I’m taken with the “hoot-hoot-hoot” of the owl out my back window each evening, which arrived just before Halloween, as he would in an O Henry story.
To me, this owl sounds like Sinatra. Hoot-hoot-hoot is the scooby-dooby-doo of the wild kingdom.
November is more a mood than a month, isn’t it? It’s chimney smoke and baked apples. It’s too-bright stores wall-to-wall with Christmas. It’s too much too soon, but what are you gonna do? Get out your heavy socks, a nice blanket and good book. November seems especially suited to that.
Meanwhile, Washington seems poised to destroy the Thanksgiving airport experience. Remember when this country had the best statesmen in the world? You probably don’t. But we did.
Hey, we’ve been through worse. Smartacus, I’ll come to you for Thanksgiving if necessary. Truss the turkey, bash the potatoes, order a backup pizza just in case. I’ll arrive in Oregon in 12 hours, give or take, depending on rest stop naps and Honda outages. If the old CRV conks out, White Fang will pull it.
Over the river the through the woods to Smartacus’ house we go….
I just had a very funny image of Smartacus trussing his first turkey.
Hey, it’s always good to have a backup plan. Some of the best memories are made when things go a little wrong, and we adapt and persevere anyway. Remember “Planes, Trains & Automobiles,” which has become one of my top three holiday flicks? Richer with every viewing. You can warm leftovers on that movie.
We remain a family of holiday junkies. In fact, I am still paying off Thanksgiving from 1985, when Posh decided it would be nice to have a turkey surrounded by Cornish hens, like courtesans around Catherine of Aragon.
Posh had a dozen of them shipped in wine casks from a small Cornish hen emporium in Europe. Quite bony, as are all delicate little French things. Still worth it. At some point, you just chomp the damn things.
You could never treat Posh to a fine restaurant meal for the holiday. In an Italian family, the would be sacrilege. But you could take her out the night before Thanksgiving, and I remember visiting some of New Orleans’ best seafood spots (dumps), where the food would be even better than on Thanksgiving itself.
In New Orleans, my wife finally met cooks who out-obsessed her.
FYI, I’m down 16 pounds since my surgery, and the current plan is to gain it all back on Thanksgiving Day. I will be the Joey Chestnut of drumsticks. I will be the Orson Wells of bashed potatoes.
The lovely and patient daughter has assumed the role of alpha cook at Thanksgiving, with a big assist from Rapunzel. Generally, I bring the Bristol Farms gravy, a witty toast or two I mumble through a mouthful of bread.
Honestly, I could make a feast of just one side dish, give me a buttered roll and a little cranberry to glisten the edges. Or give me a small serving of dark meat over a bed of bashed potatoes.
As you know, I like focus in my life. I need direction (though I’d never actually ask for it. I mean, come on).
Where there are feasts there is family, and where there is family, there can be love. I need some of that too, though I’m careful not to look too desperate.
The more you need love, the more you will repel love. It’s basic thermodynamics. Love can never be created or destroyed, only transformed.
But open your arms anyway, the way the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag did, a complicated fellowship we still celebrate 404 years later.
And proof we shouldn’t try November alone.
Hoot-hoot-hoot…
Coming Saturday: Growing old with our heroes
Props to the folks who supported the Literary Feasts held across Los Angeles on Sunday evening. The book events, featuring dozens of authors, raised millions for the Library Foundation of Los Angeles. Thank you to Mary Ann Hunt and Eric Jacobsen for opening up their beautiful home to us and staging such an elegant and memorable evening.
Thank you for helping me get over hump day once again. An ode to November? I’m still mentally in October. I enjoyed your observation on how being needy for love repels love. I hope that you get to be where you need to be for Thanksgiving and that the holiday includes Smartacus, either him in Southern California with you or you with him in Oregon.
He has a 30-minute connection in Seattle. Gulp.
Gulp indeed! Have you and Jack, er, Smartacus, ever considered taking advantage of the Amtrak station in Eugene? Straight to Union Station, no connection nonsense. Yes, round trip in Coach Thanksgiving week is around $400, but you’d spend that much on gas for your Honda. Cheapest day to leave Eugene for L.A. is Sunday 11/23. We’ve taken the Coast Starlight to Seattle and back a few times, including stops in Eugene, where we have retired UofO professor friends, and it’s always a relaxing trip.
Dave, that’s a great suggestion. And a better price that the airlines. Since he can’t leave school till Thanksgiving Eve, not feasible in this case. But I’m looking forward to trying it. The I-5 trip no longer has any appeal. Mostly horrid. Thx.
Down 16 pounds from surgery?! How? Are you sure they didn’t slip some Ozempic into your IV drip? Well, it sounds like you are preparing to make up for lost calories on T Day. You got me in the mood, thinking about all the goodies and good times coming soon. Thanks for another uplifting post! Let the holidays begin! (P,T and A is one of my fave holiday movies too; it is the gateway to watching all of my favorite movies of the year.)
I will buy you a beer when you come to Oregon
You’re on. I’ll need it after that 12-hour drive.
When I was in college, I invited friends over for Thanksgiving. My apartment had a small, but complete, kitchen. Didn’t make anything fancy. Turkey with Stove Top stuffing, giblet gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls.
When I pulled out the stuffing, a neck, wrapped in waxed paper, came out, too. Everyone hooted at my lack of turkey knowledge. I had to show them the giblet gravy pot to prove that I had taken out the neck.
The geniuses at Butterball had packed my turkey with two necks.
Great story! I just love the smell of a place where the turkey is roasting. Nothing better.
What a hoot hoot hoot your column is! Always on time to make us feel good about that dear family tradition , and how it has changed due to politics. I don’t remember our Thanksgivings being so stressful. Hopefully we will all be deep in gravy and just love being together. Maybe we’ll watch John Candy, he can make everyone happy !
Those grandkids are so adorable! Take care of you, we all love you.
How kind. Thank you, Nohemi
The train takes longer than the car between here and Eugene, but the scenery is beautiful, and a passenger can study going south or read and write going north. I hope you are recovering well, and feeling better every day. My mantra: resting = healing. Be good to yourself. You are so dear to all of us.
Too kind. Yes, that train trip sounds better and better.
“Love can never be created or destroyed, only transformed”. Well, it is of the spirit, though the material evidence is everywhere you sense, but the “only” gives me pause. I prefer “invoked” and “observed”. neither implies understanding. Love ignored is not “transformed”, it is merely unrequited. love rejected is not transformed, it is just repelled; etc., etc. Love observed is not transformed except in the passive sense. But O.K.–spirit implies mystery, and there’s a ton of that in the complex of spiritual dynamics and material “transformations” we call love, and that says nothing the objective meanings inherent therein. Enough pit nicking. you are sure good at coining these grand
observations. What a lovely day…for love.