Best Thanksgiving Ever

I cooked for 10 and made apple pie (DIY crust and filling). You can't ruin a Butterball. I also served glazed carrots and invented a green bean and small-potato (red and white) casserole. I believe I also made yams but a wild argument broke out over the difference between yams and sweet potatoes. Whatever it was, I added some sugar, pepper, and salt and all were pleased. I forgot to serve the cranberry sauce and applesauce but no one seemed to notice.

This year I saved all my vacation and personal time to take one week off at Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, and two weeks off at the end of the year. I'm visiting Lockie Lane Farms next month to visit my friend the sheep farmer and his wife. If the weather holds we're taking a hop over the border to Montreal.

There was a great 80th birthday tribute to Stephen Sondheim on PBS last week. I bought his biographical annotated collection of lyrics, FINISHING THE HAT, today at Border's at an outrageous 40% off thanks to an email coupon. They typeset and printed this coffee table book in the US and were able to keep the list price at $39.95. Imagine if you were alive in 1936 and were able to read a similar tome by George Gershwin. Truly a must read for anyone who loves the theatre.

Later in the afternoon I got a sweet deal on a Sony Blu-ray at Best Buy. Apropos of Ed Norton's question to Ralph Kramden, Why don't you have a TV?, to which Ralph replied, I'm waiting for 3D, this player can do 3D. All I need now is the TV (paraphrasing Sondheim).

Over the holiday I watched THE BEGGAR'S OPERA on DVD and read EUREKA by Jim Lehrer. Lehrer writes clean usually and I figured this was SFM (safe for Mom). However, Mom was shocked at some of the content. I read it after her and I can guess what she was aghast at (at one point a 59-year-old man has a few normal hetero fantasies about a young girl). She enjoyed Lord Larry Olivier in BEGGAR'S OPERA. (THREEPENNY OPERA reworked the same story with new music.)

One of the saddest things in the novel EUREKA is a reference to an interview with Anthony Hopkins in which he refers to his entire career as a waste of time. It's so depressing that I had to look it up. After that quote from 1999, IMDb lists 30 projects finished or in development so Hopkins was kidding or just having a bad day.

The Jets are 9-2 after Thanksgiving night! I'm pretty sure they have never been 9-2. Another thing to be thankful for: Mom bounced back from a few weeks in the hospital this year to play host to the Thanksgiving dinner. Margie found her a nice apartment in an elevator building. Mom gave us a scare and made me appreciate her more if that's possible. At one point in the hospital, when it was unclear what was wrong with her, she asked if we were thinking of putting her in a nursing home. That hurt but that's what uncertainty does to a person, makes them ask questions that hurt. It has all worked out ok so far, and is continuing to do so thanks to everybody helping out in their own ways. Like the little drummer boy with his humble gift, I make turkey drumsticks and apple pie and bring books and DVDs.