I hope you know Renee and her seeds. Located at 6060 Graham Hill Road in Felton, California, or on line at http://www.reneesgarden.com, she has the best lettuces anywhere. I highly recommend the Jade Gem container lettuces. The sunflowers aren’t bad either — bright bandolier and cinnamon sun both worked very well in Fishkill last summer. This year I am going to try sun Samba and sunzilla. But I want to reserve my highest praise, my A Plus, for Mrs. Scott Elliot columbine seed. For years I had looked to replace the columbine I had seen at the International Culinary Institute in Hyde Park. It was tri-color and had a flirtatious nature that required me to return to steal seeds at the right moment in late August. Those seeds didn’t work much to my irritated sadness. BUT then I ordered Renee’s. They not only took, even in my shady window in my New York office. I nursed them along all winter with ice cubes to keep the city dryness from devastating them. They grew and grew and grew and now I have six plants upstate and three in containers downstate. Our flirtation is not over but just begun. Columbine is particularly fertile when it gets going. I am so grateful for Renee and her profligate seeds.
As a questioning Christian, I have come to the conclusion that the nature of God is Nature and have stopped giving thanks at table in the traditional sense but continue to give thanks in one of the silent ways you mention. Thank you for giving credence to those alternative forms of expressing appreciation.
Thanks so much for telling me about your practice.