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Friday Bargain Day Crowds, Eaton's Department Store, Toronto, Canada, 1905. Public domain photo.
Here’s what’s on my mind this week:
Thanksgiving this year fell on the 49th anniversary of JFK’s assassination. I was just 20, married only 9 months, and my husband and I spent the weekend glued to the TV in our tiny apartment, weeping. That and the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center are my only two “never forget where I was when I heard” moments.
Many of you know that I am very partial to Charles P. Pierce’s Politics blog at Esquire. Pierce’s rapier wit makes his posts enjoyable, educational, and laugh-out-loud funny, as are many of the witty comments. Pierce summarizes last week’s Petraeus brouhaha in his intro to discussing the Affordable Care Act: “The entire national-security apparatus got together and decided to produce a remake of the famous 1989 Helen Mirren vehicle, The Cook, The Thief, The Wife, Her Lover, The General, His Wife, The Other Woman, The Other Other Woman, The Other General, and The Lovesick Shirtless FBI Guy.”
However, Tom Junod’s guest post on the Esquire’s Politics blog on the David Petraeus scandal is deadly serious and very worth reading. As is Jeremy Scahill on The Petraeus Legacy: A Paramilitary CIA. Neither is at all interested in the sex aspects. Nor is Tom Tomorrow.
Meanwhile… “Move over, adulterous generals. It might be time to make way for a new sexual rat’s nest – at America’s top financial police agency, the SEC.” Taibbi is on it!
Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico: Amend the Constitution and Overturn Citizens United!
Want the employees who handle and serve your food to not be sick? Here is A Children’s Treasury of CEOs Throwing Very Grown-Up Tantrums Over Obamacare by making sure their employees aren’t covered by the ACA. You may want to think about this next time you dine out. I won’t be spending my money at these establishments. Keep in mind that not frequenting them isn’t enough. Write and tell them why you won’t be dining there. (And no, I don’t regularly read Wonkette!)
Dahlia Lithwick didn’t come back to Jerusalem to be in a war. But there she is, and writes about what it’s like to be in Israel as the conflict escalates.
So…I’m having two eggs over easy with a side of country fries (with onion and sage) and some toasted homemade bread. What’s your pleasure this morning?
82 Comments
Good morning. My tryptophan has worn off, for now. I hope everyone had a great day.
Very interesting links: thank you. And so glad for the JFK note. I mentioned the anniversary yesterday, but it went no where. Our paper had a very nice piece with “recall” esp. featured on the Kennedy humor. I was glad to see it.
Thanks, msmolly, luckily I wasn’t planning on anything much, so the nasty head cold I came down with isn’t holding me back. Have a good day.
Good Morning pups
Safe travels to all our families the rest of the weekend. I took it easy with the food yesterday, but small portions to get at least a taste of each dish was fun. My contribution was as raisin, dried apricot, walnut, whole wheat bread. Very rich and moist.
Ruth
I hope that cold does not longer. It reached a sultry 60 F yesteday and this morning there are light snow flurries, 30 knot winds and the temp is 28 F.
linger, not longer, (note to self, get coffee started)
I already had some Joy this morning:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katz4fun/8210297205/in/photostream
I was thinking when I bought it, that it could be good with some kind of liquor (my sister suggested vodka). I can’t try it since I’m teetotal these days, but it might be good for an anti-sicky feeling, Ruth. Or not, I can’t remember if that stuff made me feel better or worse, though even after I quit drinking, for a few years I would still use (10%? alcohol) Nyquil to help me sleep occasionally.
I hope you feel better soon.
Good Morning, Firepups All
I had a fairly laid back time yesterday. No flare-ups and only a few moments of eye rolling. I was asked if I remembered to bring take home containers. My youngest sister walked in with a bag of containers enough to serve an Occupy Site. Ha!
Good morning all.
It’s a frigid windy day for the family to cut our Christmas tree,
but it beats shopping!:) Colds all around here except for me.
I still have a tiny to-go container my sister loaned me a couple years ago. I had it out when she visited subsequently but she forgot it and now it’s to go-to container for leftover wet kitty food….I don’t think sister is ever getting it back!
Lookie who was outside my window 5 minutes ago:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katz4fun/8210331485/in/photostream
Now off to the Salvation Army 5 garments for 5 dollars sale!
Everypup, enjoy your day!
Gorgeous bird.
And, 5 garments for 5 dollars. That’s a sale! I buy almost all of my clothes at the thrift store. Bought a new pair of jeans for $3.98 the other day that I wore to mom’s yesterday. Whoopie. And, I colored my own hair. Oh hell, I even put on mascara yesterday. Fabulous on the cheap. :)
Ruth, I’m sorry you got attached by some Head Bug. Does turkey soup have the same medicinal affect as Chickie soup?
‘Cause I got the turkey carcass, as usual, so you know what I’ll be doing today. They offered me the leftover carrot sticks but I declined as they have the kind with absolutely no taste whatsoever.
Ruh, roh. I better sit with nonquixote and sip some coffee. Attacked.
Good morning Msmolly and pups,
I was thinking about the assassination yesterday, when I looked at the calendar. Next year it will be 50 years. I was 21, working at the Peace Corps in Washington, and had been invited to join the Presidential party at Lyndon Johnson’s ranch outside Austin (thanks to Bill Moyers, who was my boss; I was being sent out to recruit PCV’s at the U of Texas). I was just calling a taxi to the airport when the news came down. I was living just east of the Capitol with a friend from high school who was a senate page. Still remember seeing Oswald murdered live on tv before our very eyes. We got a special pass to pay our respects. The lines stretched past our house all the way back to where RFK stadium now sits.
There were two major events that changed the course of our generation. The first was JKF’s assassination, and the second was Lyndon Johnson’s speech in June or July, 1965 (I think–it might have been 1966) in which he effectively declared that we were at war in Vietnam, and that it would be a big one. I remember thinking at the time that everything we had worked for in the progressive movement was going to be fucked.
During dinner, I was told that the amount of tryptophan in turkey isn’t enough to make one sleepy. Do you know the reality of that? Myth or fact? (I could probably look it up myself, but, hey dinerzens, this diary is on the Front Page.
(well, I’m not yet off the ‘puter)
Yes, the thrift store is where I get my quality garments. I couldn’t afford silk and wool at the retail places. I bought a still-had-its-tag Chaus skirt for 69 cents to cut up, but then asked my sister in Atlanta if she’d like it if it fit. She’s visiting Mom’s and so I brought it yesterday, and it fits like a charm!!!! I haven’t started the aprons I’ve been accumulating fabric for but during Christmas break from school, I’ll be chopping up these comforter covers and curtains that cost me peanuts. (I rarely have visitors though since my apartment usually looks like a bomb hit it, when really it’s the secondhand store being very good to me).
Which reminds me: I brought a bunch of scrapbooking supplies to Mom’s yesterday to put everyone to work and we made pages for a 6 x 6 inch book of photos (and there’ll be 7 copies) I’ll distribute at Christmas. I’m hoping to get good photos of my married siblings (and kids) tomorrow since they were at their in-laws yesterday. Wish me luck…
Jimmer! Cutting down your own tree. That is so cool. I think you and I have discussed this before. Has it been a year already?
Wishing I could go with you. Although it’s a little warm here to put up a tree yet. It would lose it’s needles in one week.
is this your secret for warding off a cold?
Good Luck! Are you a teacher too? JClausen and AppleCanyon2 continue their teaching careers, substituting. Thanks to all the teachers! Yay.
((oldgold))
Do you enjoy yourself yesterday?
I try to avoid Black Friday but instead, I got up at 5am and took my car in to get the timing belt and oil changed. Didn’t wanna go, didn’t wanna spend the money and I sure as hell didn’t wanna get up at five but it’s better that than a new engine later.
BillY Tallen and the Church of Life After Shopping.
Who knew?
Peggy! The power of maintenance. Almost as important as the power of tequilla. Ha!
Did you see this story about the Texas Highway Pileup? Hope all the Texas Fire Pups stayed off the highway yesterday. Durn fog.
I am outdoors a great deal so seem to stay healthy.
This will be year 14 of cutting our tree. We have a lot of family traditions.
Yes. I had an enjoyable day with my family.
Yeah, I saw that. It’s a low lying area, just north of the Gulf of Mexico. Dense fog in not uncommon.
The mechanic is really nice, though the cost is high. They didn’t make me wait in their abysmal waiting room, watching FOX “News” though. They gave me a ride home and will come get me when it’s done. Cool, eh?
Isn’t that nice? I spent most of my time in the kitchen with my middle sister. We have it down almost to a science. It’s like a Pas de duex. (My feet were a little bit sore last night.:)
Being on the lee side of a wooded ridge with west winds gusting to 35 mph today, there are two dozen juncos, a dozen or so chickadees, three different male wood peckers, my neighborhood cardinal family, several bluejays, two ravens that know me, they lurk just out of sight when I bring fresh veggies scraps (and a few bread crusts and other treats) to the compost pile. A lot to be seen out the kitchen window.
I too recall just where I was. My mother from Dallas was visiting me in New Orleans. She had gone grocery shopping where she heard the news…Our TV was on for the next forever, including the Oswald shot.
Just few months ago, I asked a man in Austin where he was when it happened. He was in school in Austin, and as he said before there were tvs in all the rooms. He and a friend went out for a ride, and he said the Austin streets were empty. I thought that was so telling.
A lot to be seen out the kitchen window. Will that be the title of your autobiography? I was talking to my daughter about my writing and I said well, I just do it In My Deb Way, and my son said that would be the title of my autobiography.
I suspect there was so little notice of the anniversary of the JFK assassination yesterday because (1) it was Thanksgiving and Black Friday Eve and (2) the media is saving it for the 50th anniversary blowout next year–anticipated books, retrospective television shows, possibly more movies, and so on. And more permutations on the conspiracy theories (not prejudging whether data supports any of them) than the “Lincoln was John C. Calhoun’s illegitimate son” outbreak in the South during the 1950s.
I was a senior in high school (the same high school Jim DeMint graduated from a decade later) and remember very clearly the principal announcing over the loudspeak (the brown wooden one with a cloth grille) “The President has been shot.” Not much later, the principal announced, “The President is dead.” Those of us in second-year chemistry were stunned. And down the hall, cheers. A major social requirement in the South–respect for the dead–had been broken.
My family spent the weekend glued to the TV. Except for going to church on Sunday. And when we returned and turned on the TV, the shock of the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby captured live on TV. A different America indeed.
When I first heard the news on Sept 11, my thought was of the 1945 crash into the Empire State Building or the plane that crashed into the White House during the Clinton administration. Then, my wife called me and told me to turn on the TV.
And every Christmas, I remember Leonard Bernstein’s memorable concert of Beethoven’s Ninth from East Berlin, celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Hey, congrats on front page Easy Overers!
Heading out shortly to our WM action, support the workers. Also ups to the 2nd hand shoppers. I discovered when LM started to lose a lot of weight that the thrift stores had fantastic almost-new clothes. LM did not recognize any of the clothes, but she wore them and they fit. I got a beautiful never-worn flannel night gown from one of those expensive on-line shops, I forget the name of it, but that was so nice for her.
One of LM’s neighbors died last weekend, very sad for his wife and family. He was a primary caregiver for his wife, so this will be big changes for the family. It was unexpected, but he really had become so frail in the last year.
Take care folks, may stop back after our action.
On the way to work Wednesday, a car with out of state plates was parked at a neighbors property, two people messing around in the boot of the car. Thought maybe flat tire, so I slowed to inquire. They were heading in to “cut a tree to take back home with them.” Brown jackets, both, they claimed the owner had given them permission. I said that Jackson (not the land owner) was such a generous fellow and they agreed. Two rifle shots about an eighth of a mile away and I asked them if they knew it was deer hunting season. I smiled and said I don’t even go for a hike during the season without wearing orange.
I continued slowly down to the stop sign, saw them packing up and heading down the road. Ha!
I saw your mention of November 22, but I didn’t make the connection. Sorry, Bev. I remember being in the 6th grade and all of us crying, but what I really remember was the funeral. Mother had us all get dressed up like we were going to church. In the middle of the coverage, a neighbor came over to see if we could play, and I remember being stunned. I think I even yelled at her, They’re burying the President!
I had heard that there were cheers in Dallas schools also…makes me cringe. I saw some interesting blog stuff recently with more coming out about Oswald and other stuff that is still classified/unavailable even these years later.
Thank you for all your Action work, BG.
You may use it if you like, that kitchen sink window is the one that I happen to be looking out of more than the rest.
Good Morning
Not to worry…that’s a great story about your mother. Mine also had much more reaction than I would have thought. I recall pretty clearly.
Hi, Nonny. Thanks, but I think I’ll stick with In My Deb Way. :)
Good on you for sticking to little bits of everything yesterday. I think I over did it, a little. I’m not used to sitting down to a full plate. I usually like to graze all day, bit by bit.
Did you get to bring home any leftovers of other’s cooking?
The leftovers were pretty slim pickens, but I had mixed a three loaf batch of my fruit/nut bread and just now, finished baking the third loaf.
Nice. Looks like I’ll be starting the turkey soup pretty soon. And, the gingerbread loaf that James made was a big hit! No point in sharing the recipe with them. They don’t cook or bake. They order. :) But, I do love them.
A late note to Molly thanking her for putting this together ahead of time, even while she was busy traveling and playing gramma. Thanks, Moll! Nice job. Beautiful, really.
I did mention that there were seven different pies for dessert? Pumpkin, pecan, cherry, two apple, blueberry, and a pumpkin/squash. A little slice of each wasn’t exactly not over-doing it. Two different dressings, a corn pudding with hot peppers (forgot to ask for this recipe for what was my favorite dish).
late morning, everyone. Nice Thanksgiving stories. Funny about the bring-your-own containers; somewhere I read a question in an etiquette column, “Is it ok to bring your own containers for leftovers to Thanksgving Dinner?”
nonquixote, what a lovely winter picture. Love the bare branches behind the bird. Your pic and description feed my every-autumn desire to move north again. But it’s 66 degrees here…and my electric bill was the smallest of the year, being neither heating nor air-conditioning season last month.
Re: JFK death: I too, was in class; ninth grade, Algebra I. announcement over the loudspeaker. No weeping that I recall…but no cheering, either, despite being in Indiana, very Republican area. My parents, rock-ribbed R’s, didn’t cry but sure kept the tv on. They were shocked, certainly.
Oh, my. Your people do love their desert, don’t they? I didn’t even have any pie, but sissy had bought two, both pumpkin from Marie Callenders and she sent one home with me. And, the spicy corn pudding sounds like teh yum. There are numerous recipes for that online. (I just peeked.)
Hi Tejan.
If I went anywhere other than my mother’s house, I would not take containers. Ha. But, to be honest, most of it was so unflavorful, other than the turkey and potatoes, meh. I’m making a large piece of salmon for dinner tonight. :)
I kinda miss having multiple pies when my ex and I did Thanksgiving. Partly it was competition between us to make the best pie…I gave up after a couple years and let him do it.
Instead of pie, for the second year, I made pumpkin pudding…just the filling from my favorite pie recipe, no crust. And fresh whipped cream. Yummm.
Blaming the unique CIA killing machine (drone assassinations) on Petraeus is a cop-out, when it is totally Obama’s wrongful policy.
Obama’s first actions as president were to (1) stop CIA detention & torture of suspects and change it to (2) CIA assassination of suspects — and he got liberals to buy it. Amazing.
So all the stuff about ” The Petraeus Legacy: A Paramilitary CIA” is pure baloney. It’s White House policy, as explained recently by Obama’s lackey Brennan.
Imagine if other world powers had such a bad policy, what a world it would be. Or will be?
Hi tejana,
That was SharonMI’s great picture, but very similar to the activities outside here today. Two squirrels are out there now, fighting over the last of the immature crab apples still hanging on.
Here is one of mine from a few years ago and this is what is likely happening on the same little lake today with the clouds rampaging west to east and the sun nearly but not quite, peeking through.
Aw. That’s too bad. Salmon! I listened to Lynn Rosetto Kasper’s “Thanksgivng Confidential” yesterday, where she gives advice to folks having feast-cooking problems. Several mentioned having salmon.
New Thanksgiving tradition? Have to have a fairly adventurous family/T’day guests.
My first Thanksgiving hosting, as we sat down, my brother-in-law asked where the tortillas were. As I froze in horror at not having thought to include them, my mother-in-law jumped him, shushing him, and assuring me that they never have tortillas for Thanksgiving!
Then I saw b-i-l grinning; just giving me a hard time as the only Anglo in the family.
Thanksgiving dinner remained extremely traditional, with no variations welcome after the first year or so.
Oops, my bad! SharonMi so sorry, lovely picture!
(thanks nonquixote)
Two large pots of the stove now with bones and carcass. Goggie got a drumstick bone. Now, he wants more. He doesn’t really think I’m going through all this just for him, does he?
You really are the Artist! Have you ever considered putting together a book of your photographs? Just wondering.
The first couple I put up a Jane’s Happy TG post as hobbies. I have a rapid series of 6 ice photos as the clouds moved, framed and hanging. I get lucky with the photos. If you want to see some professional quality photos check out wendydavis’s from that post if you didn’t see them yesterday
I have a couple of windows open on the computer and I am actually doing some work in one of them. Today is a good day to try to finish storing and taking out the seasonal clothing. Ah, the insulated coveralls, wool cap with fold-down ear flaps, insulated work gloves. But maybe another cup of coffee, first.
How was the cranberry relish?
It was a hit, no leftovers and I had done a double batch. Two people said it was like their mom’s used to make. Thanks.
I trust you had a nice time yesterday, too.
Yes, that ice picture was lovely.
Hmm. Insulated coveralls, ear flaps hats…maybe I will just stay here in the South, after all….
I will not question your motives…
Oh, those are easy: weather, cheap living. Actually, general friendliness, too…(as long as politics isn’t raised). In many ways, life is easier. No changing to snow tires, no having to buy a new winter coat, no shoveling snow or picking one’s way down the frozen sidewalk…Car always starts, never have to dig it out of a snowbank or even scrape frost off the windshield…
superficial, I know. And before I came here, I took all those things for granted, just normal. Which they are…I’ve become lazy, you could say. ; )
Don’t make me watch. (Big sister eye.) :)
I got my carrots for the soup. It’s looking and smelling Good.
The store I went to had some pots of what they called Turkey Seasoning. Live Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. And, a long stick with an actually lovely little ceramic turkey. I had looked at that before, but it was $9.99, so I had passed. But, today it was $2.49, and I jumped. Will use some in the soup.
Black Friday, indeed.
Kewl. That is one that is hit or miss. Either everyone loves it or only one or two folks are willing to even try it (which never bothered me as I will eat it as my fruit/veggie for meals until all gone)
I wound up having dinner with one of the sons of a family that had adopted my sister years ago and it was a nice relaxing meal in the New Hampshire mountains.
Late to the party, as usual. Can’t stick around because I have to go out to split wood to get through the winter. Here in bear country it is a beautiful fall day, so I need to take advantage.
Tomorrow morning going to an anti-bear-hunt rally. I hate the bear hunts, and most NJ residents do also, but christie promised them as part of his election campaign. hunters are allowed to bait the bears and can do that for days. Bears are very habitual and once they find a food source, they will come back every day to check. The big, brave hunters can bait and then climb up a tree and shoot the defenceless and harmless bear. It is so sick.
Now that I have the rant off my chest, I’m happy that so many had a good day yesterday. I’ll probably check back later, even if I don’t contribute.
It makes me so happy that you are an activist for the bears.
It’s beautiful to see so many here willing to put their feet to the streets for their beliefs.
Thank you from me, BearCountry.
Come, sit by me. I’m in Pa. and hunting bears is top of the list of things I’d rather not see hunted. But here if they weren’t controlled some how, they would be everywhere in a couple of years. Have a good day tomorrow, I’ll be with you in spirit.
A neighbor got several pictures of a fifty lb black bear cub about two forties over, in the last two weeks, with one of those motion detector game cameras.
Nothing superficial there tejana, pretty realistic. Electronic ignitions and more reliable engines have eliminated the starting problems for the most part. The only people putting on snow tires are the ones who switch out their alloy rims to steel rims to save them from deteriorating in the road salt.
Sadly global warming and decreased snowfall has mostly eliminated the snow banks that used to keep one out of the ditch by being able to bounce off of them. ;^)
We had a coyote killing contest last weekend that got a lot of bad publicity, but it is worse when the poor animals are baited. Really terrible.
We had a super turnout at the WM action, some striking workers drove from down south, really a lot of people.
I’m back for a moment. I’m glad there is friendly interest in the black bear population. I’m not sure what the answer is to population control, but there are a couple of things that we do know. The first is that people need to do a much better job of making their trash unavailable to the bears. As long as they can patrol the streets to get the goodies that are all packaged up for them, they will continue to patrol. The second thing is that hunting them reduces the population density for a year or so. As the bears realize that there is more food available and uncontested, they have more offspring; a momma with four cubs was seen a couple of months ago here in bear country. This just over the mountain in my township. See the bear with her babies here.
Good for you. We go to walmart as little as possible. Sometimes they have things that we can’t get elsewhere. In Pinellas Park the walmart caters specially to older customers, and seems to hire more older folk. If you try to go to a competitor, it usually turns out that the competitor is bad also.
To bad about the coyotes. We have them here, but haven’t had a special hunt.
Hi again, y’all.
nonq, I’m really sorry to hear about the dearth of snowbanks. So sad.
I remember when I moved to Boston from Indiana, we were surprised to find it wasn’t usually as cold as it got in Indiana, but it stayed cold longer, and so the snows that fell in December were still there, in packed, dirty snowbanks, through early April.
Probably not anymore, huh?Of course, dirty city snowbanks are pretty ugly.
Bear Country, good luck with the bear hunt protest. Poor bears, it isn’t their fault we’re taking over their land.
Bgrothus, I’m impressed at your description of the WM protest. I wonder if there was/is any going on here? I don’t really wanna go near any WM today at all.
Late news yesterday showed big lines at Toys R Us when they opened at 9 pm. So, I’m sure opening on Thanksgiving will soon become the norm. Sigh. One thing I’ve loved about the holiday was that nearly everything closed, and the streets stay quiet.
Mmmm. That sounds yummy. Recipe?
I brought the 3-layer cornbread from the Tassajara Bread Book. It’s sooo yummy. The middle layer comes out like a custard. Our group was having chili as my friends’ daughter is allergic to turkey.
Ooh, Tassajara! I’ve never made that one; you are tempting me. I know I still have the book around somewhere…
I bake so seldom these days that I barely had enough flour for my roll recipe yesterday; had neglected to check. Used to bake so much, just assume the flour is stocked up.
It’s just cool enough today to make me feel like cooking or baking…but then again, you notice I’m typing, instead. the computer/internet has ruined my life…; )
I know the feeling! Well, at least there’s laundry washing in the washing machine regardless of what I’m doing.
I’ll check back later. The one thing I am religiously doing today is avoiding driving the car. I imagine traffic is hideous. Wednesday night at 9:48 pm I did get a robocall reminding me that Friday is Black Friday. That pissed me off.
I took a hike in the Barton Creek greenbelt this morning. Some of the middle school boys in the neighborhood built a bonfire Tuesday night. Given the drought and the woods, a lot of us neighbors have taken a dim view of that and are seeing what we can do to prevent the greenbelt and the neighborhood being lost to flames at the hands of the teenagers.
I substituted dried apricots and added raisins to get the equal quantity for the dates in the date/walnut bread, same book.
A bonfire in the Barton Creek greenbelt! What were they think…oh, wait…you said they were teenagers. Never mind.
oh great, thanks! i think i’ll try that.
i loved the photos of the bears and also the way you scared off the christmas tree trespassers.
apparently there were a lot of ninth graders involved. the boys’ idea for “redecorating” the wilderness – live trees chopped down for logs for sitting and also for firewood. graffiti on the rocks. then they also invited girls for the tuesday night bonfire.
i’ll be calling the environmental inspector on monday morning. it wouldn’t hurt if the boys had to pay the fines for the trees they chopped down. maybe we can calculate what the fines would be and let the boys pony up the money and donate it to the city’s tree planting program. and keep them out of the legal system.
That would be a nice gesture – keeping them out of the system. But…they probably won’t be grateful. ; ) Just ticked off you stopped their “harmless” fun.
Heya all, such a nice thread you did in my absence. Sorry to have missed it! And front paged on this otherwise slow day, even! I will be headed back home tomorrow, bearing fresh turkey soup. Next door neighbors promised me their turkey carcass so I can make my own soup. Sunday a Vienna Boys Choir concert. Life is good!