Some of the names may change, but the level of enthusiasm remains the same! And even though a few of us may come and go from time to time, as life issues changes, we never forget... Happy Thanksgiving... I'm so grateful for the wonderful people here who have helped me, from my humble beginnings with one Minerva, through a collection that grew... often through the help of friends. I'm thankful for so much generosity, so much friendship, and I offer my best wishes to all of you and your families for a wonderful Holiday Season filled with love, joy, and hope for another year of happiness and wealth of human spirit. Kristi, though I wasn't present for a while, I thought of you often... as I did many of you... a small family linked through our love of growing! Happy Thanksgiving to you all! :-)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Like Bee, I am glad to have found GW 10 years ago. It seems like yesterday! My daughter-in-laws father works for Ameren in Illinois and just returned from working on the east coast. I prayed for his safety daily and for those who are victims of Sandy. We are blessed with a wonderful family and our extended family of friends. This holiday season, keep the less fortunate in your thoughts and prayers. My children are in education and they share about so many children and families that need assistance. There are families living in domestic violence shelters that operate on limited budgets. The lost generation, the elderly, with no family or visitors. The Salvation Army, local food pantries, churches, youth facilities - they all need assistance. It is not only money, but also time. Five minutes with an elderly person lifts their spirits. Last Sunday we shared in a Thanksgiving meal at my MILs assisted living home. There was a woman I thought was someone from my childhood. I asked the workers her name and it was my childhood friendly lady. I thought she had passed years earlier. I knocked on her door and we had a delightful chat. She asked no less than 3 times my name and when I told her, she lit up. She shared stories about my mother who died in 1980. Our chat meant as much to me as it did to her. Have a blessed season.

Funny cartoon, Paul! Wonderful table setting, NN. Mara, your socks say that?? :P Same is wished to all of you! I am thankful for many things. One of them is a forum like this with people like you...to share my obsession...er, HOBBY! Wow, the pic came out rather blurry when it is enlarged like that. Oops! The message is clear. =) Enjoy the day!

John, you sure have an eclectic group there. I hope your Pescatarian and Mike did manage to create some sparks, and I'm sure everything was delicious although I had to pause at the brie cheese gelato, and I'm still thinking about that. I suppose it was good, because many times brie is served with sweet, like that brie and fruit in crust thing... Dcarch, I hope you enjoyed your dinner and are still around to talk about it, romaine is sure getting some bad press lately. Brad, your dinner sounds perfectly festive, although I do like turkey and I'd rather have sweet potatoes than the traditional mashed white ones. I also LOVE creamed onions, yum. Although your group was small, it's always nice to have family together. Momj47, I'd forgotten about that picture, and it still made me smile. Happy Thanksgiving! gardengal, I hope you get your Yorkshire puddings soon. And just think, you really can eat them all yourself. (grin) Makes it all worthwhile.... sleevendog, it was cold here too, didn't make record cold, which is 7F, but it made it down to 12F. We spent about an hour outside setting hay and repairing a hay feeder and coaxing the very cold tractor to start, and that was enough. I don't blame you for skipping the parade, a week outside is more than sufficient in this weather. Because our family dinner will be on Saturday we had chickpea flour waffles and a venison stirfry, definitely not the traditional Thanksgiving Day meal but still better than I had anticipated. And tomorrow I cook..... Annie