Welcome to December. We spent a nice Thanksgiving with my brother and his family. Now the Christmas sales season gets into full swing. We didn't observe Black Friday heretical as that may seem. We are apostates in the American Church of Consumerism.

A couple of bloggers I read have, independently as far as I know, written about Socrates' "three sieves" lately. The first is the "sieve of truth"--is something you want to pass on is true or not? The second is the "sieve of utility"--do you really need to know it?. And the third sieve is the "sieve of the good"--is it good? I find, more frequently of late, that what I find on the internet I pass through something like those sieves. All too often the information fails at least one and usually all three of those tests. How much that is shoved at us is true? In the Age of #45, probably not a lot and you can bet that 80% or more of his verbal diarrhea is false. Much of what is see isn't good either though some of that might be useful or necessary--like knowing that you or a loved one has a dreaded disease isn't good but it is necessary. I often say that I follow the idiots in the House and Senate to know what the blithering idiots plan to do to screw up my life.  As a result I have less and less to post.

This is the slack time for the gardens. Everything outside is either cut back, pulled or waiting to be covered for the really hard weather which we haven't seen yet. Inside I check the inside plants for water and trim the ones that grow like the weeds they once were. The lemon verbena is the one that has shown the most growth. It has dropped quite a few leaves which, if the info I read is right, is pretty normal. As long a I see new growth I won't worry. I found some lavender sprouting from the seeds I started and I have several cuttings that need to be transplanted. The hibiscus cuttings are not among them though at least two of those cuttings are looking pretty good--so far. The rose seeds haven't sprouted yet but they are  very slow germinators.

Most of the garden work is now mental: evaluating last season and planning for the next. Several of the catalogs came in the mail including the Baker Creek, which is one of my favorites. I have a list of what I plan to order started and some plans in mind for how I will arrange things once the season starts. I have read blogs by gardeners who plan meticulously but my plans always change--sometimes before I even start planting. This and my needlework is so much more enjoyable than the antics of our political clowns.