Choose gifts to give what you wish you were receiving
When Janet was 6 she was invited to a birthday party. She emptied
her piggy bank and went to the store with her mother. She remembers
this exchange.
"Oh, I really like this, can I have it?"
"Remember you're shopping for your friend. If you really want it,
that makes it a really good gift for your friend."
When Janet was intoduced to this concept, she was the age our
young friend Sarah, yet the words still ring clear and true all
these decades later. She now calls it gifting what you covet.
That's the way it is with mentor stuff. That shopping trip of 50+
years ago played itself back as we did some looking around for gift
ideas.
Just a fun shop-around
So here's our list and we hope it might save you some shopping
time or at least be a fun look-see. Maybe this is the year we'll
get or give something that will have the staying power of good
Mentor advice.
Below: Whatever you give, we know it will be better than the
buy we made one year of "The tool for the gardener who has
everything." We weren't acting on that salesperson's misguided
advice; we bought it for a laugh. It has been that for a decade
already.
Do you suppose the producer really thought one could rake,
level soil, pry out weeds and hoe, all with one tool? If so, s/he
never ever hefted it because the thing weighs enough to bring
battle axes and sledge hammers to mind!
Choose the kind of shopping you'd like to do:
We started as we usually do, with the practical. 
We kidded about things for Gardeners of a Certain Age, 
Which put us in the mood for ornaments, 
Which made us look up and notice things for the birds, 
Eventually we arrived at very special dream items, 
And along the way, a bonus: Ideas for filling pots
in winter 