I am so glad your book arrived safe and sound and that you like it. I know you have posted your rose pics before and I remembered that you liked the unscented ones. I told myself, she may already know a lot more about roses than the author of this book, but it had a lot of pictures of various ones that I thought you may enjoy. I thought you may want to expand your rose garden in the future.

I received my book from you today also Jeanne! I love it. A cookbook on heirloom tomatoes. I don't have any cookbooks like that. Funny story...I went out to water my garden early this morning and found that my husband had left the gate open. So our friendly neighborhood deer came in and ate all the tomatoes off of my heirloom Roma tomato plants. I had 3 plants and about 50 tomatoes just starting to ripen. I was devastated. I promised myself to take archery lessons before next planting season lol. Thanks again Jeanne. Even if I have to go to farmers markets to get some heirloom tomatoes, I will try out these delicious recipes!

Yes Jeanne, I was able to get my address to Beth.

I want to try fall planting this year too. today i feel excited about that... don't ask me tomorrow. I wish i could hand pollinate, but i haven't even had any flowers. i usually hand pollinate my melons... but no go there too. i have a confession, i did not fertilize this year and very sporadically water my plants. i know i know. i actually heard a study on NPR that said that plants can actually be heard crying... i feel so awful. i need to get out there and fix up my bed. the wind knocked down the play set which i had just put up so getting that back up and staked in will help clear up some space for me to get back out there. the stakes came in the mail today!

let me see if i can find that article...

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-record-stressed-out-plants-emitting-ultrasonic-squeals-180973716/

So glad you like your book, too, Susan. I'm sure the recipes can be made without using heirloom tomatoes, but that is so sad about the deer eating them - and when they were almost ripe, too. I would be upset. As for the rose book, they feature more unusual ones so I really don't know most of what's in the book. I have been looking through it already.

I wanted to get back online last evening and get things caught up a little here and for some reason I had trouble logging in - not here at Houzz, but even before I got to Houzz. I'm going to get some dinner since I skipped lunch and then I'll hopefully still be able to get back online.

I show no new messages on my Houzz account since JUNE 16th. Could you send it to my email 4bethb76@gmail.com. Thanks

Beth, I sent your book today. Sorry it's a bit late. This week has been nuts. Son has an ear infection and my husband has been preparing for boards...so I had like ZERO time to go to the PO. Hope you Like it!

Back with some questions and then I'll add to this with the updated scores and where we are with sending and receiving. (Any member can answer up to 2 per day and they don't have to be in the same category.)

Book Questions

1. In Greek mythology what did the Argonauts seek?
2. Which writer of detective fiction created Miss Marple?

Crossword Clues

#21 ACROSS (4 letters, 1st letter is "n")

Barnes & Noble Counterpart to Kindle

#104 ACROSS (7 letters, 1st letter is "d")

The author of A Christmas Carol: Charles _______

Okay, here we go again with the scores. I think I had an error last time I posted and I have now added in the newer answers.

Crossword Game

Ruth 5

Susan 4

Beth 2

Breanne 1

Book Game

Beth 12

Renee 6

Breanne 4

Ruth 2

Thanks for answering the questions. I think i have 9 more crossword clues to ask even after those I posted today so it's good in increased it to 2 a day!

Swaps

Susan sent to Jeanne (received)

Jeanne sent to Susan (received)

Ruth sent to Renee

Renee sent to Ruth

Urooj sent to Breanne

Breanne sent to Beth

(Beth has Urooj's book ready to go - waiting for address)

Great job getting them mailed out. Excited to see what everyone receives!

I think Houzz Messsages are working once again. Good news to see that!

Hi there. Here are the crossword answers

#21 Nook

#104 Dickens

# 2 Agatha Christie

All of the guesses this morning are correct.

Anyone know about the Argonauts?

I'll post more questions later.

this watermelon fell off the.vine or I'd have missed it. I believe its Cream of Saskatchewan. Didn't know that's what I planted, but it's sweet and so small!

cream of Saskatchewan wayermelon. a garden surprise!

I've never heard of that melon, Heidi, but it looks delicious!

Seems like today was one of those days when I got so little done. I got a few plants out of containers and into the ground and after that it seemed my energy was gone.

Anyway, a few more questions so we don't run out of time. You can answer up to 2 questions a day and they don't need to be from the same category.

Crossword Clues

#23 DOWN (4 letters, First letter is 'o") In OK, there is a town along the Verdigis River in Wagoner County with this name

#92 ACROSS (8 letters, the second from the last letter is "i") South Carolina's Capital.

Book Questions

The protagonist in the novel by H.G. Wells (The Time Machine) lives in which city?

In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which city lies at the end of the Yellow Brick Road?

# 92 Columbia

Emerald City

Jeanne, I hope you had a restful night and wish you a day filled with lots of energy.

Here are my answers for the crossword and the remaining book questions. Happy Sunday to all!

#23 Okay

The Argonauts were seeking The Golden Fleece.

The protagonist in The Time Machine lived in Richmond, Surrey.

Here is a new tomato from my garden, Black Mountain Pink. Seed was received in a swap last Christmas. Biggest tomato from this garden since I moved here. If the taste is good I'll be saving seeds. I see they changed the system but it is still very do-able.

Still needing and address. Jeanne could you please send it? Thanks

Beth, beautiful and large tomato you have there! I'm growing some bigger ones this year, Terhune Giant & Giant Belgium. They are large but not finished growing yet.

I have harvested beans and let some go to seed for the unusual ones for planting next year. Definitely Pink Flamingo & Uzice Speckled Wax.

The wax is prolific, delicious and even had my Hubby picking them to eat fresh.

My granddaughter, Olivia, loves the Pink beans. Here's a pic so you can see why.

Love the pink color, Renee, and that's a huge tomato, Beth. Even the experts say it's very hard to grow the larger size tomatoes here so I've just about quit trying and now I only plant those that are midsized and smaller. My plants are so tall and healthy this year - can't wait to get my first tomato - and that's hoping I actually do get some!

Beth, I Messaged you on Friday with Urooj's address and no sign from my end that it didn't go through, but since you said you still need it, I just now sent it by email. Hopefully that will get to you. Sorry it has been so much trouble. Wouldn't you know Messages stopped almost as soon as we set up the swap this month!

so sorry for coming back so late. beth i replied to the email but will email again. houzz was acting crazy when i was looking for breannes address and going through my messages. i did see my response to you in my sent mail though.

i just realized the messages are back in chronological order so thats good. love those pink beans, the huge tomato, and the surprise watermelon! save the seeds everyone, pass them over to us.

gardens been doing ok here. my figs taste delicious. bought some from costco and they make me itchy but my own from home are great. my pineapple roots are growing well too, its shooting out new leaves. my pumpkin plant died... and my watermelon and okra are getting big but no fruit yet. my pepper plant is 4 feet tall and it FINALLY had like 2 flowers. im excited about how this plant turns out!

the crossword looks fun, i wish i would have played from the beginning....

I think all of the questions up to this point have now been answered - posting a few more. Rain, rain and more rain here. There was a bit of thunder during the afternoon so I didn't have the computer on. It's nice that the temperatures are quite a bit cooler though.

Remember, you can answer up to two questions a day, in either category or making use of both. Once all of the crossword clues have been guessed, both games will end and I'll announce the winner for each category.

CROSSWORD CLUES

#74 DOWN (4 letters, the third letter is “o”)

A word that can mean the same as storyline in a literary
work

#84 ACROSS (7 letters, the second letter is “e)

If you request a book from the library and it's not currently available, you can ask for the book to be put on this for you.

BOOK QUESTIONS

Author, Laura Childs, has a series of cozy mysteries that involve this beverage, which in many cases is reflected in the title.

The long-running TV series Little House on the Prairie is an adaptation of books by this author.

are the laura childs book titles with Tea? i'm just guessing here. are we allowed to google???

#84 reserve ??

# 74 plot

The long-running TV series Little House on the Prairie is an adaptation of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Ruth and Susan, correct answers!

The book is now in the mail. Estimated delivery for Saturday Thank you ladies for sending the address multiple times. For some reason??? There are no new messages in my Houzz system since mid July.

Last 2 crossword clues:

#79 ACROSS (4 letters, the last letter is "L"): If you follow the news, this is said to have slowed down recently.

#104 ACROSS (7 letters, first letter is "D") Last name of the author of A Christmas Carol.

Anything listed but not yet guessed can be guessed.

104 across is charles "dickens"

# 79 mail

Tomorrow I will look for the tracking # for Renee's book. I know they are saying on the news that the mail is slower than normal, but I thought it would be there by now.

Still hot and dry here. Hoping for at least a little rain from the hurricane.

Good work on answering mail, Ruth! I hope the storms bring you rain and nothing more.

Ruth, I just received the book. Thanks so much! I look forward to getting started reading it but Hubby gets up at 4am and he wouldn't appreciate me keeping the lights on to read tonight. Maybe tomorrow...

Yes, I'm definitely saving seeds to use myself and to share/trade.

I have a tomato called Painted Lady that is a variegated potato leaf plant. The tomatoes are a smaller size but definitely larger than a cherry tomato. Pretty little streaks on it, too.

Also one named Indigo Rose and it goes through some interesting color changes. Green, then with purple shoulders, and finally dusky red with purple in it. They really stand out in my garden.

This looks like it was a fun swap. For some reason I have not been able to get on here for the last couple of months. No idea what the problem was, but tried on a whim today and was shocked when I got in, so I thought I would say hi.

I hope everyone's had a good season so far.

I think all of the questions have been answered, but if you find one that has not been answered, you can answer through to this evening. Then I'll total up the points once again. Someone asked about looking things up on the internet. Unless the hostess requests differently I think that's okay. I just think people might want to be a bit fair about it. If it's a question that many are likely to know without looking it up and you are going to use the internet, you might want to give them a few hours to see if someone else posts and then "go for it". How does everyone feel about that?

I'll also update the sent and received list when I update the points.

I just watched my first class on Zoom (my first anything on Zoom)! It took me 15 min. to get the sound to work and I still don't know why it didn't work to begin with. These are being provided through the Master Gardener program. Today's topic was Hydrangeas and I love the flowers on hydrangeas! Unfortunately three that I have bloom on old wood and the Spring frost usually gets them so I'm lucky if I get one flower. I have a Limelight and an Oakleaf that are huge and those are dependable for blooming.

My other "new" thing to deal with is a wasp nest (at least I think that's what they are) under the eases in the front of the house. I know it has only been there for about two days because I'm out there a lot. These wasps are definitely angry so I called a pest control place to see if they can get rid of them for me. They will be out tomorrow. We'll see how that goes. I'm sure I will stay inside the house while they battle it out.

Updating

Crossword Game

Ruth 9

Susan 7

Beth 2

Breanne 2

Book Game

Beth 12

Renee 6

Susan 6

Ruth 6

Breanne 4

Urooj 2

Thanks for answering the questions.Everyone did great.

Our winners are Ruth and Beth. Congratulations, ladies!

I had fun coming up with these games although I admit, next time I will come up with a different system for keeping score and I will learn how to draw a crossword puzzle board better.

If anyone notices a math error, let me know. My system wasn't much of a system, I would total and then come back a few days later and total again and it seemed the posts didn't always stay in the same order (although it has improved as the month went along).

It may be as much as a week before I get prizes out. I really don't leave the house a lot right now, but I will mail the prizes and I have some things to send to my granddaughters at the same time.

Swaps

Susan sent to Jeanne (received)

Jeanne sent to Susan (received)

Ruth sent to Renee

Renee sent to Ruth

Urooj sent to Breanne

Breanne sent to Beth

Alana, it's great to hear from you! I hope things are going pretty well with you. For so many of us, 2020 has been an absolutely terrible year.

Jeannie, I mailed on Monday and tracking says arrival should be tomorrow. I do have the # if needed. The games were fun I enjoyed the guessing but got confused with the Cross word.

I do not much go anywhere these days either. Between the virus and the heat, it seldom seems worth the bother.

Hi Everyone, I will be posting the new swap Tomorrow or Monday. Hope you are all doing well! Amy

Book arrived and it is a perfect choice Skimmed through it and plan to start reading later today. Breanne sent, "Small Plot Big Harvest. Lots of great photos and lists of veggies for summer as well as fall. Love it.

I was out planting/transplanting collards, beets and onions this AM util the rain started. Very pleasant day Hope things are well where you are

Sounds like a great book, Beth. We were supposed to have a storm alert day today and not a drop of rain fell. However, I did pick my first 2 tomatoes of the year so that was a treat. I will have to poke around in the ground and see which variety they are. I push my label down under the soil They are definitely the tiny kind, although plenty of plant. There are lots more green tomatoes so I should be eating handfuls of tomatoes soon!

Beth, I am so glad you liked my choice! I got upstairs to go through what I had and realized that most of my gardening books were still packed in our attic, so didn't get around to pulling them out. I sent you one I've been planning to read as well!

Urooj, I got "The Runaway Jury" on thursday when our mail started up again. Sorry it took so long to say so...I took the vacation spirit to heart and stayed mostly off of my computer and SM as much as I could last week. I am excited to read this one. I read it ages ago when the movie came out...and I remember it being a great one.

Jeanne, thanks so much for such a fun swap this month!!

i received my gardening book today. my first one ever. yaaaay! thank you beth!

oh my breanne! sorry that you've already read it, youre right its a good one. im working on the brethern right now but dont have much time to read.

thanks for a great swap jeanne! how did i manage to get those 2 points i will never know!

Urooj,

No worries at all! I read almost all of John Grisham's works at one time or another up to like 2010...then life got really busy and I dropped off. It will be a good read...haven't read in YEARS. I still pick up "The Testament" every so often because it is great again and again. His books are the types you can dig into multiple times and keep finding little bits you missed. I don't have a hard copy of this one...so it's just as well it is added to the collection :) My grandparents used to like to vacation in Biloxi, MS...and so my parents often took us down to meet them at the gulf. My grandmother and mother loved/love Grisham also and they used to drive us around to show us the places Grisham is famed to have eaten/stayed etc. Biloxi is featured in a couple of his books (including runaway jury) and so when we used to vacation with them I would always take a Grisham novel. It makes me feel nostagic!

Swaps

Susan sent to Jeanne (received)

Jeanne sent to Susan (received)

Ruth sent to Renee (received)

Urooj sent to Breanne (received)

Breanne sent to Beth (received)

Renee was to send to Ruth (have been in contact with them and this is taken care of)

I haven't had a chance to get game prizes together yet, but I have it on my to-do list.

Breanne, how was your vacation? I was thinking about you. I hope you had some wonderful family time.

Jeanne

Game prizes were sent out yesterday to Ruth and Beth. I suspect it will take awhile for them to reach you because of the holiday weekend. Thanks to everyone who participated in the games!

Jeanne, that was pretty fast.

Got my package today. Love the cute prizes and that was so thoughtful of you to send me a book. I love Nora Roberts and I haven't read that one.

Your package traveled quickly, Ruth. Hope you enjoy the book. That Pumpkin Spice smelled so good. I know I'm in the mood for Fall.

Thanks, Jeanne! Very kind of you.

My prize package was waiting at the Post Office when I finally got in there Friday. . Thank you Jeannie for your gifts/prizes. The package smelled so good and I will enjoy both the cute little bitdie and the Pumpkin Spice. It was a fun month and the theme was one of my favorites. Thank you again for hostessing and for my prizes