a thousand hairy savages sitting down to lunch …
or something to that effect, as I either paraphrase or quote the inimitable Spike Milligan, in honour of my American friends’ turkey festival. A very Happy Thanksgiving to you late celebrating folk.
We have become increasingly aware of American Thanksgiving as it has for one become bigger than Christmas in the States almost, or perhaps has become a part of it, a forerunner, a season opener. But as my athletic therapist pointed out yesterday as the insane blackness of the ill-named Black Friday was plastered all over town, your dollar has our border retailers salivating, so perhaps we are more aware this year than usual.
The fluctuation in the exchange rate has currently put a dead stop to a great Canadian tradition of cross border shopping, where the strong US dollar was offset by cheap prices and low taxes. But as the cold weather approaches and our snow birds all look south, it is with dismay. A dismay I am sharing, as while the boat must stay home, there is just a chance that we will imitate our old lives and manage a Bahamas trip to stay with the elderly in-laws who have a sweet setup with friends in Treasure Cay, where they have a little bungalow community where the average age is about 862. But one does one’s own cooking, etc., so it is really just the flight that is an added expense. And we are worried about them. They soldier on remarkably, but age is age and pop-in-law is 86.
But back to the present, I hope you enjoy your holiday, see family if that is a good idea, don’t see family if that is a better idea, and if football is part and parcel of your sweet potato pie day, you might enjoy listening to this episode of Radiolab. Their endless NPRness eventually wears one down, as episode after episode seemed to delve into transgenderness and then sort of horrible stories about death, and shooting Rhinos because they do have an agenda and kind of hate a lot of things, or at least I began to find it more depressing than inspiring, but many of the episodes cover very interesting ground, and this one, about the invention of American football was an astonishing tale, and I heartily recommend it while you are peeling those sweet potatoes or just curling up on the couch fending off wolves:
Today, we tackle football. It’s the most popular sport in the US, shining a sometimes harsh light on so much of what we have been, what we are, and what we hope to be. Savage, creative, brutal and balletic, whether you love it or loathe it … it’s a touchstone of the American identity.
Along with conflicted parents and players and coaches who aren’t sure if the game will survive, we take a deep dive into the surprising history of how the game came to be. At the end of the 19th century, football is a nascent and nasty sport. The sons of the most powerful men in the country are literally knocking themselves out to win these gladiatorial battles. But then the Carlisle Indian School, formed in 1879 to assimilate the children and grandchildren of the Native American men who fought the final Plains Wars, fields the most American team of all. The kids at Carlisle took the field to face off against a new world that was destroying theirs, and along the way, they changed the fundamentals of football forever.
It makes one appreciate the use of indian names for sports teams a little more … perhaps a compliment not an insult?
We used to go camping for Thanksgiving, and gathered around the table I actually enforced a giving thanks, each person in turn. I think our middle child was thankful for potatoes one year, and really when you think about it, me too! So just to be preachy for a moment, do remember to be thankful for something or someone or both … even for yourself. We are lucky to be alive and it doesn’t get better than that, as far as I can tell.
So I hope your brine is salty, and your beer is malty and that you are able to eat, drink and be merry. But maybe don’t go shopping tomorrow. It is getting a little unseemly. Unless you want to drive up here … but our Black Friday started Wednesday, so it is all a little confusing.
Have a lovely Thanksgiving and I hope a couch features prominently in your day.
And a happy Green Friday!
I am an appalling hypocrite and just ordered noise cancelling headphones from Amazon. I have wanted/needed for sanity such things and have been looking for some time and they had an excellent deal, 60% off. So shop away but could we rename the day? Leftover Friday? Turkey Sandwich Day? Another cold Friday in November?
Good afternoon ❗
And good morning. Round and about, just short of words.
and kinda short as well..5’3″ if I remember correctly from something long ago. this song goes well with weed that I cannot smoke and many memories of youth when life was much simpler.
A true bird bath tale:
I’ve been slack a little with the bird bath lately, haven’t seen much action and I figured it was just one of those things that go unexplained (ask god when you die stuff).
So anyway yesterday morning I fill it up. Pretty quickly the robins and jays are about and i’m happy to see them. I wander away for 10 minutes or so and then look out the kitchen window (birdbath around 30′ or so away) and see a magnificent hawk sitting on the ground ( I think we have mostly red tails and I’m only a few hundred yards off the Lafayette River..but i’m not sure) Anyway I just watched..and have always been fascinated with birds. He/she left with one of the birds, I didn’t see the catch and am mixed about it.
Hawks and birdbaths don’t mix well.
Beautiful from Jerry and the crew.
..as i go thru my closets and struggle to part with clothes that i never even wear.
You are cleaning out your closets? That does sound like an activity to go well with weed you cannot smoke! Is it for peeing in bottles that you cannot smoke? Or are you being a healthy adult? Or have the gods denied you both supplies and the wherewithal to get them? Just to make you feel worse, they seem to have changed the rules here and my prescription was renewed for a full year, rather than 3 months which had been the standard. And in Ontario they have made it quite clear that you can now vape anywhere that you could smoke in public, as long as you aren’t a complete idiot about it and light up at the daycare.
And yes, I am short. I used to claim 5’4″ but that was literally a stretch. And I have managed to gain five pounds, but I must lay claim to a granny we called Granny Tiny. My dad’s mum’s name was Christine (hence my Christy which is also short for Christine) and she was on the tiny side. I remember at her funeral when I was about twelve getting a hug from my aunt whom I was taller than. Sorry for ending the sentence with a preposition, something up with which I generally will not put.
And nice to hear from you … although I feel challenged by the clothing comment. I drown in a sea of clothes I never wear but cannot bear to part with.
I saw a marlin (I think or is that the fish?) otherwise known as a pigeon hawk in the backyard the other day. But I don’t mind the thought that an entire ecosystem has managed to build up … if you can support a top predator, then the system is relatively healthy. And speaking of feeding the hawks, there were finally birds on the new to me, trash to my neighbour, Lee Valley feeder in the back yard … nuthatches I think … and a sighting possibly of a female cardinal. And not a hint of a pigeon. Neighbour two doors down recently got a hot tub and finally went and asked the jewellers who back onto our backyards to stop ground feeding the pigeons, and oddly, after years of worrying about approaching them, they just shrugged and said okay, and that was that. Far fewer pigeons almost immediately.
And good December 1st morning, rabbits, as we try to remember to say on the first of the month despite a solid lack of superstition in general, and sad to say tomorrow would be Nana’s birthday, and my calendar reminded me … do I delete that? I think maybe so, but seems a sad moment. Hadn’t really thought about Christmas and birthday without her … yes it was mostly management the last few years but it was still what always happened and now … I am struggling with purpose.
And it is darned cold today and I have a dentist appointment, something I used to enjoy that has become a bit of a trauma for me. But I will zen my way through …
Hi all.
A very cool cat …
Happy Birthday Nana … do I take her birthday out of my calendar? I think I will turn off the alerts.
Good to be alive … and good morning.
Always time for yoga … and particularly now. Sort of like planting an oak tree.
Good Morning.
Survived the day quite well. A couple of glasses of wine in her honour and a strange desire to watch Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, and long chats with my own daughter. Back to dentist for some patching up, had my hair cut for the first time in ages after a bang disaster that had to grow in, and trying to feel good about self. Off to Toronto on Saturday for eldest siblings Xmas party which is quite an affair, and then up to Penetang for a few days to see the elderly p-in-laws. So trying to move up and on.
And just in case you are a sentimental old fool like me, here are Bing and Frank:
It’s not a great picture, and is a picture of a picture that I took yesterday trying to tackle some of my piles, and shows how I actually look a bit like a hawk and a lot like my dad, and how my mum was incredibly good looking. But it is a picture from a day when I really made my parents proud after being such an academic screw up. I pooched high school and dropped out at 16, having taken it literally, and also went to too many schools as life worked out, and I now know that undiagnosed dyslexia caused me a lot of trouble, plus being too smart for school (I know that is super arrogant but it is just the way it was … and having worked with the schools as my kids went through I know that many discipline problems come from severe boredom). But when I went to university it was my call and I for somewhat obscure reasons did exceptionally well, graduating with a perfect GPA and with High Distinction, one of 14 out of almost a thousand. Both my parents ended up affiliated with Victoria College at the U of T, and that is where I went, and won a bunch of awards in third year in particular. And this was taken at the reception following the ceremony. I can only imagine my parents’ relief. Sorry mum, and you are welcome.
When we went to Convocation the following year I couldn’t find my name in the programme, having no idea I had done so well. I was absolutely shocked to find myself in that tiny category. So arrogant after the fact, but completely oblivious while it was occurring. I just enjoyed my courses and couldn’t stand it when the other students didn’t respond, so I would pipe up.
I have had a lot of nicknames growing up (the one that really stuck was Root, short for Chiroot-Poot, which sad to say my brothers came up with while making names for me that rhymed with the noise a tuna farting made in the Whole Earth catalogue we had at the cottage [poot], paired with the names of engine manufacturers … in this case Chrysler) and my mum’s mum wanted me to be called Anita, as my first name is Ann, but my parents wanted Christy, and somehow my brothers as very young kids turned that combo into both Hinty and Pipey, both of which I was called for quite some time. Oddly, my best friend that I met in Grade 7 had been called Poot by her father forever, and so yes, we were Root and Poot. And I really did go through much of my teenage hood being called Root. It didn’t seem odd at the time.
Luckily they didn’t settle on Chirisum-pissum, which I still remember unfondly.
Well wouldn’t the Tuna Fart Funnies be archived on the web! I think I lived in a very odd household:
http://www.ep.tc/realist/89/06.html
And a belated good morning. Squeezing in that yoga every morning. It may not be better than sleep but since morning sleep is still elusive, it is a very good alternative. Beginning to really often feel quite a bit better. Found the floor in offspring #1’s bedroom that offspring #2 inhabited over the spring and summer and failed to actually move out of when he moved himself out. I slowly washed and folded his laundry, which then left the house in measured doses. But apparently he can live without all his books and records (yes, records) and comic books. And keyboard. That one has me mystified.
About to make spicy cheese straws for the Toronto festivities, and found an old red velvet skirt which doesn’t fall off the new skinny frame too badly … but boy do I have a cupboard full of clothes that would fit someone two sizes bigger … a better problem to have than if they would fit someone two sizes smaller, but frustrating nonetheless. Be careful what you wish for.
Have presents for Toronto kin, just need to work on presentation. Vacuumed the basement, sort of, but managed to clear the space at the bottom of the basement stairs, sort of, which is more of a triumph than you might imagine. I keep bumping into things I cannot cope with, like trophies from the twice or thrice held JMR (dad’s initials) golf tournament, that my dad won for himself, through a combination of skill, possibly erroneous counting, and a firm belief that he was always losing, until we added up the scores and he had beaten us all by literally dozens.
And braved the dentist again, weird fillings from cavities that we are convinced were caused by Lyrica, and so odd that he took photos for the record. Luckily my teeth have sort of firmed up now that I have been off that poison for what, six months or so? But I will never be quite free of the consequences. Oh well, live and learn. If we are lucky.
disregard #7. you may instead do more of #8.
http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2008/02/15/8-ways-to-return-to-the-present-moment/
Go Packers!
🙂 🙂 🙂
Having tried #7, I can heartily not recommend it. But actually the rest is very solid advice, and I have been slipping a glass of wine back into the regimen every now and then after neighbour kind of failed a stress test and the cardiologist told him to drink a glass of red wine every day. But the neurotoxicity of alcohol is often near my front of mind, that bottle in front of me being but a frontal lobotomy in waiting. And mum had holes in her frontal lobe, punched out by Scotch. So sad to say I have seen the results and it didn’t make life easier. But it did make life a lot of fun, and boy do I miss getting vaguely squiffed with mum, when she had it more in control that is.
But don’t punch my leg … I am trying very hard to love it again.
Hi Xty.!
Good Morning, Pete!
A travelling day, and a fun party to go to, in-law’s to visit that I love, and while everything is fine, I am wondering if my lovely daughter is right and that sometimes my physical symptoms are manifestations of anxiety. She was right before, is often right now, and is sure to be right in the future …
So just following the pattern, protein shake, yoga, hot shower … live in the now – the article that DP posted was remarkably relevant to the conversation Mikey initiated when he popped by yesterday … and I did offer to punch him in the leg if necessary. But instead we pretty much skipped straight to the beer phase, and while he had a beer and I a glass of wine, I managed to open a rather staggering pile of mail I have been ignoring for weeks. Only seem to have screwed up a couple of things, and of course got one credit increase by failing to make a Canadian Tire MasterCard payment on time …
just a song
Well hello folks! We had a change of plan and drove up to the cottage from the party, and golden slumbers did fill my head. A surprisingly great sleep in the chilly upper boathouse under a heavy ancient feather sleeping bag.
Beautiful sunny day. Back in a bit. Coffee is calling.
And I think I might have a strange access to edited posts, and I too miss a lot of youthful things … it is an odd feeling to slowly fill with memories ….
i remembered this band for some reason, but not their name. it took some clever research on YouTube. they made an impact in Madison during the late 80’s by performing such a high energy show that the dance floor caved in at “OK’s Corral” which was a hip venue there for new bands. yup – having some weird nostalgic feelings myself. back to happier days. i am feeling really anxious lately. i think the world has gone insane, or maybe simply to hell. as i like to say, if Jesus indeed is coming back, he’s gonna show up pissed off. bless all of you, by whomever or whatever works. be kind.
still stuck in a time warp.
à propos de chaîne de temps
i need to get back into the mosh pit. i could afford to lose a few more pounds. wonder how many teeth in a pound? i did get my nose bloodied once moshing at a punk show – the band was called the Snot Rockets. the lead singer/guitar was my roommate. the bassist lived across the street. i lived with most members of another band also. anyway the Snots covered this tune.
good morning Xty. next time could you put a little extra chia seed in the suet? thanks. 🙂 🙂 🙂
If chia is the secret, then chia it will be! Holy mackerel, that is a lot of cardinals. Almost Hitchcockian.
And good morning, one and all too!
here are some things you could try. i do not feed the birds directly since many neighbors around me take care of that. i also have way too many gray squirrels in the yard because of overfeeding by said neighbors. i do grow certain flowers to attract hummingbirds and butterflies though.
http://www.totalcomfortmedical.com/top-5-plants-to-attract-birds-and-grow-birdseed/
this too…
http://www.seedman.com/birdfood.htm
Growing cumin sounds like a good idea in general … we are a little cold but you can start it inside. Interesting tidbits.
Home safe, bacq soon.
fresh cumin is amazing. it is so worthwhile to grow. i use a coffee bean grinder to powder it if need be. and did you know turmeric is a tuber closely related to ginger. also pretty amazing fresh. we Yanks have to grow that as a houseplant though, but it is a good looking plant in its own right. so there’s two things you can grow at home and use to make a curry that will stain all your cookware yellow, and have you smelling like a Punjabi for weeks. and both cumin and turmeric are very healthy seasonings, the fresher the better.
http://www.containergardens101.com/2015/05/25/how-to-grow-turmeric-indoors/
off to work. ttyl.
Good Morning. And that’s all she wrote.