I feared a lonesome Thanksgiving this year. Various obligations required us to stay here, and everybody else to stay where they were, and so it would just be the three of us on our own — along with all my dead Catholic relatives who frowned on small families (not that many, really). We considered even going out to eat, but those options were a) limited; and b) gross. So I bought a turkey breast, planned a tiny little feast, and waited for it to arrive.
And we had a pretty much perfect holiday. It was helped along by the weather, which was in the high 50s under blue skies. With the whole day to kill — the first rule of Nance’s Thanksgiving is that the food is served at the dinner hour, not at midday — we threw the bikes into the cars and headed for Belle Isle.
(Kate loves her leather jacket, yes.)
This wasn’t exercise as atonement for gluttony, but just a lazy lap of the island, with many stops for photography and sightseeing. Do you ever think we’ll build public works in this country with lovely designs details again? This is the lighthouse at the northeast end:
The teenager is into photographing graffiti these days, so of course we had to stop at the abandoned zoo…
…before winding up close to where we began, at the Scott Fountain.
You might see it bubbling away when the Pistons’ season extends past the freezing season. The networks have it in their beauty-shot bumper file; the fact the team plays about 40 miles away doesn’t seem to bother anyone.
And then it was home to watch the Lions lose and make all the chow. We ended the evening watching “Almost Famous” en famille. And if that isn’t a great holiday, I don’t know what is.
The warm feelings must have lasted, because at 9:30 a.m. Friday I found myself doing something I haven’t done in years, maybe decades — setting out to shop on Black Friday. No door-busting — I’m not insane — but just a stroll around the mall to sniff the air and see what the nation’s mall-based retailers thought worthy of my attention. Parking was a breeze. The place wasn’t even that crowded, although if you were fool enough to go into one of those 50%-off-everything-before-noon stores, you could find yourself waiting in line 40 minutes to try on a sweater.
What did I find? That malls are about as useful to me on Black Friday as they are the other 364 days of the year. But I did enjoy reading the windows, seeing if Bebe is still selling the Russian-prostitute look (yes), whether Macy’s is still inferior to all the stores it gobbled (yes), whether you can still find the horse picture (yes). The horse picture, you ask? Look around any fashion-marketing campaign, and sooner or later you’ll see a picture of a model in an elaborate evening gown, posing with a horse. I’ve never understood this picture; what is it saying? Someone call for a horse? or I told the stableboy I wanted to go riding in the morning, and what happens? I dress for dinner and there’s a knock on the damn door. or Would you walk this beast back to the barn? The path is muddy and these are $700 shoes.
When I owned a horse, I learned that wearing a white T-shirt to the barn directly increased the chance he would sneeze on me. An evening gown probably would have provoked a fecal explosion.
And now the week begins anew. I’m writing this on my birthday (Sunday) and I accept all your tributes, those already offered and the ones you forgot. Not you — the other guy.
So, bloggage?
I’ve been quiet on the subject of Black Friday doorbuster madness, ever since reading Hank Stuever’s “Tinsel” and realizing how many people shop BF sales because they have more people on their lists than their budget will accommodate. Now, we can take apart the whole idea of over-shopping, but for now, I choose to simply abstain from getting all hot and bothered over it. Still, when someone posted the worst of the BF Walmart mosh pit videos scored with heavy metal, I gotta tell ya — I laffed.
My insomnia had me up at an insane hour Sunday, and I think I read the whole internet, from Kim Kardashian’s butt to this George Will column. I haven’t bothered to see what this braying ass has to say about anything in quite a while, so I’m not sure what I expected, but I guess I wasn’t surprised:
In any case, the crisis of Hostess Brands Inc., the maker of Twinkies, involves two potent lessons.
First, market forces will have their way. Second, never underestimate baby-boomer nostalgia, which is acute narcissism. The Twinkies melodrama has the boomers thinking — as usual, about themselves: If an 82-year-old brand can die, so can we. Is that even legal?
Oh, very droll. That, right-chere, is what you call SPARKLE.
Finally, I’m sorry to say that Angel, the rescue pup referenced in the Thanksgiving post, didn’t make it, and died that very day. Andi, however, continues to thrive. I know a few of you kicked her some money, so you should know her ribs are disappearing, and it looks like she had a very good Thanksgiving indeed:
Let’s lurch on into the holidays together — I hope the mellowness of the weekend continues all the way through.
Sherri said on November 26, 2012 at 1:29 am
It’s still Sunday here, so – Happy Birthday!
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Jolene said on November 26, 2012 at 1:47 am
It’s no longer Sunday here, but, as a chronic procrastinator, I’ll say happy birthday and thanks for the good times.
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Dexter said on November 26, 2012 at 3:54 am
It looks like you pretty much had Belle Isle all to yourselves.
Back in my youthful early thirties, a carload of my friends went to Detroit to visit my friend’s cousin. His cousin looked a lot like Alice Cooper and sort of dressed like him too. He knew all the hot rock and roll spots and we had a blast, and I gave him the keys to my giant Chrysler car and he took us on a Detroit tour, just gawking at a couple auto plants and some sights to see around town, and the next day we went to Belle Isle. I remember the deplorable condition of Scott Fountain. Cousin Ted told us the story how Warner Brothers movie studio spent …what the hell was it? $100,000? …to renovate the fountain just for a scene in the ultimate “buddy movie”, “Scarecrow”. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004GF2MM4/ref=atv_feed_catalog?tag=imdb-amazonvideo-20
Just about eight years later and the fountain was trashed again. It seems to go in cycles like that. I am glad it’s even still there.
I had a jolt today, as I loaded up the dogs for our daily morning walk in one of the parks here, and just a mile and a half from home my Chevy Blazer just quit running. I think it is dead. I had it towed to a garage and will get the verdict by Wednesday. Oh well, I still have the ancient Pontiac van and Carla Lee has her little Ford wagon. And I have all those bicycles, there’s that. 🙂
Have any of you even heard of a $425,000,000 lotto jackpot? I haven’t. Just two bucks for a Powerball ticket could win it for YOU! Wha’? Don’t be a prude, join the fantasy party. I would, firstly, buy a brand new ….
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Deborah said on November 26, 2012 at 6:00 am
Happy Birthday Nancy, naturally I’m a day late and a dollar short. What Jolene said, thanks for all you do.
I’ve started noticing the background when I look at all the cat and dog pictures on the internet. You get a glimpse at how people live in their everyday lives. Fascinating.
I’ll have to buy a lottery ticket, you can’t win if you don’t buy at least one.
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ROGirl said on November 26, 2012 at 6:34 am
Happy Birthday, Nancy. A day late, but it still counts.
Ralph Lauren loves to pose models in black velvet dresses and veiled top hats draped across horses in front of manor houses resembling Downton Abbey. It must be his Bronx heritage that draws him to those images, and it sells a lot of shmattes.
I’m up for a lottery ticket.
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David C. said on November 26, 2012 at 6:41 am
I took a bike ride on Thanksgiving too. It was a 10-miler from my home to Asylum Point on Lake Winnebago. I think it’s my third “this will probably be my last ride this season”. Damned if it isn’t supposed to get up into the upper 40s again on Saturday and Sunday. So maybe I’ll have a fourth and fifth last bike ride this season.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 26, 2012 at 6:53 am
I keep wondering, in between the “it’s the unions!” and “it’s the managment!” blame-casting about Twinkies’ demise — how much of this is also because Americans are eating fewer of them? Maybe I missed reading the right story, but it seems to me that the overall trend to eating a little less unhealthily, and a little more constructively, probably puts at the very least a small steady pressure against creme-filled spongy snack items.
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Suzanne said on November 26, 2012 at 7:11 am
Happy Birthday.
Loved the “if Twinkies can die, so can I” line. Yep, I can imagine people I know saying that. I hope healthier eating did them in, I can only hope…
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Kristen said on November 26, 2012 at 7:13 am
The Angel story and accompanying pictures/videos were heartbreaking. A valiant effort by the vet team to save her (never knew a procedure called “trickle feeding” existed). Why would anyone allow dogs to starve to death? What possible explanation exists? I thought when I first saw the story that they were unwanted pups born to a stray, perhaps, but apparently they were healthy, well fed pups until the owners slowly starved them. Inexplicable.
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Linda said on November 26, 2012 at 7:29 am
JTMMO:
Yes, the Hostess brands have been losing market shares for years, but never upgraded or changed their product.
Re: Belle Isle. My dad’s company softball team played there for years, and my brother once got his head stuck in the turnstiles at the (now) closed zoo. Everybody on the east side learned to drive there back in the day, because the top speed is like 20 mph. In college, a friend and I took pics there, one with her sitting lasciviously on James Scott’s lap. Hell, he was a large-living guy in life, and would probably have been amused by it.
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David C. said on November 26, 2012 at 7:47 am
Hostess lives in Canada. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-11-19/twinkies-wonder-bread-carry-on-in-canada-post-hostess
Made by unionized workers, no less. I guess Canadian business people are better at making and selling product and American vulture capitalists are better at sealing everything not nailed down for themselves.
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brian stouder said on November 26, 2012 at 7:53 am
Do you ever think we’ll build public works in this country with lovely designs details again?
I hope so.
The latest genration is good at building memorials; a public edifice that kindles the same sort of vision going forward is something we used to be good at…and maybe still are.
Fort Wayne built a lovely park/minor league baseball stadium/urban development project, which looks to be here long after our generation is gone
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coozledad said on November 26, 2012 at 8:08 am
Happy Birthday, Nancy.
Here’s an excerpt from Todd Akin’s book,”Your Pee-tah-tah and You: or How I Fucking Blew It.” Regnery Press, 2012. 40 pp. Ill.
Chapter Four, verse three. The man In the collapsible life raft thingy
And lo, the Lord in his wisdom, placed Cletus at the head of the boat, a boat of such technological marvels as was unseen until the time of the REI catalog. He commanded Cletus to row the little boat through times of happy and sad, and to take care the boat was not stove by the likes of clumsy Lumberjack Bobby, who would try and get in the boat without even giving Cletus so much as a shoulder massage…
Lumberjack Bobby, thou wilt stay seated upon the gunwales until the Lord has commanded Cletus to let thee enter, or the keel hath been ruptured by gymnastics or Bible College…
Seriously. Mr. “Intelligent Secretions” is writing a book. (I lost the link.)
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alex said on November 26, 2012 at 8:20 am
Happy belated birthday, Nance!
Jeff @ 7, I don’t know that Twinkies’ demise can be attributed to people eating better. I wish it were so, but I suspect that the family food budget is getting spread out over an even fatter selection of non-nutritious packaged goods than existed five years ago, let alone eighty. I also see more four-hundred-pounders riding around the grocery store on scooters than ever before.
I’m not the least bit concerned about Twinkies. It’s a valuable brand and someone is going to continue making them even if Hostess is toast. By the way, here’s a cute feature about an an acquaintance of mine who found an innovative way to introduce youngsters to Twinkies. You may be surprised, perhaps even heartened, to learn that the uninitiated regard them with suspicion:
Rizzo said he showed up at the Maker Faire at Headwaters Park last month and started blasting away with Twinkies, only to have kids bring the snacks back to him and ask what they were. They had never seen a Twinkie before.
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beb said on November 26, 2012 at 8:22 am
Well yes, Hostess was losing sales, about 2% per year I understand over the last decade. But that kind of thing doesn’t cause a company to run up nearly billion dollars in debt. And the unions had already made significant concessions in their 2008 (or so) contract and were being asked to make more concessions this time such that in just over three years wages would have dropped 50%. But even if the bakers worked for free it’s doubtful the company could have made enough profit to keep up with the interest payments on their debts. And even though the CEO doubled or tripled his salary to over $2 million a year that still doesn’t run up a billion dollars in debt. What killed Hostess were the private equity firms that bought up the company and sought to extract as much liquidity from the company as they could.
George Will to the contrary, I doubt that most people eating Twinkies do so out of some nostalgia. They eat them because they like that gooey, sugary taste. George Will may be facing death in the near future, most of the fans of twinkies not so much.
One of the fun-facts about Scott Fountain on Belle Isle is that the statue of Scott faces away from Detroit. He wasn’t much of a benefactor to the city; he just wanted a fountain in his name so by intent or chance his back is towards the city.
The thing about architectural design is that in anything built before the 1930s (or so) there were lots of design flourishes in even the most ordinary shop or store.
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Kim said on November 26, 2012 at 8:26 am
Many happy returns, Nancy!
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nancy said on November 26, 2012 at 8:29 am
I should correct myself: The lighthouse is not, technically, a public-works structure. It was erected with private funds as a memorial to William Livingstone.
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MarkH said on November 26, 2012 at 8:36 am
What’s it cost to go to Auburn these days? Whatever it is, it just went up. They just fired their head football coach and he walks with a $7.5 million buyout. Thanks for the national title two years ago, Gene. Sorry that our memories are so short. And people wonder what contributes to skyrocketing college tuition.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/ncaa/11/25/gene-chizik-fired-auburn.ap/index.html#?eref=sihp
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Julie Robinson said on November 26, 2012 at 8:41 am
Happy belated birthday!
We had three for Thanksgiving also, and I can tell you that the problem with a turkey breast is: not enough leftovers.
No shopping here but we saw Lincoln on Saturday. It must be the hot movie for our set, because the first theater was sold out, and I heard from two friends who had the same experience. I was willing to be sucked in and manipulated by all of Spielberg’s patented storytelling, and I was. I found it splendid.
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BigHank53 said on November 26, 2012 at 9:24 am
My personal favorite large-animals-with-models photo was an advertising poster for Columbia sportswear, which had two fresh-faced young ladies clad in Columbia’s products strolling down a trail…with a cougar. The cougar was so full of tranquilizers that it could barely stand up. If you’ve ever picked up a cat from the vet while the anesthesia is still wearing off, it’s an unmistakable look. The poor thing was crosseyed.
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brian stouder said on November 26, 2012 at 9:38 am
. Julie, Pam and I almost ventured out yesterday evening for the Lincoln movie, but we were out of gas. My hope is that they treat Mary fairly, and if I recall correctly, Doris Kearns Goodwin did indeed illuminate the cultural clash between a western Kentucky woman like her, and the Virginia-style women and men of DC society. (It sticks in my mind that they started right out not liking how she highlighted her breasts/décolletage, and then it was downhill [so to speak] after that)
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Bitter Scribe said on November 26, 2012 at 10:04 am
Oh, George F. Will doesn’t like unions. Big surprise. In the “why not do THIS if you did THAT?” fashion that passes for logic with these guys, he sneers that Hostess should have (or should not have) been bailed out along with GM:
[GM] was a health-care provider unsuccessfully trying to sell cars fast enough to generate enough revenue to pay health benefits for its employees and approximately twice as many retirees.
As the son of one of those retirees, I’d like to see how many minutes Will would last on the welding line that my father worked on every day for 20 years. Dweeb.
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Dorothy said on November 26, 2012 at 10:08 am
We dropped $20 on some Powerball tickets in Virginia Beach on Saturday. Before I even had a chance to check them I heard there was no winner. And I noticed that we didn’t have a “34” as the Powerball number so we have yet to go back and see if we might have won $5 or $2. Whatever…we’ll probably buy $5 worth for the next drawing.
We saw the new James Bond movie in Virginia and I really liked it. This coming Saturday I’m going to try my best to see “The Sessions.” I’m thinking it would be really fab if Lincoln might be shown on the plane when we go to Vegas the day after Christmas (for our son’s wedding). Does anyone know if there is a way to find out ahead of time what movies Southwest has in the queue for future flights?
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brian stouder said on November 26, 2012 at 10:50 am
Dorothy – Grant loved the Bond movie, which he and his cousin caught this weekend.
Aside from that, there’s this.
Next time you hear someone talking about “job killing regulation” from OSHA or wherever, think of this happening, in 2012:
http://www.chem.info/News/2012/11/Safety-Garment-Factory-Fire-Kills-112/?et_cid=2963913&et_rid=44004269&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.chem.info%2fNews%2f2012%2f11%2fSafety-Garment-Factory-Fire-Kills-112%2f
The (killer) lead:
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — The fire alarm: Waved off by managers. An exit door: Locked. The fire extinguishers: Not working and apparently “meant just to impress” inspectors and customers. That is the picture survivors paint of the garment-factory fire Saturday that killed 112 people who were trapped inside or jumped to their deaths in desperation. For Bangladesh, where such factories commonly ignore safety as they rush to produce for retailers around the world, the tragedy was unusual only in scope: More than 200 people have died in garment-factory fires in the country since 2006.
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nancy said on November 26, 2012 at 10:54 am
I saw that Bangladesh story this morning, and immediately thought of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire. There’s a book out now about “the high cost of fast fashion,” and this certainly seems to fit.
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Heather said on November 26, 2012 at 11:04 am
Happy belated birthday to Nancy!
I love fashion editorials and advertising–it’s not supposed to be reality. However, the whole RL/lord and lady of the manor theme is pretty old and unoriginal. I do remember being bothered by a J.Crew layout that featured ornate necklaces with bathing suits. All I could think of was the rash I’d get from wearing metal in swimsuit weather.
A long, relaxing and food-filled weekend (three turkey dinners!) was capped by a call last night from my boyfriend that his car had been stolen as he’d been out having a few drinks with friends–in a pretty nice neighborhood, which was ironic since he lives in an extremely bad one. So much for going to bed early. Luckily the police found it in an alley just a few blocks away a couple hours later. The stereo and some tools were gone, but otherwise it was no worse for wear. Something else to be thankful for.
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MichaelG said on November 26, 2012 at 11:13 am
Movies on Southwest? That’s a good one. You can ask for a second bag of peanuts though. Seriously, I would recommend bringing a sandwich and some chips. They’ll sell you a beer to wash it down. I’ve flown WN from Virginia to Vegas and a sandwich is a nice thing to have along and it’s perfectly acceptable to the cabin crew for you to bring one.
MarkH, Cal fired Jeff Tedford the other day leaving him with a $6 Mil payout. Word was that the money was raised from alums who wanted him gone. I would suspect something similar at Auburn. Tedford was the highest paid employee in the State of CA at something like $2.8 Mil per. That’s just the cash. I should get so fired.
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Prospero said on November 26, 2012 at 11:16 am
George Will thinks baby-boomer nostalgia is acute narcissism. Ahem. I believe “greatest generation” is so far a more acute form of narcissism, it qualifies as genuine hubris. It ends up with crepuscular columnists performing such heinous, puerile acts as stealing debate prep books. It condones trashing the US economy by waging unfunded and illegal blitzkrieg invasions and occupations, while cutting their own taxes on unearned income and claiming they did it with their own bootstraps, and making welfare accomodations for Big Pharma, and frack the casualties. It also leads G. Will to latch onto the GG, even though he was born in 1941, and so is closer to BB than GG. Of course the faux-aristocrat twat also claims to know everything about baseball because Tony La Russa is a politically conservative nitwit that hangs with George.
Happy birthday Nancy. I’m halfway through Cloud Atlas based on your opinion of it. Great steer. It reminds me of two favorites, End of the World News (Anthony Burgess) in form, and The Sotweed Factor (John Barth) in language and Rabelaisian plotting. Feels like fragments of histories of real people.
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MichaelG said on November 26, 2012 at 11:18 am
Happy Birthday, Nancy!
I had a girl friend once who had a bikini with a brass ring joining the bra cups in the middle of her chest. We went I don’t remember where and the sun heated that ring to such a degree that she ended up with a horrible circular burn from it. I would recommend not having any metal parts on a bathing suit.
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Charlotte said on November 26, 2012 at 11:23 am
Happy Birthday Nancy — as a writer and a Saggitarian, you’d fit right in here in Livingston where we began the birthday-march-of-parties on Friday night. If you’re a leftie, that’s the hat trick — never lived anyplace where there are so many lefties.
Saw no movies but did meet a woman who worked on the costumes for Lincoln (at the aforementioned birthday party) — her husband mixed the sound. She said she hasn’t seen it yet but would give me a call when she’s driving “over the hill” to Bozeman — that should be fun. I love seeing movies with people who worked on them …
Quiet holiday here — 1500 new words and revisions on 5000 this weekend, so that was good.
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LAMary said on November 26, 2012 at 11:32 am
A very late happy birthday. Our Thanksgiving went very well. The stuffing with madeira soaked figs was a big hit and the cranberry pear orange ginger chutney was excellent. The labor intensive pie using Martha Stewart’s recipe (that is redundant) was gone by bedtime, and it was a big pie.
Martha Stewart and Ralph Lauren are selling the same old money image, but neither are anything close to old money. It’s been a successful theme for both of them.
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Scout said on November 26, 2012 at 11:34 am
Our four day ended with Skyfall last evening. Pretty good, we thought. Dorothy, we saw Sessions with a pass we received from our local NPR station. We like that one too. Waiting until Lincoln is no longer a “new release” so our Harkins movie passes get us in for an evening showing.
I have decided that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s all about the food (like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens – these are a few of my… ). It’s a four day weekend, no gifts, no religion, no big let down after it’s over.
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Prospero said on November 26, 2012 at 11:53 am
MarkH: Auburn fired Chizik because it’s clear he and Trooper will never be able to get away with bailing out and renting Cam Newton again. And the alums certainly picked up the tab. For some reason, that’s OK with the NCAA. Oh yeah, it doesn’t screw over a college kid.
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Connie said on November 26, 2012 at 11:53 am
Dorothy, I bought a Powerball 7$ winner while passing through Ohio last spring. Turns out you can only cash out Powerball in the state in which it was purchased. If you get the big winner I’ll be happy to join on your trip to Virginia to claim your winnings.
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Judybusy said on November 26, 2012 at 11:57 am
Happiest belated birthday, Nancy!
Our gathering for Thanksgiving was small, too, just four of us, but I made the meal with lots of vegetable sides. I’d planned ahead and made salsa verde for turkey enchiladas; we had that last night. I’m thinking some sort of pot pie for the rest of the leftover, including even the stuffing.
I mentioned on Wednesday that our cat Rachel, wasn’t doing well, and sadly, that’s continued. We’ll be bringing her in later today to put her to sleep–she’s not going to improve, and I won’t have her suffer any longer. I’ll miss her cuddling with me at night the most. I’ve fallen asleep to the sound of her purring for seventeen years.
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Dorothy said on November 26, 2012 at 12:03 pm
I came to that same conclusion about 5 or 6 years ago, too, Scout – that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I am not a Black Friday shopper so that morning we picked up my sister in Moyock, NC and headed to Kill Devil Hills at the Outer Banks. We had a delicious meal at the Kill Devil Grill (my daughter’s favorite food destination), and then we flew our kites at Jockey’s Ridge state park where the the sky and sand seemed to be endless. The only way the weekend could have improved would have been if our son and his fiance were with us.
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Dorothy said on November 26, 2012 at 12:07 pm
That sounds lovely, Connie, but if we have a winner among our twenty sets of numbers, I’ll probably just give it to my daughter to cash in!
Oh Judybusy, I’m so sorry to hear about Rachel. Our Lucy is not a cuddler, but she sure showed her appreciation for us when we got home yesterday afternoon. I wasn’t too crazy about her visit(s) at 4:01 AM, 4:20 AM and 5:07 this morning, though. She is our first-ever cat and we are still adjusting to her quirky behavior after three years.
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Sherri said on November 26, 2012 at 12:12 pm
The $7.5 million is just the buyout of Chizik’s contract; the total buyout of Chizik and his fired assistants is a little north of $11 million.
The boosters are picking up the tab, sure, but that’s money they aren’t spending on the athletic department as a whole, which increases the likelihood that the athletic department “borrows” money from the general fund of the university, or that while tuition isn’t raised, student fees are raised to help cover athletics. But this is Auburn, which will do anything to try and keep up with Alabama. Before they fired Tommy Tuberville and hired Chizik, they were trying to hire Bobby Petrino while Tuberville was still their coach. You remember Bobby Petrino; he’s the coach Arkansas fired before this season when he had a motorcycle wreck and tried to cover up the fact that his young mistress was in the wreck with him. The mistress that he had hired to work in the football program.
Yes, major college sports are a cesspool.
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Prospero said on November 26, 2012 at 1:02 pm
Bill O’Reilly’s Nightmare, by Ruben Bolling.
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MarkH said on November 26, 2012 at 2:31 pm
(sigh) Exactly, Sherri. Never mind the non-raised tuition and higher activity fees for a second. Couldn’t there be some equalization in the educational scholarship picture with some of this largesse? Reminds me of the obcene amount of national political campaign dollars while so many go hungry in this land.
Yes, almost forgot, Happy Birthday, Nance. We Sagittarians MUST stick together. Mine’s coming up two weeks from tomorrow. A ton of December birthdays in my sphere as well, including my wife.
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Deborah said on November 26, 2012 at 3:32 pm
I’m becoming less enamored with Thanksgiving, I’ve finally realized that I really don’t like turkey and even less the leftovers. Hard to believe I’m saying this after all the years of talking about how great it is to have the sandwiches, enchiladas, pot pies etc for days after. I’m total sick of it after 4 days.
My last day in Santa Fe for a few weeks. Taking care of errands to get things ready for our return in mid December for the Christmas holidays. In a bit we are going to stroll over to our favorite bar for a send off. Then Little Bird and I are having leftover chili (no turkey please) for dinner, a fire and our ritual popcorn with that. I will probably wakeup at the crack of dawn even though I don’t have to be at the site for the shuttle to take me to the Albuquerque airport until about 9:30.
MichaelG at #27, I had the same thought about Dorothy’s query. Movies on Southwest, good luck with that. We fly Southwest all the time to NM, it’s a bare bones operation but I’m fine with that since it keeps the fares lower. I’m not fond of the overly jokey flight attendants though, especially when they sing.
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Deborah said on November 26, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Totally not total.
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Danny said on November 26, 2012 at 3:49 pm
…We Sagittarians MUST stick together…
I didn’t know you guys were in your 70’s! Well happy birthday!
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Dorothy said on November 26, 2012 at 4:24 pm
I guess my secret is out – I don’t fly very often! Which explains my ignorance about movies on Southwest Airlines. I borrowed The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen for our long drive to Virginia and we liked what we listened to very much. (especially enjoyed the voice of actor Dylan Baker doing all the characters. I kept thinking how cool it would be to get paid to do that.) But we only got through 3 of the 8 CDs. Listening to a book in the car made us both a little sleepy so I’m going to see if I can put the book on my iPod and listen with headphones for the Vegas trip.
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jerry said on November 26, 2012 at 4:25 pm
Nancy, happy birthday for yesterday from England. I’m glad to find I share my birthday with such a distinguished blogger – and with my “adopted” grandson (complicated story) who is exactly 60 years younger than me.
I celebrated with calls from all three sons and came down by starting jury service today.
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brian stouder said on November 26, 2012 at 4:31 pm
jury service!
That bug must be going around
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Prospero said on November 26, 2012 at 4:50 pm
Something for Jerry:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpwGGJYCCJ0
The Kinks are the best of the human race, even if Ray stabs Dave with a fork. And I do feel this is a song about romanticism in real life instead of some moronic ideal of what it should be. I wonder how Ray’s idea of arthur translates to Teabanging idiocy? Are we kidding? God’s aloft the winds are raaging.
Jerry, than I, and nothing meant anything.
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Prospero said on November 26, 2012 at 5:03 pm
What say? Who’d rather read a book? I sure as shit would. Way I see this is I heard Procol play these songs before anybody xould clAIM ANYTHING, AND Gary Brooker bought me a coke. This band was almost as good as Procol Harum, but not in a million.
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LAMary said on November 26, 2012 at 6:01 pm
I flew Southwest to San Jose about a month ago and the jokes about knowing the way to San Jose got old.
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Judybusy said on November 26, 2012 at 6:47 pm
Thanks for your kind words, Dorothy. Yes, Rachel would get into a groove of 3:00 a.m. wakenings. We’d put her in the kitchen for a few nights, then she’d remember not to do it. My partner suggested I take a nap with her today, so I did that. She was was obviously very content and purred for a long time, for the first time since Saturday. (Yes, I took the day off to be with my cat.)
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Brandon said on November 26, 2012 at 6:48 pm
First, Hau`oli la hanau, Nancy.
The “acute narcissism” of baby boomers and liberals is one of George Will’s most reliable tropes. He was born in 1941, part of the “Silent Generation,” and the baby boom generation’s sheer size has exerted great influence on the culture.
One column I read called for the union to buy Hostess. An employee-owned company is a great idea.
Why you called Twinkies “Bleh!” in a recent post I don’t know. Is it the taste or the texture?
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MichaelG said on November 26, 2012 at 7:04 pm
I’m sorry to hear about your cat, Judybusy. Their relatively short life span is the downside to having pets.
Deborah and Mary, I agree about the jokester flight attendants on WN. Sometimes I just want to scream “Enough Already”. But most folks seem to enjoy it so I guess I don’t mind too much. I’ve go my timing down so well on Ontario trips that I Z out when we hit 10,000 feet and the chime goes off so I can recline my seat and wake up just in time to see the Fontana Speedway going past out the window.
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Minnie said on November 26, 2012 at 7:06 pm
Judybusy, I’m so sorry. Just keep in your mind that Rachel has had a long and satisfying life with you. We should all be so lucky as to have a caring companion to see us through to a loving end. Most folks here know what it’s like to have to make that tough decision for a pet or can imagine how hard it is, so you’re in sympathetic company. Now please take care of yourself.
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Deborah said on November 26, 2012 at 7:10 pm
Judy Busy, so sorry about your cat. Our remaining cat, aged 15 is not in the best of health either, but who knows she could hopefully have another few years. Your Rachel has had a good run if she’s 17. Sounds like you have given her a great life, what more could she want? Peace to you as you go through the final hours with her.
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Prospero said on November 26, 2012 at 9:33 pm
Sherri, Murray is a better football player than Manziell, and I say that from years of actually playing football. UGA plays way better D than A&M. A moron could see that. It’s entirely possible WGA cold beat Bama. The assumed wisdom about UGA not playing la creme,, that is ridiculous. They play the best cheap shot blockers two weeks in a row, and beat they sorry asses. Now they are let loose on actual football players. The NFL is about to outlaw that chop block shit. If you’d e’er played, you would know how that chopblock bullshit is crap. Not remotely actual football.
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Deborah said on November 26, 2012 at 9:59 pm
Dorothy, don’t feel bad about not knowing how lame SWA is, many other airlines have movies as a general rule. SWA has always been cheap as long as I can remember. If you don’t fly on SWA much how would you know. It just so happens that we fly it a lot because of convenient flights to NM.
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Prospero said on November 26, 2012 at 11:15 pm
It’s possible that Bama might beat UGA, but it is unlikely that will happen because they are better football players. At every position, UGA is cleatly better. QB? No doubt. RB? Not close. OLine? Not remotely close.DL?? not close? LBs? A joke. DBs? not in a million.
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Sherri said on November 26, 2012 at 11:23 pm
Prospero, I’m not your enemy here. I hope your Dawgs do win, and that they go on to beat the Golden Domers.
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Brandon said on November 26, 2012 at 11:38 pm
George Will never reminded me of a donkey, but in appearance and personality, maybe a secretary bird.
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MichaelG said on November 26, 2012 at 11:50 pm
Dorothy, Deborah,
Sorry to seem so cavalier about WN which is the two place industry identifier for Southwest. I fly them 30 to 40 times a year and can get pretty blasé about it. I actually like the airline. They deliver exactly what they advertise: reasonably priced travel without frills or hidden costs. In my experience they are very reliable and very good at meeting their schedules. Their frequent flier program is simple and honest and I’ve flown myself and my family all over the place for nothing.
The flight attendants are generally very friendly although they really don’t have all that much to do since there are no meals. Really, it is perfectly OK to bring food on board whether it’s something you purchased at the airport, at a deli on the way to the airport or something you prepared at home. I’m talking sandwich. Be reasonable here. I encourage you to bring something since you will probably get hungry and since it gives you something to do. The other people will envy you. Drinks must be purchased inside the security line or on board the aircraft. I always have a fist full of drink coupons so that’s never a consideration for me. Soft drinks, coffee and water are available for no charge.
WN has open seating. So what you want to do is to jump on line 24 hours and one minute before your flight and prepare to check in. Pounce at exactly 24 hours. If you do this you should end up with a boarding pass in the high A 20’s. This will let you pretty much pick out your seat. If you can’t print your boarding pass right then, that’s OK. Just check in again when you can access a printer or at a machine or the counter when you get to the airport. You will have already reserved your boarding number. There is an app that lets you do it on your phone.
So that’s it. You will arrive at the airport secure in the knowledge that you have a decent seat waiting for you and lunch waiting in your bag. Leave yourself an extra hour for clearing security and you will find that there is virtually no wait and you can spend time reading your book while waiting for your flight. Leave it to the last minute and there will be a long line at security and your heart will beat fast and your stomach will knot up and your experience will be a miserable one. Happy traveling.
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Brandon said on November 27, 2012 at 12:19 am
@Coozledad: Might this be the link?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/26/todd-akin-book_n_2193640.html
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LAMary said on November 27, 2012 at 1:00 am
I don’t fly often but I agree that Southwest is a perfectly serviceable airline. My tickets were pretty cheap and the seating was no big deal. I got two packages of pretzels on the way home. All things considered my one day back and forth to San Jose was ridiculously easy. Light rail to the airport bus, airport bus to the plane. Reverse the process to get home. I recommend the Flyaway bus from LAX to anyone who is open to not driving. It was comfy and fast. The only funky part was they do not take cash. I had no problem with that but some people did.
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Prospero said on November 27, 2012 at 1:49 am
Sherri, I know. But it is us against the world. and in a world of college football where the vest is a hero, I’m invested in somebody that is as excellent a human being as Mark Richt. Tony Dungy says Aaron Murray is a 1st round pick, and the kid is taller than Bries. And this Johnny Football all sounds like Voodoo at QB when Saracen is better. I flew SW once a long time ago, for a campus visit to Stanford. The English Department seemed like WalMart, and Holy Cross seemed like Hrothgar’s Hall. Southwest back then was in it’s French Maid days, and a lot of fun. I only fly to Boston these days, and the harbor shuttle is de rigeur, right to dockside at the Marriott, two blocks from the Black Rose. Beautiful building, fine hotel, best American city.
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Prospero said on November 27, 2012 at 8:17 am
Save the Waltons:
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/11/25/worlds-richest-family-takes-180-million-more-from-americans/
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