Ten Wines For The Thanksgiving Table Forbes Take a look at an interesting article we found.
The must-have Thanksgiving accessory Los Angeles Times Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Join other families for a pre-Thanksgiving walk Boston Globe Take a look at an interesting article we found.
"On the Origin of Species" turns 150 years old soon. It's helpful to know what it does and doesn't say about our world.
 by nachista |
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 by Holly |
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 by J. Peterman |
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November 27, 2008
We all have a lot on our plate today. (Hope I helped set the table for you with Tuesday's post.) So I'm not going to ladle on any extra facts to digest, like the Congressional Joint Resolution, in 1941, setting the fourth Thursday of November as a national holiday for Thanksgiving.
Instead, I'll just leave this post to some folks who have given this holiday some thought.
There is one day when all we Americans who are not self-made go back to the old home to eat saleratus biscuits and marvel how much nearer to the porch the old pump looks than it used to. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American. O' Henry (Saleratus is baking soda and just plain soda biscuits are the best.)
Thanksgiving is a typically American holiday...The lavish meal is a symbol of the fact that abundant consumption is the result and reward of production.
- Ayn Rand (Ever the sentimentalist.)
Turkey: A large bird whose flesh, when eaten on certain religious anniversaries has the peculiar property of attesting piety and gratitude. Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.
It has been an unchallengeable American doctrine that cranberry sauce, a pink goo with overtones of sugared tomatoes, is a delectable necessity of the Thanksgiving board and that turkey is uneatable without it. Alistair Cooke (The English never understood us.)
On Thanksgiving Day, all over America, families sit down to dinner at the same moment - halftime. Author Unknown (You can't argue with anonymous.)
On Thanksgiving Day we acknowledge our dependence. William Jennings Bryan (And noted eater.)
Thanksgiving is America's national chow-down feast, the one occasion each year when gluttony becomes a patriotic duty. Michael Dresser (I'm willing to do my part.)
I love Thanksgiving turkey. It's the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts. Arnold Schwarzenegger (Presumably talking about the hormone free variety.)
Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then discover once a year is way too often. Johnny Carson
And, just maybe the great American songwriter said it best.
Got no checkbooks, got no banks. Still I'd like to express my thanks - I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night. Irving Berlin
I've had some fun with Thanksgiving this week, but to me, it's the best of all holidays. What could not be great about a day where you have a license to eat as much as you like, catch up with friends and family, make any excuse to toast the day with some good old American bourbon and watch a little football.
If you’re up to it, jot down a few quick thoughts about what you’re thankful for this holiday. Then go baste the turkey. You don’t want it to dry out.
Share the Eye:
Macy's Day Parade - The Most Famous Thanksgiving Day Parade associatedcontent.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
The First Thanksgiving history.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
O'Henry kirjasto.sci.fi Take a look at an interesting article we found.
still thinking about today...
What's the best part of Thanksgiving
25% 13% 6% 0% 44% 13%
I am thankful for the people who have welcomed me, everyone who has taught me, everyone who has learned from me, and the opportunities I have had in life.
belleball said...
I am thankful for my wonderful family - not just those who are related by birth or marriage, but those I have also chosen to call family -
and I am most thankful for Mr. Peterman for extending the opportunity to be a part of such a brilliant, well read and witty group of people from all over - whom I might never have met otherwise, but from whom I learn so much every day. And I wish them well, and I wish them enough and I wish them strawberries and cream whenever.
To paraphrase Gary Lewis and the Playboys
When I count the ones I'm thankful for, I count you
When you count the ones who count on you, count me, too.
May this day be a celebration of all your blessings.
rock on wit your bad self.
1950
It had snowed a lot the night before Thanksgiving and had not stopped when my three brothers bundled me into a big job sled along with a couple of routes worth of Shop-o-grams, the free press publication that went out on Thursday- regardless .
We were out in the quiet dark and I don't really know whose idea it was that I be taken along but it was probably Corky's or it wouldn't have happened.
It was a heavy load to drag through deep snow made no easier by me and it was interesting to see how hard and fast they worked together getting each paper on the top step.
They were quiet going about their business except when they came back to load up their arms with papers, brush the snow off me and ask if I were cold or how I was doing? Maybe I had been sick or something.
The big highlight came when my oldest brother "went deep" and I got to lob him one. He did his own sports cast: "Number 87 has broken free down the sideline, it's a perfect pass! Oh, he has beaten his man badly, he gathers it in tumbling into the end zone- TOUCHDOWN!- (crowd noise)."
We applauded a little with our big chopper mitts. It was a great morning, all four of us out having a good time. I had for the most part never even seen those guys be nice to each other let alone cooperate.
It could not, of course, ever have happened again.
Those of us remaining, grew up spread out around the country and keep in touch by e-mail and phone and I think of them often- especially on Thanksgiving or whenever I smell wet wool.
Gia said...
Apart from the personal stuff ,I am thankful there will be a president we can be proud of...and a country that did the right thing.
Dutchman said...
I would certainly weigh in on our president to be as something the country can be thankful for. Just read an amazing stat that says 67% of the people are proud to be American again.
Today I'm thankful that I have my friends and family, and a good job, and for my health. I'm also thankful that we have elected an incoming administration that seems to actually consider the middle class and the needs of the country as a whole rather than just focusing on support for the richest. I believe that if we could eschew futility and lay aside the 'war' fixation: War on Drugs, Iraq war, Afghanistan war, and so forth, and promote projects for the immediate and distant future good of the commonweal, that true progress might be made in economy and civil benefit. I'd like to see a contraction of troops to maintain a police action in Afghanistan, a shift from persecuting minor drug offenders to a focus on big suppliers and education and rehabilitation for addicts and the susceptible, and decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana for adults. Police should be focused upon violent crime and white-collar crime rather than filling jails with those whose lives have been bereft of hope, who turn to drugs for money or some small solace. I want (most of) our soldiers home to protect and assist us rather than in foreign lands. I'd like to see the equivalent of the Manhattan Project for things that don't explode: alternative, clean, renewable energy, universal healthcare, permanent regulation of Wall Street risky business. Let them take their risks, if they wish, for profit, but also let them suffer the consequences if they fail. Privatization of profit and socialization of risk have proven disastrous. The rest of us try to be responsible with our pittances. Let the CEOs and the bond monkeys learn prudence or file bankruptcy.
Finally, I am thankful for my association with this forum, for all who make it what it is and has become, a place where we can come together to whine and fuss, suggest and explain, and make of our wide world a closer place to commune with each other.
I'm grateful for being above ground and living indoors. I'm grateful for the countless blessings that have come my way, especially family (well most of them anyway), and friends. I'm grateful for every second of each new day that presents opportunities to a better person, and I'm oh so thankful for my dear friends here at the "eye" for letting me into their thoughts and tolerating my musings. This site is like nectar to a hummingbird.
In the words of Douglas Adams, "so long and thanks for all the fish". Save room for desert.
Later gaters - -John's Peter Lake
Peace out!
Too bad we did not save the Dodo birds...Lots of breast white meat. thankful for my family and life! Thankful for my health! Thankful for being an Aspie! I am blessed. This economic challenge will for the most part have people re evaluate their thoughts and behaviors in the past decade. Lots of priviledged living with little or no history. Hopefully we will study more history! We are blessed being a society we have freedoms and right to study history so we don't make mistakes like we are today. Happy Thanksgiving.
I'm thankful I live in a country where even if I can't vote, I can still work to ensure the success of my chosen candidate. I'm also thankful that my co-workers at the campaign office were able to put up with me for that long. Finally, I'm thankful that I've been able to get out and see the world.
First Tuesday, last Thursday- evidently they are a lot more interchangeable than I had thought.
I'm thankful for my Family ~ as Challenaging as they may be to me or me to them ~ I love them just the same.
My father just made the remark that the Thanksgiving table has gotten quite a bit smaller this year, as we lsot both of my Grandmothers since last years. It was kind of a bittersweet meal (the pie was totally NOT up to the preset standards) but despite all of that it has been a very nice Thanksgiving here.
I also want to second Bellball's sentiments about the Petermans Eye Blog & all of the people who post & read it. I have learned so much, have challenaged on a daily basis.
Thank you all.
Have a safe & Happy Holiday.
I'm thankful for having a relaxed, crunchy, secular witch kind of a wife who woke up this morning and decided she'd rather can 60 pounds of apples than have me roast the 30 pound bird. No worries, said I. The turkey can wait until tomorrow, no problem. Which leaves plenty of time for movies on the couch with the kids, and maybe a nice, cold row on the lake later today, AND some time on the ergometer, AND I get to clean up the bookshelves (for which I'm thankful) and play a little extra in the Treehouse on my stinking loud guitar (also thankful). I got AC/DC's new album yesterday (yes, thanks there, too), and it has inspired me to play more.
Just think, the way most of you should be feeling right about now? Pillow on the tummy? Laying on the couch? Yup, I'll be doing that tomorrow. Which means I get one extra day of leftovers. Ha.
And now, with the day nearly over, I'm thankful for the quotidian blessings of our evening ritual - Bath, Books, & Bed. Except the Elder Wee Heathens never left their pajamas today, so no baths for them. Just a nice bath soak for the Tiniest Wee Heathen, who still wears diapers, and so she ALWAYS needs a little wash-up at the end of the day. Say no more!
Does anybody else end Thanksgiving Day with at least a partial viewing of "It's a Wonderful Life"? Maybe the "Wizard of Oz"? Two traditions of my own. I dunno where they started even, they go too far back.
Happy Black Friday to those who observe it. Happy Thanksgiving to us all, every one.
Jonathan Isles,
We always used to watch the Wizard of Oz growing up. I do believe its time to renew that tradition.
Happy Black Friday.... be careful out there as they used to say at the end of the squad meetings on Hill Street Blues.