Sorbus sorbifolia

Must be a midwestern colloquialism; I'm sure there some Virginian or Canadian ones I'd be stumped by. I worked in a bakery growing up, so there's double meaning for me.

Now we're cooking with gas may just be reference to self-righteous superiority of those with that variety of appliance. I didn't grow up in a house with a gas stove, and had lived 18 years of wedded bliss without one either. Electric had always been good enough. HOWEVER, the late 2005 addition to this household has pried the sty from my eye.

I use that line often these days, with the sincerest of appreciation for the DW's bounty.

Hmmm...from a UK website, no less. How come dollars instead of pounds sterling? I'd say the opinion is somewhat, uh, coloured.

Rather, "dimes to doughnuts" probably evolved in depression-era times to reflect the more likely coinage available (later than the Victorian era quip).

And from the same UK website:

"Just a guess: Your phrase means to do some thing or some task the right or more efficient way" (http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/6/messages/938.html)

Although I'm not sure where it originated, I heard it first while working for a plastic surgeon. We had finally overcome huge obstacles with a new computer program - he clapped his hands, and shouted "NOW we're cooking with gas!"

'Now your cooking with gas' is no knock down of the electric hot plate, its a step up from the open fire.
I always liked 'now your sucking diesel', which despite having had to taste the stuff from syphoning it for tractors, actually equates to more power versus a conventional petrol/gas engine.
Sorbaria sorbifolia, should it stay or should it go. I like the big red buds and the emerging leaf that can stay scrunched up like a witch hazel bloom late winter, am I getting to excited. Works ok for me in Zone 6, flowers greatly appreciated by insect life, that might be a detractor to some folks. Its not a crepe myrtle but variety is the spice of life.

Now you're cooking with gas always meant "now you're getting somewhere(finally)", as in completing a task.

However, that may be just a Minnesota thing. I have been caught more than once with an expression that seemed to be "non-midwestern", but is very common here. Like Holy Buckets! (or is it holey?)

Here's another for Smarty Pants..

the bud (my photography still not good)

Hey Leftykins !!! (willows on the way next week). One can boil a pot of water a lot quicker on a fire than either gas or electric. But gas is a modern thing, clean and efficient so you are getting somewhere if you are cooking with gas, coming out of the stone age, and applied to all sorts of situations, where something is starting to happen. Chris.

which one is this

Your two shots of the cut branch look like one of the fragrant viburnums, possibly V. x juddii because of the short internodes. Could also be V. carlesii, close relative, depending on how good/poor the growing conditions are. I'll compare to my plants in the yard for confirmation, after I get home. It's so fun to be back at work.

Can you show me the whole plant those came off of?

Your last pic is a mystery, because I don't know what you want me to ID. I just see a jumble of stems and I can't tell how many plants are represented.

I know that last picture is to say the least confusing...However you are right on with the first two...Juddii it is...HOW DO YOU DO IT???? The third picture is V. summer snowflake and that is about the only angle I can get because it is on a hill. I am sure if the picture had been better you would have IDed that also. Now on to more difficult things! You really are amazing SP.

You need to grow one leg longer than the other; conquers those hillside challenges every time.

It's your photos, that's all. Like from a textbook §:o}Ð

I have one leg that is longer - doesn't help.

Like a young cat going up a tree. He goes up, but can't get down: you can only walk on a hill going one way.

Leftleg(longer)

P.S. But you'd hardly know it.