it's a very rainy thanksgiving here, and as usual i've made it all the way to thursday with very little to show for it except a lot of time with the kids, and genuine appreciation of my favorite month, favorite meal, favorite everything. in other words, try as i might, i'm just not all that productive, and it's partly that i've been working overtime for the other eleven months, and needed a few days to breathe out. but now i'm beginning to focus: just in time to travel, and lose a few days to the holiday itself.

my wife made a fine turkey (she said she did it in self-defense: if she hadn't done it, i would have), and that was fine with me, but it was a couple of days ago, and we're having a casserole tonight, on the day itself. but even that's ok with me; leftover turkey is better than the original, and i picked the meat only today and have the oil kind of rubbed into my skin. my only real problem with vegetarianism is giving up the turkey tradition, because i love the smells and feel of it, though i'm well aware that some poor turkey suffered for my sins. i also like checking in with the family, various people who i might not see a lot at other times of the year. whatever their condition, i tend to get to know it.

it was warm for unusually long here, and when the cold finally came, it dragged a rainy front with it, and stormed for a while, and actually dropped a lot of water. it changes from very dry to very wet here in november, and it's sudden, but i don't mind wet & cold half as much as i mind wet and stifling hot, so i still love november; it's the best of all seasons. the browns and golds, and reddish hues are just as beautiful, misted up in the gray rains. i raked some leaves, and reflected on how, when i was a teenager, raking leaves seemed like a sacrilege - taking nature's own harvest away from it, committing a crime against the natural. i felt this way about mowing the lawn too, but mostly because i didn't want to do either anymore. now, i rake mostly for my own exercise; it works out my shoulders in a way only swimming will do and the pool is closed. but, it also gets me outside and i see all the above-mentioned colors; i feel like i'm brushing out the hair of a yard that badly needs it. this being the suburbs, though, some neighbors are out there with leaf blowers, and that's what i now consider sacrilege, leaf blowers and pesticides which actually put nerve gas into the public heritage. leaf blowers burn gas for the privilege of pushing the leaves around, but the wind will actually do that if you let it, and i figure, we people ought to at least do it ourselves if it's so darn important to us.

on the day itself, i find myself surveying a very wet neighborhood; inside, with the boys, who are on the computer and/or television as usual (though the older one runs through harry potter books with dispatch)...and, the smell of turkey begins filling the house again. i have a lot to be thankful for, and i need to relax, consider, give thanks. it only happens once a year.