Coffee Break # 47 - Getting close to turkey time

Nice card, Victor! Thank you....and Happy Thanksgiving to all of my DG friends too!

Harper - I'm just amazed at the detail of that tree! Wow...you are doing just great!! I am fully with you about the state of affairs known as current events.......hate to even turn on the television......the news is grotesque a lot of the time. I didn't think I was such an old fogey, but I might be getting there! What has happened to kindness and selflessness and gentle ways and taking a back seat once in awhile? Everything out there seems harsh and hard and angry and pushy and selfish...me first, me first. That pretty much sums up traffic incivility, most politicians and many conversations I overhear - even when we are walking and some of the other walkers are talking to themselves, oh, wait a minute ....they're talking loudly on their hands-free cells. Ugh. C'mon....Take a look around you....you just missed the mother osprey feeding her babies in the nest in the River. Ugh.

Agree, agree, Louise! It's not a very pretty or nice society we live in at times.....but there are some good folks out there, like right here on DG....thanks so much for the card, Victor....loved the chickadee. Harper, needles of 2 means it's probably not a red....they are usually bundled in 3....Bill? What does your new conifer book say?

I agree as well, though it didn't just start. Been worsening for years. Funny, the guest speaker at my HS graduation spoke about civility vs. cynicism - in 1981!!

Yes, I'm sure it was timely then as well.

Each generation has become coarser and more selfish.

Glad you mentioned selfish.....my GDs are very selfish....never have wanted for anything which I guess is too bad.

We are vigilant about not letting our kids be selfish or spoiled. And not to take things for granted.

Then you & your wife are smart parents. I refuse to buy my grandkids toys...I will buy them art supplies, or books. They just have too much stuff!

Yes. And I really see no need for them to eat EVERY day!

There's no question that there are still many, many people with a different approach and different guiding principles, and not all are from the older generations. I know many young people who reflect all of what is good. I can think of several on the NE Forum whom we've met and admired for having their heads on straight. So age and generational differences don't explain it and I generally have hope restored whenever I am in their presence. I won't name names here, for fear of omitting some whom I would not want to omit, but let's just say that checking the list of attendees at the RUs will reveal a good number! Gardeners, in general, seem to get it when it comes to defining what true wealth is.

Yes, you're right Louise....my best lessons in life were from my Gram in the garden.

LOL, Victor! And I agree with Robin.....I don't chip in with the 5th version of the same toy lying around the living room!!

Uh oh - guess I didn't make the cut!

Lucky granddaughter, huh Marilyn? Books and art supplies are the BEST!!

The list wasn't exclusive......of COURSE you make the cut! In fact, I can't think of a single person here who doesn't! That probably explains why I keep coming back to this group.

I agree that there are many good young people, but I do believe as a whole it has gotten steadily worse over the decades.

What about married ones who don't?!! ^_^

My grandchildren are way too spoiled also. And it's art supplies and books here too. They are very good kids, polite and outgoing, great students, and they put forth a lot of effort to excel in karate. But Christmas, birthdays, and even Easter is like a toy store exploded. And of course, the more they get the more they want.

I'm registering my holiday shopping complaint once again. It always seems to be people in the 30-40 age bracket that think their time is more important than anyone else. Standing in line for 10 minutes, and the cashier at the market says she can help who ever is next. Invariably someone from the back of the line will go right over there. And they push the carts in front of you, and pay no attention to who is in front of them, just push and shove. Last year someone knocked an elderly woman's cart, and she would have fallen if I didn't catch her. Just to hurry. Why do they think their time is so much more valuable. Victor, if you can come up with any cute insults for me in this situation, I would love it.

And thank you for the Thanksgiving card!

I keep telling people to stop buying my kids toys, but they just don't listen. I think it's definitely learned from somewhere, I mean when the kids were babies they were happy playing with a box.

Thanks for the card Victor.

Oh, nice drawing of that pine, Harper. Just love it! You hit the nail on the head when you said there's just too much bad in the world these days, and too much negativity. We all need to stay positive somehow.

Amen, Louise, to what you said about gardeners. Most I've met are a great bunch, though I've met some that are just downright oddballs, and a few who are not so nice, either.

Thanks for the card, Victor.

Karen

My family loves books.

Victor you usually find a way to make me laugh, and gave me an idea to decrease my grocery bill!

marilyn it is a secret santa present that will go under the tree - cindy always gets a kick out of those presents from santa to me:)

polly i know what i would have done with my shopping cart if someone cut in front of me - this has been well documented in past posts - although i had a checkout at target start to ask me survey questions and i said no thx - she broke into a wide grin and said she did not expect me to answer i looked to be in a hurry - must have seen me slaloming through the aisle's to get out.........

That is a problem, Jen, isn't it? We try to be very sensitive to that and to support what the parents are trying to do. One family of our grandkids loves to get books. We gave books to the others last year too, but they let it be known that they only like hand held video games. Oh yay! They won't get them from us this year either. :) Hank holds VERY firm on giving the kids what WE think are good gifts for them. I have loved reading my whole life, and still get very excited to have a new book to read every night. I think reading books is in danger of being a lost skill for some kids. Sad.

Jen - I smiled when I read your comment about your kids playing with a box. My son leaned towards pots and pans.....he's still good with them. lol

Hi Bill! We thought of you and Victor as we were driving south again last week. The JMs were GORGEOUS all along the way. There were several in peak color in my son's neighborhood that made our walk really cheery. Hello to Cindy too! Hope you both put those groceries to good use tomorrow! How many are you having?

hey louise - hope hank has a shoe pit down there i've been practicing a little:)

was wondering were you had gone off too glad you had some time to travel.

it will just be me and cindy and my in-laws which is the normal the last several years - stopped going to my brothers where the rest of my family goes - to hectic, they can't cook, no one is on time to dinner, just not worth it - rather a nice quiet dinner with good wine and company - oh and a big Cowboys WIN!! :)

say hi to hank and enjoy tomorrow.

No pits down here.....yet. :) I like your T_day choice. It's just going to be the two of us, and fortunately, we still enjoy each other's company and still like a quiet dinner of all of our favorites ......but I'll take dinner over to a neighbor who is sick and insists on being alone so no one will catch her bug. I've set the table, spent today doing as much of the cooking as I could, yada, yada, yada... Say hello to your in-laws for us.....they were fun! I can see why you'd enjoy spending time with them. And yes! There WILL be football also!

Thanks everyone! Marilyn, in my Peterson's guide to Eastern Trees, it says a Pitch Pine has three needles to a bundle and the red pine has only two. That's what made me think maybe it was a red.

Here's a link to my thread about it in the Plant Identification forum: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1141012/

HAPPY, HEALTHY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!

Beautiful work as usual Harper!!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!!!!!

thank you Victor... happy turkey day all!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

watching football today, going to Sundays Bills/Steelers game, looks like sunny weather so far

Thanks Harper for the link...definitely an ornamental...didn't realize it was planted at the mall...whatever it is, it's interesting, & your drawing is wonderful! Louise, very nice of you to make up a dinner for a neighbor....tough to be ill on Thanksgiving! Bill, I like your idea of a secret Santa gift!

Silverfish like books, too.

Happy TG, everyone! Tired of spelling that out. Had to spell it out a lot on FB. It's getting abbreviated from now on.

Louise, I agree with you that many kids are no longer interested in reading these days. I love to read, and wish I was a faster reader, too, as there are so many books I'd like to read. You read a new book every night? I sure wish I could read that fast! Takes me weeks to finish a book, though there've been a few I finished in a 2 or 3 days, ones that I just couldn't put down. Three that come to mind are The Horse Whisper, The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King, and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Karen

I'll start a new thread.

New:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1142810/