A CHRISTMAS STORY

Once again, the holiday season is upon us.

Oh, pardon me, I mean the Christmas season.

There have been some Yule shouters around these parts in recent years angry that the town fathers put up decorations and words saying "Happy Holidays!"

"It's Christmas, for cryin' out loud," these malcontents howled, "not 'the holidays'."

I'm not going to get into the midst of that argument, at least not today.

No, what I want to talk about is the Christmas tree, specifically the FLOCKED Christmas tree.

You remember them.

They looked like something from either Currier and Ives or a disco bar.

Puffy.

Apparently they were supposed to look like they were covered in snow.

I saw a headline in a newspaper the other day that said flocked Christmas trees are back.

Which reminded me of a late friend of mine, the irreverent Chuck Riley.

When I worked, ate and drank with him, Chuck was a disc jockey at WIBC radio in Indianapolis, Indiana.

He was a short, rotund, irascible guy with a terrific voice and a marvelous laugh.

He later moved to Los Angeles and had a great career as a voice actor whom anybody who lived in the United States has probably heard.

His voice told us about hundreds of movies, in their promotional trailers . . such as those for "Titanic" and "The Godfather".

But back to Indianapolis and Christmas one year.

A year of flocked trees.

Chuck told his fellow radio workers one day that he had a Christmas tree up at his house, which surprised us a bit as Chuck wasn't known for being a sentimental, holiday-celebrating kind of guy.

"Yeah," said Chuck, "it's one of those flocked ones."

"We put it up yesterday.  We're not going to decorate it or anything."

"It's a little short.  And it's black!"

"What?" we all exclaimed.

Chuck went on, "Yeah, it's just over in the corner.  It looks like it's crouching."

Then came his roaring laughter.

Chuck died a little over 10 years ago at the age of 66.

But he left behind a ton of memories, including his black, flocked, crouching Christmas tree.

😁 THE FRIDAY FUNNIES 😁

Gentle Readers, I hope you noticed the two grinning emojis I added to the title today.

Here at Oddball we are nothing if not technologically correct.

I hope your T-day was as good as mine.

The BRD lived up to her family reputation and provided us with a great meal.

But now let's get on to the serious(?) business of the day.

Let's take a little journey on Noah's Ark today.

Two at a time, please.

And since we're in a Biblical mood . . .

Those wintertime colds can be a real bear.

Now, if you're really insistent on hitting the stores this weekend, do it with a smile on your face and patience in your heart.

Or shop online.

Whatever, always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

SOME MUSIC FOR COOKING

Don't be a cold fish . . . get yourself some Hot Tuna!

Thanksgiving Day

THE MENU

Judy and I have been invited to the BRD's and Beau Jack's home for a "non-traditional" Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

After teasing me for several days Gayle has finally released the menu.

Phyllo Brie & Cranberry bites & Shrimp

Caesar Salad

Slow Cooked Braised Short Ribs

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Asparagus

Chocolate and Plain Cream Puff Pastries

Yes, there is no roast turkey and stuffing but doesn't that menu sound delicious?

I can't wait.

(Doesn't really look like I need it, does it?)

VISITORS

The bird bath just outside my window gets a wide variety of visitors.

The other day SWMBO said she watched a woodpecker cling to the tree next to it and lean over to drink.

But more often it's house finches and the likes of these.

This one was perched on the edge while his or her mate patrolled the grounds below for edible bugs.

My apologies for the quality of the photos above.

Part of it is spots and smears left on the glass by Blackwell's explorations.

Speaking of which, take a look at this beauty.

That's a big fluffy visitor I call Old Yellow.

She stands on the blue cat's back to reach the water and sometimes drinks long and longer

When she gets down, if I tap on the window, she turns and stares at me.

The other day I decided to see if she'd run if I stepped outside.

In fact she stayed, let me pet her and rolled and rolled, exposing her furry white belly for a tentative scratch.

She is definitely a domesticated cat.

If I get another chance I'll have to take my camera with me.

A NEW CREATION

SWMBO got creative in the kitchen yesterday.

Never mind that Thanksgiving is only a few days away.

She had scored some Meyer lemons and decided to invent a new way to bake sweet potatoes.

So she diced up a couple of the potatoes and an equal amount of fresh pineapple and sliced several of the lemons and some tangerines and studded the slices with whole cloves.

She made a sauce of brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, the juice of a couple of the lemons and a dash of water.

This she cooked until it caramelized and then combined it with the sweet potatoes and pineapple, spread them out in a baking dish and topped them with the clove-studded fruits.

It looked like this before going into the oven to be baked for a couple of hours.

When it was done she served it with some of our favorite Mandarin Orange Chicken from Trader Joe's.

There was a mix of quinoa and brown rice to balance the sweetness.

When I tasted this dinner I was One Happy Camper!