Continue reading ‘A few images from the holiday weekend…’
###
Monthly Archive for November, 2008
I went over to Holiday in St. Elmo today and did the first of my holiday shopping. The weather was a little dreary (it drizzled on and off and was cold), but that’s generally what Southern winters are about, so I suppose in a perverse sort of way, it put me in the holiday spirit. The shopping was wonderful. Lots of local artists were braving the chill to display their wares, and the shops were open and serving snacks and hot cider. If you didn’t make it down today, be sure to stop by at some point this season — the artisan tents will be gone, but you can still find great hand-made gifts in the stores (Umbra Essences has a fine selection of creations, large and small, from an impressive variety of very talented craftspeople!).
The crowd was lovely, too. I saw a lot of people I know — apparently today, this was the place in Chattanooga to see and be seen! And as far as I know, not a single person was trampled or shot. I came home with a pretty good haul for my first day of shopping, and it was all hand-made by local people.
###
I didn’t shop today (I raked the yard instead), but I do have a bit of holiday shopping to get done in the next few weeks. My goal this year, more than in any previous year, is to buy local — from stores that are run by my neighbors, or at least stuff that was made here in the US. I’ve been trying to do some planning this evening and here are a few interesting tidbits I’ve found while researching the possibilities…
Give the gift of bees at Heifer, International (here’s a nice story about how things sometimes work out well).
7 online wish lists to help you this holiday season
34 great gifts you can make yourself
Want to find the perfect t-shirt for someone? Try the teenormous search engine.
Great sites for feel-good holiday gifts
Esquire’s Worst Gifts on Earth
Serious List of Holiday Online Coupons & Sales
And here are a few individual items I’ve run across that are either cool or creepy: plastic doodad, anti-theft lunch bag, spice jar measuring spoons, I love these t-shirts, freehands gadget gloves, dismember me plush zombie, death and taxes poster, The Best of Instructables, Volume 1, scabs bandages, fetus cookie cutter, Belkin RockStar, burning cross, wad of gum refrigerator magnets, ABC gingerbread cookie cutters, Free to Be…You and Me 35th Anniversary Edition, colour-in wallpaper
###
Today’s creature comes courtesy of a guest photographer — I got out my camera yesterday, but then got so busy with meal preparations that I didn’t take many pictures. Fortunately, Emmie picked up the slack, and she caught this image of the tortured dog (don’t let all that comfort fool you — at that point, the aromas from the kitchen were irresistible!), waiting for someone to throw her a bone. Never fear, though. While her plight required patience, she was eventually rewarded with some turkey and gravy, and then she even got to help us clean the plates and platters after the meal was over.
And now, on this Black Friday — or Buy Nothing Day, if that’s the way you swing — while the rest of America is elbowing the competition away from that last $25 Blu Ray player, or digging around in the attic looking for the Christmas lights, or back at the office, enjoying a rare quiet day, or placing an order at amazon.com — the creatures are all happily lining up over on the Modulator’s Ark! Check them out, enjoy this nebulous day, tucked in between the holiday and the weekend, and remember to buy local — our economy is hurting, so keep your money here instead of sending it to the Chinese!
###
It’s my most favorite holiday of the year, kids! Simple, sincere, uncomplicated… the centerpiece of the day is a wonderful meal with loved ones (here’s a tip regarding that from Mignon McLaughlin!) with cooking before — and after, some napping, sports, games, strolling, and general fun. It doesn’t get any better that that! So, here’s your Thanksgiving post, largely assembled last night, after I finished up a bit of prep for today’s cooking. But I’ll add to it if I find any additional delights throughout the day, so if you have a chance, check back before you lapse into your l-tryptophan-enduced coma later this afternoon!
First off, here’s the soundtrack to this post, because of course, it’s Thanksgiving, so you have to listen to Alice’s Restaurant Massacree (I certainly suffered enough as a child because of it, so you damn well better listen and enjoy!) ;-D
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
[Note: if you want to buy this album, be careful to get the 30th Anniversary Edition (which is RIAA-free), and not the original album (which is not).]
And if anyone’s curious, here’s our menu for this year: turkey (we got a 15 lb. free-range, organic bird this year), oyster stuffing, G-Dog’s mashed potatoes (which are becoming famouser by the year), gravy, cranberry sauce, broccoli-corn bake, whiskey glazed carrots, pumpkin bread, Emmie’s fantastic cheddar bay biscuits, and apple pie. We’ll be a fairly small group of just four or five people, so that ought to fill us up. (Sorry, no turbaconducken, and no turgooduccochiqua!)
But on with the turkey day links…
Have you turned on the TV yet? What are you waiting for? The holiday weekend marathons may have already started!
Get it right! Here are your Top 6 Thanksgiving Myths!
Sorry to be Captain Bringdown here, but all that food on the table… have you thought about who participated in getting it there?
A few great Thanksgiving special TV episodes!
10 ways to give back on Thanksgiving.
8 Thanksgiving specials no one is thankful for!
For the Nate Silver in each of us: Thanksgiving charts and stats!
Thanksgiving isn’t original — here are some other harvest festivals (and some crazy ones).
The worst things about Thanksgiving.
Top 5 Thanksgiving Movies — wait, no — or is it Top 10 Thanksgiving Movies?
Things to talk about on Thanksgiving.
Tips for getting along with difficult relatives today.
Ten things you can only say on Thanksgiving!
Charles Phoenix’s Tiki-Turkey Dinner.
Five Novels That Serve Up Thanksgiving Dinners.
A humanist Thanksgiving proclamation.
An awesome moment from this morning’s Macy’s parade (see it here, too)!
Vintage photos of past Macy’s parades.
Political turkeys of the year.
Charlie Chaplin’s Thanksgiving.
Bartlet calls the Butterball Hotline.
Let Us Remember the True Meaning of Thanksgiving Before It’s Abolished.
What’s Bush eating today? Here’s the menu!
###
Do you live your patriotism, or just give it lip service?
One good alternative to Wal-Mart in the Chattanooga area is Publix, a US company which is 31% employee-owned (plus, if you shop at Publix, chances are much lower, vs. Wal-Mart, that your kids or pets will end up eating melamine or other toxins that the Chinese love to toss into the mix). A bonus is that Publix offers many organic, free-range and hormone-free options at competitive prices.
For non-food items, buying local is always best (and with so many cool and funky shops on Frasier, in St. Elmo, and scattered about town, there are many options), but for low-cost, large-scale shopping, Sears/K-Mart is probably the best of the local lot — at least they do right by our nation’s soldiers.
###
Everyone’s talking about who you might pick to be the next junior Senator from New York. I’m sure you’re being deluged with suggestions already, but I’m going to add to your headache, because I have two cents of my own to throw into the mix.
My father and my big brother are both distinguished New York State attorneys with experience in local politics and my brother has recently been elected judge. (I’ll have to leave their names out of the discussion here because of blog policy, but shoot me an email and I’ll send you their names, contact info and resumés). I think either one of them would make a fantastic Senator. They both are products of a small-town upstate New York upbringing, with the benefit of nearby access to two of New York’s great cities (Buffalo and Rochester). They’re graduates of fine New York State educational institutions (Hobart College and Cornell Law School; and Hamilton College and Columbia Law School, respectively). And they’ve each demonstrated, over a lifetime, a commitment to fiscal discipline and an openness to new ideas. I’ll let you take your pick, as either one has an impressive amount of political experience, but as Washington outsiders, would bring a refreshing, new energy to the US Senate.
So there you go. I think I’ve solved your problem for you!
You’re welcome,
Alice of Chez 10K
###
Well, this is tempting. ;-D
###
All of you — not just the bozos who are running Detroit into the ground — need to watch this and think about it. Just maybe, the time has come for you to choose between your immense greed and your desire to run a healthy business.
###
Loading ...
Recent Comments