LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT . . .

I know some of you folks have been fighting snow and ice and cold temperatures for days now, way ahead of the traditional first day of winter.

I just thought you'd like to know why I live in Arizona.

This is the street in front of our house on Thanksgiving Day.  We sat outside on the patio in shirtsleeves enjoying a 70+ degree sunny day before having our feast. And, no, it doesn't get too hot in the summer where we live.

But for the rest of you folks . . . here's Deano!

FRIDAY FUNNIES

I trust you all had wonderful Thanksgivings and are recovering comfortably.  Today a very special edition of the Friday Funnies. It's my first pre-Christmas special and it's ALL CATS!  What a surprise, eh?  So without further ado, let's get to it.

And with that, a tip of the nog and/or wassail to you.  Many thanks for the contributions, have a great weekend, folks, and keep chortling.  

(I wonder how many of them noticed the name of the bar.)

THANKSGIVING - 2014 AND TBT

Well, the big day is upon us.  Since it's also Throwback Thursday I searched my photo files for a Thanksgiving picture from my past.  I can't be sure if this one was from a past feasting day but it has all the qualities.

Presenting the Taylors.  Adults (left to right): Me, my older Brother Wayne, my Dad Franklin.  I'm holding Wayne's second son, Tim, and my dad is holding my second son, Scott.  Kneeling in front are the oldest boys, Wayne's Larry and my Troy.  We kind of look like toy soldiers, don't we?

And flashing forward to Thanksgiving 2014 . . .

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.

THANKSGIVING - MINUS ONE

Yesterday's post about Thanksgiving encouraged some debate about when it all started. Tom and Phil both weighed in with historical perspectives of the Great Southwest celebrating Thanksgiving long before the Pilgrims and Puritans of New England.  Tom noted a Feast of Thanksgiving in New Mexico in 1598 following an arduous exploratory journey north from Mexico.  And Phil reminded us all that Santa Fe was an established town in New Mexico by the time the Pilgrims landed.

But wait!

A couple of Florida scholars say the first Thanksgiving actually was celebrated by Spaniards in what is now St. Augustine, Florida in 1565. (Presumably in Spanish, one of the official languages of Florida these days.)

So the debate goes on and on.  But it first became an official government mandated holiday way back in 1941 when President Franklin Roosevelt signed legislation (y'all remember legislation, don't you?) naming the fourth Thursday of November every year as the day we celebrate, eat ridiculously huge meals and, if we remember, give thanks.

And, so says Wikipedia and who would argue with them, modern day Thanksgiving goes back to those Calvinists in New England. Just never mind the Spaniards and Mexicans and Indians who went before.  

Kind of like how we tend to forget or ignore our history even today.

THANKSGIVING - MINUS TWO

Just because a group of stupid lawless renegades took advantage of a grand jury decision to loot stores and burn others out or to the ground last night should not take away from our celebration of Thanksgiving.

There is no common ground on when our Thanksgiving holiday was first marked.  It is generally assumed that it was the Puritans in Massachusetts who initiated a feast AND A FAST marking a day of thanks for . . . well, I guess, letting them survive in this new and sometimes unforgiving land.

But that was 1621 in the Plymouth Colony.  History tells us that the widespread habit of a Thanksgiving harvest festival did not widely take hold until the 1660's in New England.

Whatever.

It is a day when families gather together . . in modern times . . to overeat, indulge our familial grudges and watch football on humongous television screens.  (For which we are all thankful.)

So it's two days away.  Our frozen turkey (breast) is out on the counter beginning the long thaw.  SWMBO is off today to an earlier than usual lunch with the BRD and then a stop at Trader Joe's to pick up whatever else is needed for our feast.  Somewhere in the next couple of days I have been commissioned to make a pumpkin pie although the "little woman" will make a ginger snap crust for it to reside in.

I don't know about you but I'm already getting hungry.

I'll have more on this subject tomorrow.

TEMPERATURE'S RISIN'

High noon in my part of Arizona and, while the sun is shining, it's a bit nippy outside.

BUT, the high temperature on Thanksgiving Day is forecast to be 72 degrees Fahrenheit.

YAY!

How's your Thanksgiving Day going?

DENVER OMELET

I built and baked a Denver Omelet yesterday for the two of us for breakfast/brunch.

It came from a recipe in All Recipes magazine.  I didn't have the ham it called for so I substituted some bacon.  And I didn't have the green bell pepper so I substituted some mixed mini sweet peppers. But it was good and one of the best things about it is there's enough for not only Saturday but Sunday as well.  Bingo!  Two days breakfasts in one.

Now.  As we were finishing the second helping today, SWMBO said do you remember that I made this awhile back and you took pictures and blogged about it?  I had to admit my senior memory had lost it. But I searched and, lo and behold, there it was.  And only two months ago! If you'd like to see what I said then and get a better look at it, click right here.

Even so, I made it this time, all by my ownsome.  And again, it was delicious.