00am. ooh, and the
plays you got snagged for remind me of the gaslighter theatre in
campbell. not that they grab you and drag you onto the stage, but parts
of the audience are definitely required for one of the performances...
geez, i don't even know if that place still exists!

christy - yeah, my boy liked maddy from the first sentence he heard
out of her mouth. decided she was a literalist and has admired her
since. feh. he wasn't nearly so impressed by me, and i've got 20 years
on the little dear. ;) and the boy is not a cheesehead. his dad is. er,
does that make him a cheesehead via genetics?

squeaks, boycotting capital letters today
  

    
Email from Ninave:

Hey guys!  
 
Stagewalker....the play that you went to see, "Too Much Light Makes the Baby
Go Blind"...was someone named Jack LeFever in any way connected to it?  One
of my friends long ago told me that he had something major to do with it, (I
won't say what, my memory is addled, and I don't want to look foolish)  and
I'd love to hear it if Jack, who is really a bright actor, made it to your
area.  :-)  I'm silly.  But I thank you.
 
See, I do read The Well still.  :-)
 
Ninave
 
  

    
Ninave - He may well have been, but the Neo Futurists rotate pretty
frequently and that name doesn't sound familiar. Anyone still have
their menu/program?

Squeaks - I am a bug... and I am recognizable as such. It reminds me
when I was doing puppetry and people could tell which puppets I was
manipulating, cause they moved like me.
weird.

Mary - Got the mail! And I'll look for Finder after I finish Wicked!
  

    
Just checked my program, and saw no mention of anyone named LeFever. 
The Neo-Futurists do come & go with great rapidity, however.

Neil--*loved* that essay on Plot Coupons.  Thanks for the link. 
  

    
     I'm out here.  I've just been a little busy.

     Dan -- Thank you.  I'm glad you liked it.

     Re the BBC Combat Redecorating Channel -- they're still running
Jonathan Creek and (the real, Robbie Coltrane) Cracker, though both
seem to be all repeats and at odd hours.  Time Team is showing over on
History International -- two episodes on Wednesday night, with single
repeats (I can't figure it out either) on the weekends.
     I guess mostly I've been watching Tech TV and Alton Brown and
Iron Chef on the Food Network.  (During a live set at Denver last
weekend, Dr. Mike had an epiphany about the octopus battle, in which
the octopus Chen was trying to entreeify leapt to the floor and ran
like hell, or at least as much like hell as a beached octopus can run. 
Obviously it knew that there was a time limit, so if it could hide out
from the sous-iron-chefs for an hour it was home free.)
  

    
Jinx - Congrats!!! Buying a house is a great, great thing (though
somewhat frazzling, it's true) I just love being able to say "Why, I
could just KNOCK OUT THAT WALL!" Not that I want to knock any walls out
here, but having the authority to do such things is terriffic! So far
we've only been painting and putting in furniture, but soon the horrid
brown & yellow seashell bathroom will have to go!

Dodge - That sounds like a truly horrid experience! As far as I know,
we don't have a homeowners association in our neighborhood, we just
have a bunch of retirees and people who have been here for 40 years.
They are all very nice, though, and the folks across the street often
leave us doorstep presents of fresh oranges or tomatos.

I'm all a flutter this week, because Monday I got to go to a cooking
class with Alton Brown. He far and away exceeded my hopes for fun and
education, and I even got to be part of a demonstration on what happens
to the protein molecules when you beat egg whites. He is a
fantastically nice man, incredibly funny (he writes all of his shows!)
and very charming. If any of you who like to cook ever get a chance to
meet him or go to a cooking class with him, go! You will have a great
time :) 

We also had a very dear friend come up for a visit this past weekend,
and spent the weekend running around with various friends, watching  
horror flicks (Shatner speaking in Esperanto is SCARY!), and checking
out the Brittish Museum's "Eternal Egypt" exhibit in SF (fantastic!) So
its been a whirlwind of fun the last 5 days or so, and now I almost
don't know what to do with myself with nothing going on for the rest of
the week :)
  

    
Now see, Meg, that's the kind of place I MEANT to move into. It was
what I thought a neighborhood should be like. Instead, my welcome wagon
was a letter threatening me with fines and legal action if I didn't
trim the grass growing over the concrete curbs in front of my house
(the house had sat empty for two years - it was a HUD house). You'd
think they'd be happy somebody had finally bought the place! I received
the letter 3 days before I actually had moved in. It was very
depressing. From that day on, for seven years, I got about a letter
every other month for SOMEthing. Once because I replaced the mailbox
after some vandals had broken it - and I neglected to inform them I was
doing so. Once I left my big rolling garbage can in front of the
garage all day the day after garbage day because I was too tired the
night before to open the garage door and in too much of a hurry the
next morning to do so. THAT DAY I got a letter threatening fines if I
didn't immediately put it away. Things like that. And I had the nicest
neatest prettiest yard on the block. I never could understand it.
Appropriately, the only people who stayed in the neighborhood long were
the same type of mean spirited beings they were. And were probably the
ones inspecting my property every day to report every infraction. You
can bet if I ever do decide to buy again, I will first investigate the
homeowners association and the neighborhood carefully before buying the
house. I should have known something was wrong when I drove through
the neighborhood and saw several For Sale signs on just about every
block in the neighborhood. AND for the 7 years I was there, saw a LOT
of people move out who had only recently bought there. 

I must admit though; it WAS nice owning a place and being able to
alter the interior any way I wanted to. Paint the wall any way I
wanted. Put down any flooring I wanted. Changes you can't make to a
rental house unless the landlord is very tolerant. The only reason I
can do that now is because my landlady is a friend of mine and she
knows I'm going to be there a while. Since, by the time I move out,
she'll probably have to repaint etc anyway, she doesn't mind if I alter
it now. I'm sure, though, that she wouldn't let me knock out a wall or
rip out the carpet. Though I'd like to rip out the carpet actually. 
  

    

Welcome back Mike! You are definitely missed. I think that's the first
time I've ever laughed at anything concerning the object of my fearful
creature phobia.  I usually watch Iron Chef, but so far the gods have
smiled on my affliction and I've missed that particular episode. 

By the way, have you seen William Shatner's version of the show? Baked
ham I tell you! ;>

Dodge - We have neighborhood associations that are peppered with
clones of your former neighbors.  However, they have nothing on NYC's
Historic Landmark Society.  These people will sacrifice your first born
if you DARE deface a landmarked property. This means that you buy a
brownstone  [formerly row house..see how marketing works?] or
clapboard, you can only do interior renovations. If you have to repair
the facade or you must replace everything exactly as it was before.  No
changing the paint on a mint green or canary yellow house. And no
changing the windows or ELSE! Which means dire retribution, fines,
frogs, locusts...etc.  However, this helped to create a whole new
industry for contractors who specialize in reparing brownstone
properties. The average facade repair runs over $20K..there are some
happy contractors out there. 

Although they can be annoying, Landmark IS responsible for preserving
many of NYC's best historic neighborhoods. And as a result, people who
sold their pre-war homes during the recent housing boom got outrageous
prices for them in some neighborhoods.  They were also responsible for
advocating against tearing down many of the horse stables attached to
mansions that were torn down under "urban renewal."  Now in some
neighborhoods these stables have morphed into "carriage houses" that
cost upwards of $1.2M.  See? The horses finally got their revenge.  

But I'd tell anyone buying into a neighborhood, check it out
thoroughly. Speak to your prospective neighbors if you can.  Visit the
place at different times of the day and night.  This is far too big a
deal to leave to chance.  At least you had a house.  If you lived in a
co-op apartment like many do in NYC, you'd have to be investigated by
your potential neighbors before buying into the building.  That means
everything about you is laid bare. Tax returns, credit history,
employment history, references..everything. To your neighbors! Crazy,
but people do it all the time. 

Give me a condo please. *grin*
 




  
  

    
Well. It's not quite THAT bad here. But the experience did rather
contribute to my reluctance to consider actually owning a place myself
ever again. At least with rentals, I don't have to know the details and
anything goes wrong, just pick up da phone and call the landlord. Or
at least, when I do, to be VERY careful of where I buy.

We don't have many historical places in Houston. The city seems to
always be re-making itself. If anything there appears to be very little
regard for historical things. In my own lifetime I've been shocked by
the buildings they've seen fit to raze to build another new building.
(The Shamrock Hotel for instance or the only Frank Lloyd Wright House
in Houston, which, come to think of it, I don't know if it actually did
get razed. It may have gotten sold at the 11th hour to someone who
would renovate but I lost track) At this moment, the fate of what once
was the 8th wonder of the world is somewhat in the air - the Astrodome.
In a way, that can be good. We don't live in the past and considering
the recent past we've had here (Enron? Allison? SO last whatever!) that
can be a good thing. Take your licks and keep going. 'Course our real
estate prices are MUCH lower than yours. The cost per square feet of
living space is way much lower than New York. 

I'd love to have an old house in the country and a nice big yard. Once
of those frame places with the porch all round. A veggie/herb garden
in the back. Flower beds with old roses. Sigh. 
  

    
Mike - Glad to see you!

On Topic - I've been getting the itch to get a house, or a condo
maybe.
I'm more and more convinced that a condo is the way to go. Y'all are
scaring the bejeebers out of me!
  

    

Dan, no worries, houses are fine.  Excellent in fact. However, they
are a HUGE committment and need a lot more attention than an apartment.
I aways advise my buyers to do their homework on the neighborhood they
want to live in. Research: schools, shopping, community services...
the police blotter. <grin>

Besides, membership in homeownership has it's own rewards..a TAX
BREAK! ;>
  

    
E-mail from Davey:

Condo ownership definitely provides more environmental control than
renting, but the greatest trouble with condos is the flip side of a major
advantage: you don't own anything outside your own perimeter walls -- not
the halls, lobby, mailboxes, buzzer system, front steps, landscaping, &c.
-- so the only way to influence how any of that is maintained or renovated
is to be an active participant in the owner's association. (Owned a condo
for 14 years, was an association trustee for 5 of those and a non-resident
landlady for the last 10. Am currently co-owner of my second house.) In
most places private gardening isn't possible. In the places where you own
your windows, unit door, or any other elements that meet common space
(these vary from building to building, depending on the terms of the
master and unit deeds), if you want to replace them you still must conform
to whatever construction and style standards are set by the association.

Rocky's advice about checking out the neighbors first is dead on, no
matter what kind of property it is.

As Meg said, being able to KNOCK OUT THAT WALL! is a wonderful, powerful
option. (Also a joyous experience: it was like being 5 years old again,
only with a -real- crowbar and power tools, whee! I wouldn't mind a chance
to do that again sometime.) Wear solid boots. And a mask. Finger-paint all
over it first. Have fun.

Dan: Ditto Mary's urging re: FINDER. (Probably used, I think it's out of
print, but yeah.)

Dodge: Oooh, you asked! [Warning to all: rose-geeking follows.]

Two climbers, a White Dawn up the back wall of the garage and a Golden
Showers up the kitchen wall. (Those two walls meet; the resulting small
rose-bed corner faces south and west and is sheltered from our worst
prevailing storm direction. It's as near to perfect as I could've
designed it, and I didn't have to.)

In the bed: Honorine de Brabant (Old Bourbon, raspberry-and-white
streaked, berry scent), Blue Girl (hybrid tea, lavender, lemon scent), Sun
Flare (low floribunda, clear yellow, licorice scent), Lemon Gems
(miniature, yellow), and Green Ice (miniature, white turning to pale
green, honest -- green).

Along the garage wall, a second-year Pat Austin (English, pale copper)
and a Peace that could be 15 years old (we've had the house for 8 years
and it was well-established when we moved in). I'm not sure if it's a
"Chicago" sport, but the colors are vivid enough that it looks that way to
me.

By the kitchen porch, a dark dark red, spice-scented unknown (short hybrid
tea), also from before we moved in.

I'm contemplating what to add next to the garage wall, displacing more of
the ordinary daylilies the previous owners planted. Water was short enough
this time last year, with hardly any snow last winter to build up the
reservoirs, that I didn't start any new plants this past spring. (I could
have -- Boston draws from the Quabbin, which is nearly inexhaustible and
if it didn't already exist couldn't possibly be built now -- but it didn't
seem right to with so much of the area under water-use restrictions.)

I mostly order from mail or web catalogs, the local nurseries are fine for
routine types but not for anything interesting. ("Garden porn" is what one
of my best friends calls the catalogs -- glossy magazines with pictures
that look like nothing one can actually get in real life. Hah.)

We had **sleet**!! this morning, grmph, but the afternoon temperature was
in the upper 40s, we're still not expecting frost in the city yet, and I
think those last few buds may actually open in a day or three.

Davey
  

    
Ooh! I love all of those. Golden Showers was one of my faves and all
the minis make wonderful underplanting. The new English roses are great
as well and I had several. I envy you on the Bourbons though. Many
roses you can grow up there, we can't grow well down here. The Albas
included. But, I did have the Green Rose. If you want truly truly
green, that's the one. Unless you look close, you can't tell the roses
from the leaves except by the structure.  It' the scents I miss the
most. These cut roses from the nursery sometimes have a scent but for
the most part, not so much.

Do you get the Antique Rose Emporium catalog? Do you go to the
American Rose Society's webpage? It's a great source for all kinds of
info including all the places on the web and a bunch of catalog
companies where you can get a lot of diff roses and companion plants. 
Heritage catalogs and Vintage Roses are also great. 

Owning a house isn't something you really need to be afraid of. I know
that statement sounds strange considering what I've already said.
Thing is, you do have to be prepared for it. You have to realize that
you don't just need to be able to afford the price of the house but
also the insurance, the association dues, and the upkeep. Most
homeowner's associations aren't as bad as mine. The reason I was so ill
prepared (other than the fact I'd never owned a house and didn't know
diddly squat about it) was because I worked for a man that was head of
his homeowner's association and thought they were all that nice and
good at dealing with the needs of the owners. Not so I discovered. And
even if they are good, staying involved in what they're doing helps. If
you are one of the decision makers in the association, you are less
likely to be unhappy with the decisions or get decisions you don't
like. 

Also, in a condo sitch, there are just as many rules, if not more,
than homeownership. We are not allowed to put anything on our windows
that would show anything to the outside world other than whiteness. I'm
lucky in that my patio is hidden by privacy fencing. Those who have
wrought iron can't do anything without getting approval first. You must
paint your doors a certain color. You can't decorate the outside for
any holiday (gotta be politically correct). Even hanging wreaths (or
the splatting witch) on the door is a no no. 
  

    
With homeowning costs, don't forget property tax! I had some moments
of shock when I saw our first real property tax bill.

Owning/buying a house can seem very intimidating, though. Just be sure
to get a realtor you -trust- and a loan officer/organization you
-trust.- We were lucky in that several of our friends had already used
our realtor and loan officer before we were ready to buy, so we knew
they were good people.

The Horrid Homeowners associations sound truly awful. Hearing those
stories makes me very glad that I don't have to deal with such people,
as I'd be all too tempted to do something temporary but very loud to my
front lawn, just to get them riled up. People who harass their
neighbors about such paltry things really need to find more pleasant
ways to spend their time.

The best benefit of homeowning hasn't been mentioned yet, though - and
that is not having to SHARE WALLS with other people. I've had the
worst luck with apartment complex neighbors. Everything from daily
spousal spats that involved flung objects, to a Jamaican band that knew
only one song that -really- sucked.
  

    
Since I live in San Francisco, if I ever own a home, I'll still share walls
with other people.  In fact I owned my home in Chicago once and I shared
walls--ceiling--with my tenants, which is especially unfortunate when they
stop paying rent and you're in an eviction process with them.
  

    
Bought Finder from Amazon used resellers.
I love the digital age.
I really, really do.
  

    
Yay, Dan!  You will enjoy that book.

Gee, that sounded like an order.....;-)

Yay, a post from Mike!  I have my fingers crossed that you're busy on
the next book.......

I'm really enjoying the rose discussion.  I know bugger-all about
roses, or plants in general, really, so I'm learning lots.  If you had
told me when I was 20 that my fantasies in my late 30's would revolve
around fixing up an old house, having a yard, and growing roses, I
would have had you committed.

Hey, Neil--do you grow any flowers?  Or just pumpkins and Rowan trees?
 And how did those fruit trees turn out that you were talking about in
the spring?

Mary (who seems to be reacting to the appalling weather in Chicago by
daydreaming about plants--all of ours will be dead within the week)
  

    
My grandmother on my mom's side had a rosebush on either side of the
old porch of their farmhouse. She never did anything with them and
never knew what they were named. But they were always beautiful. 

My grandmother on my father's side had massive rose and amaryllis lily
beds. I used to watch her every day weeding and doing major stuff to
keep them alive. But she only had 3 roses: Mr. Lincoln (deep maroon),
Queen Elizabeth (pink Floribunda) and Tropicana (orange HT) but she had
a lot of bushes of each. Until I got out on my own at 18, I never knew
there WERE any other roses. Wow was I in for a surprise! 

In that house I owned I had over 300 different rosebushes in the yard
but I had read up on and learned a lot about antique roses and found
that they were a lot easier to deal with than Hybrid Teas or
Floribundas, the more modern roses. You just have to be careful to get
roses that are good for your area. Down here in Houston they are
terribly prone to black spot and mildew. It gets incredibly hot early
on and stays that way through till, oh, about now. The winter is short
and doesn't get very cold and it rarely snows so any bush that likes
dormancing under the cold frozen ground istn't going to like it here.
Also, I discovered that once bloomers that bloom in cooler climes in
early spring don't bloom here at all. I had a Seven Sisters that did
quite well and enthusiastically GREW (very very large and fast) but
never ever bloomed. Because by the time it wanted to bloom in the cool
of late April to mid May, it's already too hot here for it to like. The
same for all of the Albas and Bourbons but the Noisettes and Chinas
and -what's that little class, starts with a P? - ah, Polyanthas DO
grow quite well. Also the TEA roses love it here. I had a Maman Cochet
that grew to 8 feet up and out. 

Ah, yes. I do love roses. The SCENTS of them all. The spicy scent of
some Chinas. The rose soap scent of Heritage (and others). The heavy
perfumy scent of Sombreuil and some of the New English roses. One day I
got overenthusiastic when I still had roses at the duplex (last place
i lived) and cut 3 whole vases full. Then had to give two of the vases
to people located way down the hall because the area I sit in is too
enclosed and the one vase was enough to scent the air for several feet
- the three left anyone walking through the area reeling. 
  

    
Martha - I'm not a city gal, though I do really love visiting. I live
in the South Bay, so our house is right in the middle of retiree
suburbia, which means it's a quiet and mostly boring neighborhood.
Which I like, preferring to keep the fun things inside the house :) The
houses that I've been inside in SF, though, seem to not have the
problems with wall sharing that one has in apartments - I've never once
heard neighbors through the walls. I suppose it depends on the house?
I've only spent time in a few.

Mmmm, roses! Roses are my favorite flower, though I don't know much
about them yet. Roses grow -really- well out here. The San Jose rose
garden is just -gorgeous- in the late summer, and my next door neighbor
has some amazing rose bushes lining his sidewalk. I have four here,
three in the backyard that have died (the previous owner put them in a
horrid place, no sun!) and one that just sprouted out of the ground in
the front garden! It seems to be a climber, its grown so tall and
spindly, but I haven't seen any blooms on it yet. It only started to
grow this summer.

Of course, I have all kinds of plans for the yard :) involving
vegetable patches, herb gardens, and heaps of rose bushes. Its a slow
process.
  

    
Neil: Question... Lisa Snellings recently told me she did "Here Comes
Santa Claus" for one of your stories.  I think she said it was for "The
Price," but I deleted the email.  Was it?  And was it ever published
with the story?

Dodge: I love your vision of home.  It's a lot like mine. 
Unfortunately, I live in Los Angeles, so there's not really any such
thing as "countryside."  Someday, though, maybe.

I have a whole different set of advice to offer on buying a house, but
that's a long, melodramatic story for another day, preferably after
several drinks.  And, anyway, Jinxie doesn't need that advice since
she's buying it *on her own*, which is hellaciously chutzpah-ish.  GO
JINXIE!

As for neighborhood associations... my husband is one of the few
people in the country who actually read the *entire* Neighborhood
Association manual before we moved in (it was *this* big!).  A lot of
it is really just set up to protect property values in the
neighborhood, which is something I can appreciate, after spending all
that money on a house.  But just recently, we've received some really
obnoxious notices about trimming shrubs, and landscaping we don't need
to do because we bought a model home already landscaped... with *very*
short deadlines and scary fees threatened.  As a girl of Irish descent,
I don't do well with things like that.  So there are pluses and
minuses.
  

    

"The Price" appears in the short story collection SMOKE AND MIRRORS:
SHORT FICTIONS AND ILLUSIONS.  I think it was one of the stories Neil
did in concert with Lisa's sculptures for the now defunct OVERSTREET'S
FAN MAGAZINE. I'm not sure, but I think that was the last time both the
stories and sculptures appeared together. If not, it's one of those
things you'd give your right arm to see in print again. [Ok..maybe not
the whole arm..a pinky?] ;)   

Here is a great link for those of you who aren't familiar with Lisa's
extraordinary work: 
http://www.cybling.com/artists/snelling.html

And a link to a discussion between Lisa and Neil regarding their
collaboration: 
http://www.cybling.com/artists/lisaneil.html

Can you tell that I'm at work and badly in need of a distraction
before getting back to it? [The horror..the horror...]
  

    
E-mail from Kathy:

Just wanted to pipe up and say I'm a condo owner, and I've got
roses.  Admittedly, I have to stick to minis in pots on the bitty-little
balcony, but I've crammed six of 'em in there, which was the inevitable
result of learning that Tiny Petals was within driving distance (they've
since moved to Arizona, drat). Thanks for the recommends on Green Ice!  One
of mine (Rainbow's End) isn't doing so well (I think I transplant shocked
it to death), and I might have room for one more soon. [sigh].  Oh,
obligatory list: Black Jade (dark red), Seattle Scentsation (pink
w/knock-you-down strong fragrance), Madeline Spezzano (pink), Herbie
(mauve), and [my fave] Old Fashioned Girl (white, and starts blooming in
hybrid tea form, but ends up looking and smelling like a small Sombreuil
when it's done).

Mike, the weirdest of the Ersatz Cracker episodes I saw (it only aired on
A&E--the show was cancelled on ABC before it got that far into the run) was
"Faustian Fitz", the one where Robbie Coltrane was the villain of the
episode.  It was just wrong on so *many* levels.  BTW, my Time-Warner cable
has VOD (video on-demand) channels, and the BBC America one has three or
four episodes apiece of CHANGING ROOMS, GROUND FORCE, KEEPING UP
APPEARANCES, and AbFab. <sigh>).

--Kathy