Paula thanks that's so nice of you to say. All of the photos in the gallery are by a terrific photographer named Ian Adams. He gives classes on photography at Holden and I'm looking forward to taking them. Gail OH MY GOODNESS! Look at that picture! That's so cute. Please give Hoover and Cuddles big hugs from me and Cookie. Melissa thanks and yes they keep laughing at me because my first two weeks when I was having introductory meetings with everyone, I just kept saying "I'm so excited to be here" lol. jbcarr, thanks and yes I've never had a job before where I actually looked forward to going in to work! Thanks catsrose and amen! Krista thank you my friend. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Carol I've thought of you many times in the past few months because of all your support and great advice when I told you I was looking for a job. What kind of tea are you drinking? I'm in love with Celestial Seasonings True Blueberry. Thank you Olga. Maybe you could come up and do a talk on Antique Roses. How cool would that be? And YOU, Red can come up and talk about soil. Cookie would not be jealous of those cool glasses. Remember the look on her face when I put the boots on her? lol. Woof back to Beau. Florence thank you and it is. My new editor often talks about her mom, who is in her 70s and was a switchboard operator and still has her group of friends from work. She tells me stories about her mom and "the girls" and I always think of you! Thanks Sue. you know how much I love critters and now taking their pictures is part of my job! Our magazine this issue has an article on the great horned owl and I had to go to the animal rehab down the road and take pictures of their great horned owls and I also got pictures of the biggest wild turkey I've ever seen. (well, truthfully he was the first wild turkey I'd ever seen). His name is Benjamin and he's there for life. He came right up to me and I couldn't believe how pretty his feathers were. They're irridescent! Who knew? Hampster I've been missing you so much! Thanks and you and Pauline have a great Christmas! Annececilia that would be great! You let me know if you're coming! Thanks Jeri. I knew this would be right up your alley since you do graphics too.

You want fruit from your tree? You can't really belive that tree is big enough to support fruit can you? Forget that it's citrus, no fruit tree should try to support fruit at such small size. Also if that is 3 years old you need a new supplier. I prefer four winds like many people here. I have positive things to say about briteleaf also If four winds doesn't have the variety you want if your still aquiring trees. The big ones are 3 year olds from four winds the small are 1 year olds. Always get 3 year if available. This pic has 8 citrus 2 avocado and 3 pepper so sorry that it's a little hard to tell where one plant ends and a neighbor begins.

Was out of town all day yesterday, and came back to an explosion of new stuff. Just getting caught up on reading. LOVE this pig, and I, too, think a little color would make her happy, and OH YES on the girlie jewelry. She's GOTTA have jewels. Outstanding job of repair. I know you must've been horrified to see the damage. I liked her before too. I hope to be working w/armatures soon to re-enforce what we learned.

I'm not one who thinks a label describing any political or philosophical point of view is a pejorative, so assuring you there's no landmine involved, KB, If you're waiting for a political uprising of the proletariat, you're gonna have a long wait. If anything, many members of the working class in the US have over-earned in the past 50 years because of extortion of large employers by dishonest (and criminal) unions. And came to think of their above market earnings as an entitlement. They're paying for it now in the form of lost jobs and closed plants, and economic stagnation in many parts of the so-called Rust Belt. Someone who rode on that unionized factory worker hay wagon hardly can be looked at as having higher standards and more honesty than risk taking company founders and investors. But if you do believe it, great. I think your view isn't widely held. Generosity of the wealthy can do far more than generosity of people of modest means. You don't need to agree with where the money came from if you find some sources distasteful, be happy about where it winds up instead. PS - The "Giving Pledge" started by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett has, I believe, in excess of $200 billion committed for charitable giving. Bezos is not shown on the list in Wikipedia though his ex-wife is. How do you feel about this, all mostly people with "new money" from the last few decades?