Goines On: Thanksgoings

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Thanks to Linnea Desktop Calendars
for their November from 2011

The day after his blood was drawn for his annual physical exam the next week, Goines felt upbeat and hopeful – and thankful. As usual on the day of the draw, Goines had fixed breakfast for himself and Mrs. Goines, but he refrained from having his, because he had been advised not to eat or even drink coffee until after his blood was drawn. The draw was scheduled for 10:50 a.m., by which time he would have been fasting for almost 17 hours. He poured his coffee into a thermos and put his cereal and diced fruits in plastic containers and stored them and two 6-oz. bottles of probiotic smoothies in the refrigerator until time to leave for Chapel Hill.

Highways and Byways: A Turkey Buzzard Thanksgiving

By Maik Strosahl

Just down the road from my house, I had to pull over to get a photo of red berries in the November sunset.

Fiction: Thanksgiving(a short story)

By Pat Hamilton

Billy said, “Thanksgiving was always my favorite holiday for more than the fifty first years of my life. Of course I don’t remember my first few feasts, but in the photographs, my dad’s father and my dad’s sister were there at the table with us, grinning bigger than I ever saw them grin, along with Ma’s aunt and her husband, you know: all the old relations who died long ago had gathered round the table, smiling and hungry, all politics aside, driven actually mad by hours of aromas, the men in suits and ties, the ladies in pearls, hair fresh from the beauty shop, the air throughout the whole small house aromatic of old ladies and all their mingling perfumes.”

All Over the Place: The Christmas Tree of Thanksgiving

By Michael H. Brownstein

When the small boy came knocking,

the wind a blizzard of disease and frostbite,

the old couple opened their home to him,

and offered him from the little they had –

hot apple cider, a stew of potato, warmed flour.

11 Thanksgivings Ago Today: Thanksgiving what-if

I didn’t take this photo;
we didn’t have any
green beans or tomatoes

By Moristotle

[Originally published on Nov. 27, 2009.]

All day yesterday, even as I was enjoying our company for Thanksgiving, enjoying the bright afternoon (after a foggy morning), enjoying the turkey, the candied sweet potatoes, the Brussels sprouts and carrots, the fruit salad, the stuffing, the cranberry sauce, the Vouvray, and the whipped-cream-topped pumpkin pie, I was bothered by something just not quite right about Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Special

How our Thanksgiving goose got cooked

By Pam Palmer

[Editor’s Note: Originally published on July 20, 2013 as a Third Saturday Fiction. Sharing this wonderful story by Pam Palmer at Thanksgiving has become a tradition of Moristotle & Co., and we are grateful to Susan C. Price, in her execution of Ms. Palmer’s estate, for conveying the story to us, and for her wry stories about her friend.]

“We should have roast goose for Thanksgiving,” Martin said.
    It was 1976, and David, my husband, and I had just bought a house across the street from our long-time friends, Martin and Joan. Two weeks after we moved into the house, David left for a six-month stint on a research ship in the Antarctic. It would be my first Thanksgiving in my first house and I felt overwhelmed. Of course, I could go to my in-laws’ house but it was a long drive from Long Beach to Mission Viejo by myself. My parents were going to the desert so having dinner with them was not possible.

All Over the Place: May your days fill themselves with wonder

By Michael H. Brownstein











May your crosswalk always say brilliant at the light
May the wind at your back always be full of warmth,
May you always find a ripe apple on a tree by your home
And thick groves of dandelion greens along your bushes,
May you always find a beauty in love, a fullness of joy,
A grand bouquet of gratitude and balloons of happiness,
May you always walk with your eye on the possibility
And your thoughts on creativity and everything good,

The Loneliest Liberal:Sampling the holiday seasoning

By James Knudsen

There is no avoiding it, we are officially in “The Holiday Season.” Let’s take at look at what people are doing around the country.

In Wichita, Kansas, recently defeated gubernatorial candidate Chris Kobach, upon hearing that the lime jello salad mold had been made with “olive oil mayonnaise,” was heard grousing, “I knew I detected a definite ‘ethnic’ note.”

Six Years Ago Today: Let’s talk turkey

By Tom Lowe
(1945-2014)

[Originally published on November 22, 2012. Corrected a typo.]

Turkey Day was how I thought of Thanksgiving when I was young. The odor of the bird roasting, helping prepare the homemade dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and yams. Our family was spread out over most of the West, so the scene is just my parents and myself. It was the next day that I really waited for – turkey sandwiches, really pretty simple: bread, mayonnaise, and meat.

Six Years Ago Today: What is the cause of Heart Disease?

By Jim Rix

[Originally published on November 20, 2012.]

First let’s be clear on just what “Heart Disease” is, because some people confuse it with its consequences (heart attack, stroke, etc.) and/or its risk factors (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc.).

Thanksgiving Special

How our Thanksgiving goose got cooked

By Pam Palmer

[Editor’s Note: Originally published on July 20, 2013 as a Third Saturday Fiction. Sharing this wonderful story by Pam Palmer at Thanksgiving has become a tradition of Moristotle & Co., and we are grateful to Susan C. Price, in her execution of Ms. Palmer’s estate, for conveying the story to us, and for her wry stories about her friend.]

“We should have roast goose for Thanksgiving,” Martin said.
    It was 1976, and David, my husband, and I had just bought a house across the street from our long-time friends, Martin and Joan. Two weeks after we moved into the house, David left for a six-month stint on a research ship in the Antarctic. It would be my first Thanksgiving in my first house and I felt overwhelmed. Of course, I could go to my in-laws’ house but it was a long drive from Long Beach to Mission Viejo by myself. My parents were going to the desert so having dinner with them was not possible.

Thanksgiving Special

How our Thanksgiving goose got cooked

By Pam Palmer

[Editor’s Note: Originally published on July 20, 2013 as a Third Saturday Fiction.]

“We should have roast goose for Thanksgiving,” Martin said.
    It was 1976 and David, my husband, and I had just bought a house across the street from our long-time friends, Martin and Joan. Two weeks after we moved into the house David left for a six-month stint on a research ship in the Antarctic. It would be my first Thanksgiving in my first house and I felt overwhelmed. Of course, I could go to my in-laws’ house but it was a long drive from Long Beach to Mission Viejo by myself. My parents were going to the desert so having dinner with them was not possible.

Tuesday Voice

A Thanksgiving dream

By Bob Boldt









I hope your Thanksgiving was better than mine.

I spent the awful occasion on licensed premises,
alone with a “Tyson Frozen Turkey Parts Dinner,”
“with added tryptophan”
and “no more than 20% additional sponsored contents.”

Thanksgiving Special

How our Thanksgiving goose got cooked

By Pam Palmer

[Editor’s Note: Originally published on July 20, 2013 as a Third Saturday Fiction.]

“We should have roast goose for Thanksgiving,” Martin said.
    It was 1976 and David, my husband, and I had just bought a house across the street from our long-time friends, Martin and Joan. Two weeks after we moved into the house David left for a six-month stint on a research ship in the Antarctic. It would be my first Thanksgiving in my first house and I felt overwhelmed. Of course, I could go to my in-laws’ house but it was a long drive from Long Beach to Mission Viejo by myself. My parents were going to the desert so having dinner with them was not possible.

Thor's Day: Thanksb’giving

Sacramental

By Morris Dean

A friend told me recently that he’s looking forward to Christmas, because he so much enjoys choosing the perfect gift to put under people’s trees – something that says “thank you” to each person in a way he or she can recognize and appreciate: giving as a way of saying thanks, or saying thanks by giving.

Fourth Monday Susan Speaks

Thanksgiving family

By Susan C. Price

It happens almost every year. We are out at a nice place for dinner. We are talking, and drinking, laughing, eating. Sharing bites. It’s considered a crime to order the same thing as someone else; we want to taste it all. Basically, having a blast. The waitress grins bemusedly, leans over and says, “Hey, how do you all know each other?” We laugh, and reply...”We are stepbrothers and sisters.” People don’t believe it. Sometimes we are awed ourselves. That we have stuck together for so long, and get along so well.

Fish for Friday

Edited by Morris Dean

[Anonymous selections from recent correspondence]

You said that you and your wife were trying to decide whether to participate in a trial program from Duke Energy whereby you might be able to reduce your energy costs by lowering the amount you use during peak demand periods, but you were having trouble figuring out whether it would be to your advantage. Perhaps you need to have a clearer understanding of the difference between kilowatts and kilowatt hours: "kW and kWh Explained." Their simple explanation is easy to understand. Most basically, "kWh is a measure of energy, whilst kW is a measure of power...."

Third Saturday Fiction

How our Thanksgiving goose got cooked

By Pam Palmer

“We should have roast goose for Thanksgiving,” Martin said.
    It was 1976 and David, my husband, and I had just bought a house across the street from our long-time friends, Martin and Joan. Two weeks after we moved into the house David left for a six-month stint on a research ship in the Antarctic. It would be my first Thanksgiving in my first house and I felt overwhelmed. Of course, I could go to my in-laws’ house but it was a long drive from Long Beach to Mission Viejo by myself. My parents were going to the desert so having dinner with them was not possible.

Thankful that's over

Turkeys before slaughtering

Whew, it's over. Thanksgiving done for another year and no need to thank anyone for anything for another 365 days (there'll be a February 29 before the next Thanksgiving Day).
    And turkeys can rest easy until perhaps late summer, when the factory turkey farmers start sending them off to be "processed" and frozen for November.

Did you give thanks yesterday that you aren't a turkey? And none of your friends? Unless, of course, you happen to have befriended a turkey. They may not be as intelligent as a dog, but they aren't so dumb you couldn't befriend one, give it a name, love it.
    I'm told there's an Irish proverb, “A turkey never voted for an early Christmas.” And never for an early Thanksgiving, you can be sure.

No gata do it, no haeftu

Traditional Irish
Turnip Halloween Lantern

While fiddling around with an interesting if trivial idea for today's post—the question how the verb to have to (or have got to) came to be used to mean to be made or required to: Wikipedia's article on modal verbs suggests that have to and have got to developed in Hawaiian Creole English, in which "modality is typically indicated by the use of invariant pre-verbal auxiliaries...gata 'have got to,' haeftu 'have to,' baeta 'had better,' sapostu 'am/is/are supposed to'"—

While I was fiddling around with that, I realized that I hadn't paid enough (or any) critical attention to the reasons my friend gave who gently suggested it was because I had become a grumpy old man that I had dumped on Halloween. He had written to me:

This Halloween, I was reflecting on the fact that it's nice that our most celebrated Holidays (Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day) all revolve around giving gifts and appreciating the company of others. Rather than abstain, I think it better to put your own twist on the holiday, because God knows, they've been twisted plenty over the millennia for a million different reasons.

    I think I gave this a bye because it's so hopeful and positive-seeming, and my friend has two young daughters, on whose behalf he and his wife have to make difficult parental choices.
    But do these holidays really revolve around sweetness and light? I've already examined Halloween a bit, as well, actually, as Christmas and Thanksgiving. They don't come off well. Christmas and Thanksgiving, in particular, promote an orgy of animal slaughter.
    On Thanksgiving, people go about giving thanks—some of it, admittedly, to the animals they're about to eat, but more of it to their Heavenly Father for "providing" it. Thank you, God, for putting me atop the Great Food Chain of Being. Second only to him.
    During Christmas, people pray for peace on Earth (but not in the abattoirs) and love one another, while participating in the culture of violence toward other animals. Clement Clark Moore's poem needs updating:

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the slaughterhouse....

    And do you need reminding that the man whose birthday is associated with Christmas was put on Earth by a "loving" God, according to the pagan myth that came to ennoble it¹, in order to be cruelly tortured and executed? But we get to celebrate that on another holiday.

I think that these second thoughts on grumpiness were sparked by a recent interchange with Motomynd. We were talking about the grand-opening video shown on the Crystal Bridges website for its collection of American art. Among the images the video features are two eighteen-wheelers (like the rigs my Bentonville brother-in-law used to drive for WalMart); one sports a photograph of cooked cow on its side, and the other heralds the logo of one of the world's biggest factory animal farms.
    Motomynd commented:

Did you notice how the camera lens lingered noticeably on each of the logos on the trucks? It struck me as odd to be watching a video I assumed was in some way going to celebrate the grand opening of a wonderful new art museum, but in reality turned out to be mainly a commercial for WalMart and some of its favored vendors. Given the nature of the video, one has to wonder what is in store for visitors to the museum.

    The values embodied in the video clip seem to me to contradict art's essential role in challenging tradition, however useful the WalMart money may have been for the acquisition of Alice Walton's collection and the construction of a museum to show it to a public all too reluctant to be challenged.

I have one of those decorative calendars that comes with a frame in which, month-to-month, you switch to a new placard. The placard for this month features the image of a turkey. I display November with the same spiritual sorrow I feel when I eat "meat" because I'm served it by a host whom I choose not to offend or conflict with.
_______________

1. Another related myth is cited in a letter Thomas Paine wrote to President Thomas Jefferson on Christmas Day 1802: "I congratulate you on the birthday of the New Sun, now called Christmas-Day, and I make you a present of a thought on Louisiana.²"
   
   –Thomas Paine's Rights of Man: A Biography, by Christopher Hitchens, 2006, p. 138
2. Paine had in the preceding paragraph suggested that Jefferson, to help France out of her financial straits, purchase the Louisiana Territory, which Spain had just ceded to France. Jefferson did so the following year, for four or ten cents an acre, depending on the source.