Tag: Thanksgiving

Thanks giving

Thanksgiving. might be my favorite holiday, because it gives me specific permission to focus on being appreciative of others.

AA026313Saw this post via ABC Wednesday. The writer, Meenal, from India, posed 15 questions. The first, slightly paraphrased: “Why do we have the Patriotic feeling only on National days? Why don’t we feel the same every day?”

Assuming the truthfulness of the question, the answer, of course, is that people’s thoughts are overstuffed, in the busyness of life. They often need/want special days to remember veterans (Veterans Day), or express love (Valentine’s Day), or the like.

The premise of the question is akin to what I hear virtually EVERY Thanksgiving. “Why aren’t people thankful ALL the time?” Because they are not. I don’t understand why some people take such exception to those “reminder” events. Yes, yes, yes, scold person, we should ALL be thankful ALL the time. But sometimes, we’re tired, or grumpy, or distracted, or overwhelmed.

I like Thanksgiving. Might be my favorite holiday, because it gives me specific permission to focus on being appreciative of others. It gets me out of my own head, and that’s a good thing.

Happy Thanksgiving. In the next week, find, if you can, someone in your sphere that you count on, but who may not know that he or she makes a difference in your life. Say thank you.

Circular question answering New York Erratic

Let me say that while Thanksgiving and Christmas are wonderful and all, there seems to be a lot of sense of obligation.

happinessrunsAnd in an act that defies logic, I am now answering questions that New York Erratic answered for me, even though I gave them to her, based on questions Lisa posted, and which Dustbury also answered… Oh never mind.

1. What is your dream vacation spot and why?

It would be a place by the water, preferably running water, like a river or waterfalls, because I love water; maybe it’s the Pisces in me. It would be neither too hot nor too cold. MaybeVictoria Falls, in September.

2. Where did you come up with the name of your blog?

There was a long-running radio talk show called Rambling with Gambling, from which I got the Ramblin’ part. The Roger part, I have no idea.

3. How do you define blogging success?

It really does vary. While I don’t especially care, when my Times Union blog is trending, or when Chuck Miller declares it one of the week’s 10 best, I enjoy that.

But the real success is that I find people with whom to have reasonable, usually rational, dialogue. Such as with New York Erratic.

4. What is your favorite type of “going out” entertainment?

I like going to the movies because I like seeing movies in the theater. Watching videos often creates the temptation to pause it and do something else. That’s OK with something I’ve seen before, but not the first time. That’s why I ultimately canceled Netflix; I had The Hurt Locker for four or five months, and never found two solid hours to watch it without The Daughter around, or being too tired, or too busy.

5. How many states (name them) have you lived in?

North Carolina (for four months). New York (the rest of my life.)

6. What is your favorite holiday and why?

Ash Wednesday. Let me say that while Thanksgiving and Christmas are wonderful and all, there seems to be a lot of sense of obligation. The beginning of Lent is a time of quiet reflection. When I was a kid, it was only the Catholics I knew that got the ashes on the forehead, but lots of Protestant churches, including the last two I’ve belong to, participate, and I think it’s an easy, but symbolic, way for religious rapprochement.

7. What’s your favorite number and why?

I really do like zero. It’s nothing, yet it’s massive in combination. It’s that dividing line between the positive and the negative. What’s not to like?

8. What would be your dream vehicle to own?

Some motorized bicycle that I’d turn on for hills, and pedal otherwise.

9. What is your favorite hobby?

I suppose it’s singing, though, until you brought it up, I never thought of singing as a hobby, but rather just WHAT I DO, WHO I AM. Or blogging.

10. How do you try and keep your blog fresh?

I change the blog filter every 3,000 miles. Cereally, I actually plotted out 2014, or parts of it. I decided on my ABC Wednesday topics for every week in Round 14, back in October; didn’t write them, of course, but knowing what I was going to write about gets the brain working. Then I found the half dozen people who turn 70 I want to write about. Then there are holidays and observances. And anything I find interesting I don’t have anything to write about, I link to at the end of the month. This leaves the rest of the time for movie reviews and life experiences. In other words, I throw the blog against the wall and see what sticks.

11. Where do you do your best thinking?

In the shower, or riding the stationary bike. Or when I first wake up, which is why I like to blog when I first wake up (and don’t particularly like to blog at night).

Thanksgiving tunes

Listen to some songs of thanks, then go do what you do on this day, such as eat turkey, watch football, or quite possibly nothing special at all.

I wanted a quick post for today; after all, it IS a holiday. I found a Thanksgiving playlist: Top 20 songs of gratitude, which was a pretty decent roster. It contained some good, but obvious choices, such as Sam & Dave, though NOT the original version, and I couldn’t find that on YouTube either. There were also some nice finds, such as Ella doing that Bob Hope theme song.

I did notice, however, that while the Sly song is on the list, it doesn’t play on Spotify like the others. There is a live version of the videos, but here’s a studio version of Thank You…[LISTEN]. Also, a surprising omission: Thank You by Led Zeppelin [LISTEN], which DOES appear on similar lists.

Listen to some songs of thanks, then go do what you do on this day, such as eat turkey, watch football, or quite possibly nothing special at all because you’re not in the US, and it’s just another Thursday.
***
Here’s a little Thanksgiving art.

When Thanksgiving and Hanukkah Collide.

 

JFK and Thanksgiving Day

Some people say, “We should be thankful EVERY day,” and that’s true. But, for most of us, we just aren’t.

I went out with this woman in the late 1970s who was old enough to have voted for John Kennedy the first time she had the opportunity to vote for President. I can only imagine how devastated she was, along with the rest of the country, when he was killed. Every Thanksgiving I spent with her when she or someone else said grace, she always added, “And bless the memory of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.”

That thought ran through my mind when I realized that Thanksgiving and the assassination of JFK coincided this year. November 22 in 1963 was a Friday – I’ll undoubtedly write more about THAT event next year, on the 50th anniversary.

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. Yet I know from personal experience how a holiday can engender sad feelings as well. My Chinese restaurant Thanksgiving, when I was uninvited, out of the blue, by an ex. Or the Christmas Eve in 1990 when our church’s tenor soloist died, and yet we had a service to sing; I’m sure we were not very good.

Still, I think a day set aside for thanks is a good thing. Some people say, “We should be thankful EVERY day,” and that’s true. But, for most of us, we just aren’t.

For those of you celebrating it, may this Thanksgiving be a good one.
***
Yes, I think the pardoning of the turkey is a silly tradition. It doesn’t bother me, though, like it does some indignant folks. Silliness in DC beats incivility.

Thanksgiving 2011

While one ALWAYS ought to give thanks, one just doesn’t.

I think Thanksgiving is my happiest and saddest holiday. I have spent it, dumped at the last minute, home eating Chinese food and watching football, alone. I have spent it with 20+ people, only two of whom I knew before that day. I’ve gathered with a handful of other “orphans”. I’ve hosted family meals. But I haven’t celebrated it with my birth family since 1972.

I have no Thanksgiving tradition. There’s nothing I ALWAYS do. The year of the Chinese dinner, I didn’t even eat turkey.

Still, I like it. I like it because it’s not tied to any specific theology, only a general sense of appreciation. Giving thanks. And while one ALWAYS ought to give thanks, one just doesn’t. The reminder doesn’t hurt.

The Census Bureau has its Facts for Features for Thanksgiving, which, as a data geek, I enjoy.

Whatever you are doing, thank you for having come by this little corner of the blogosphere.

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial