Well, they do call them "Christmas Roses" sometimes. This variety is always early - in fact, I have photos of it from previous years a week or two earlier than this.

LOL it's true!!

Those are beauties!

I have several varieties including a yellow one, a dark red one and several pink and white ones. I love them, particularly because I have a shady garden with quite poor soil and they are so tough.

This one is a particularly early variety. I have others that may not show their faces until February :)

I have a lovely dark orange witch-hazel which is just coming into bud now. It's usually in full bloom by new year. I love it. I love hellebores, too, and have lots of different varieties. It helps that I have a shady garden.

This one is a particularly early variety. I have many others that bloom anytime from January to March.

Deer don't touch them, which is one reason I have lots of them :) They are pretty easy going, though might not like soggy soil. Mine is dry shade.

Not really - this is an early variety. I have photos from previous years even a week or more ahead of this.

I think we're somewhere between 8 and 9

BC, Canada

I love R&G, but my absolute favourite is Arcadia. It was on my major field reading list for my PhD (20th C British Lit), and _it_ just blew me away. I was fortunate enough to see a revival of it in the theatre in London when I was there in 2009 - a very happy memory.

Envious of Bob Dylan and Cecelia Bartoli!

IKR?? I did the same thing. Auto-correct would have corrected it but I thought I was right *cough*

... oh! and Ravi Shankar. But not The Beatles... that's another one I really envy you.

Oh, I envy you having seen Simon & Garfunkle live. I had tickets for what might have been their last concert tour, but G got sick and they cancelled. I too have seen The Chieftains and Peter Paul and Mary (perhaps we are similar aged)

Hmmm. No I don't think so. It still sounds wrong although I think that example is better than "He estranged me"