Turkeys Are On The Run

It's a bad time of year to be a turkey. There was a knock on my back door last night. It turned out to be a scared, wild turkey ("wild" meaning living in the wild). I'm hiding him in my bedroom closet. I will let him out in a few days. Of course, he will still have to worry about becoming someone's Christmas dinner. There's always something to worry about.
There was a time, many moons ago (long ago), when people had to go out and hunt a wild turkey for their Thanksgiving dinner. And there are still some who do that. But now, most people simply buy a frozen turkey from the local supermarket, and then cook it themselves. Some families, like mine, buy a complete pre-cooked dinner, and then simply heat it all up on the stove on Thanksgiving morning. A much easier way of having a big meal, with much less trouble to prepare.
Thanksgiving originally was a celebration of survival by the original pilgrim settlers. Many of the first pilgrims died during the first winter in the New World. So after the following harvest, the survivors had a big gathering to celebrate their survival, and I imagine, to remember all those who did not survive.
And for me as well, this is a holiday of not just giving thanks for all we have, but it is also a holiday of remembrance for all those close to us we have lost, and all those now gone who have contributed to our lives. Many of whom we have never met.
And it is good to be thankful and remember all those who have come into our lives, past and present. For they have made our lives rich, indeed.

What Was Out There?! I'm Not Tellin'...

So, did you enjoy my amateurish attempt at scaring you? Well, if you want to find out whether I live or die, and what is killing all my neighbors (as well as everyone else in the world. Yes! you are in danger, too!) you will just have to watch this blog for the next part of the story. I know. I am a very cruel man. Tough. Live with it.
I managed to jog in the rain this morning, although I wasn't singing like Gene Kelly in the movies. I kinda' like jogging in the rain, as long as it isn't a hard and/or cold rain. If you don't understand and/or, you will have to ask me about it.
I did actually see a little bit of sun today, but not as much as I would have liked. It's important to enjoy whatever sun we get at this time of year. I don't know if it's just my imagination, or maybe my faulty memory, but I always think of the late fall as having a lot of cloudy and gray days. And I also imagine, that snow isn't terribly far ahead. I can see some now on the horizon. It could be here soon.
One of my favorite authors, Tim Lebbon, who lives in the U.K., wrote a story about a snowstorm that didn't end, and monsters that blended in with snow. It was a novella (longer than a short story, but not as long as a novel) called White. That was a scary story.
Until next time, enjoy life, and please, stay out of trouble.

Doomy Gloom, or Gloomy Doom? Decisions, decisions...

I've been trapped in this small apartment for two days now. I woke yesterday morning to the screams of one or more of my neighbors from outside. When I peered from behind my curtains out into the unusually dark and gray morning, I was able to glimpse something darker than the morning moving extremely fast, in an unnatural manner. I noticed my bird, Edgar Allen, was very quiet and looking terrified, as he huddled in his cage.
Throughout the day and well into last night, the quiet was broken by periodic wild and, to use a cliche that I never truly understood before the last two days, blood-curdling screams. I have only tried to take brief looks outside a few more times, but all I have managed to see are blurs of dark movement. I feel confident those movements were not made by any of my neighbors, and I don't believe they were made by anything human. It has been hours since I have tried to peek out of a window. Ever since I heard someting scratch against the outside walls.
I wasn't prepared for this, and I will need to go out to try to locate some food very soon now. Everything is very quiet out there. Quieter than I have ever heard it before. I don't know whether it's safer to wait for the possibility of daylight, which if anything like today, will be nonexistent, or to try to use the cover of night. I just don't have a good feeling about this.
I will probably leave just before, what would normally, be dawn. I don't know if I will be able to get back with food, but one way or another, there's a good chance I might find out what's happening out there. If for any reason I don't make it, you will hear no more from me.
Take care, and, good luck.

I Woke Up In London...

It was quite damp when I awoke this morning. Not that I wanted to wake up. I would rather not have. If it were possible, I might still be asleep right now. But it's a very rare thing for me to be able to get all the sleep I would like.
When I went out to jog shortly after getting up, the world outside was gloomy and gray, full of garbage trucks, and cars that were carrying people in a hurry to get to work. At least until I arrived at the youth league football field, where the track I jog on is located, close to the river.
Jogging is a good time to think and contemplate life. Whether it's things going on, or yet to be. Either in my life, or just life in general.
But there's something about damp days that puts me off (an expression that means I don't like it, or don't feel right about it). It's an in between (between one thing and another, in the middle of) stage of the weather. It's not raining, and it's definitely far from sunny. It's gray, gloomy, and with a lot of moisture hanging in the air. It's not really cold, but it almost feels that way because of the dampness. I actually like rain. Well, a certain amount of it. But I can do without gloomy, gray and damp.
Anyway, as it turns out, I wasn't really in London when I woke up. It just felt like it. But I suppose that if I really decided I liked gloomy, gray, and damp, I could move there. Or even better, go for a weekend. That might be plenty.

At Home with Old & New Friends...

I don't know if is because I am a bit of a strange character, or not. But some of my most enjoyable moments are while reading a good book. I read a lot of books, I suppose, and I would not call all of them good, by any means. Or, to qualify that statement, some books are of much higher caliber (quality) than others.
A writer whose books I have been reading for a long time is William Gibson. Between yesterday and today I managed to read his most recent book, Zero History. Many of the main characters in Zero History were also in his last book, although they are both stand-alone novels (meaning you don't have to read the first in order to read the second, or vice versa). Now, for all you English learners, this is not a book you should try to read in English. If you want to check it out (try reading it), you should do it in your own language. The author is very literate and descriptive in his language. The combination is even a bit much for me upon occasion, and I need a dictionary close to hand.
Like many books, as well as stories, it starts off kind of slow, but after the first twenty to thirty pages begins to pick up momentum. In fact, the story gathers speed fairly rapidly. As I said, I began it yesterday, and finished it this afternoon. And it is a 400 page book.
I really do like William Gibson's work. With this book, he tells a wonderfully unique kind of industrial spy story that touches on cutting-edge fashion, marketing, & spy-ware, among other things.
But for me, reading this book was kind of like coming home. Characters, friends if you like, that I was able to become familiar with again, as well as new friends. A story that was engaging, with action, suspense, and beautifully written. And, besides all else, it actually has two romances. One that actually began in the previous book, and one just beginning in this one. But the romance in the book is not overdone (I wouldn't call it sappy). It is the perfect amount for the story. Although it was enough to bring a tear to the eye (ok, my eye) once or twice. And enough to add to that happy glow at the end of the book when everything well, as I hoped it would.
To use an expression, finishing the book made life, and all things in the world, seem "right as rain."

Children At Heart

I'm sometimes a sucker (someone easily taken advantage of, or falling for something) for sappy (emotional, sometimes overly so) movies. The other day I watched a Disney movie called The Kid. It was about a man whose young self showed up one day to ask him for help. The story basically was about the 2 of them (the man & his younger self as a child) trying to figure out how to change both their lives, or I should say, the life they shared.
In the end, I believe it was really about the both of them accepting who they are, and the man recognizing, and accepting, the child who was not only a part of him, but also who he still was.
Childhood can be a very hard time of life to live through, and many of us have experiences and things we learned about ourselves in childhood, that we would not mind being able to forget. And, of course, in our active and sometimes frantic adult lives, it is very easy to forget what it was like to be a child, and what childhood was like.
But we are still those children. And I believe it is very important to remember those children that we once were. They are a large part of who we are now. So we owe it to them, and to ourselves, to remember them, and recognize the child within us still.

Alive & Well

Yes, I am still here. I am recovering from my recent trip to the top of Mt. Everest. Whenever there is an election, I always vote by absentee ballot, and get as far away from any contact with the media as possible. No newspapers, t.v. or radio.
So I took a weeks worth of supplies, a thermal tent, a weeks worth of oxygen, a few good books, and spent a week at the top of a very high mountain. The perfect place to escape the insanity surrounding another midterm election.
Now you might ask, why did I go to the extreme of going to the top of a mountain for a week?
Well, my dear Watson (a reference to a fictional character from the tales of Sherlock Holmes), it's elementary. I can't stand to be reminded of how stupid and fickle people can be.
But I had to come back and face it eventually.
I am always amazed at people's capacity for shortsightedness. The economic situation was not improving fast enough, so the people put those who got us into this mess in the first place, and who have also been fighting all positive attempts to correct it, back into power. What's wrong with this picture? So, my guess is, this large group of people want any improvements to go much slower, or not at all.
Anyway, I would have stayed on the top of Mt. Everest if I could, but that just wouldn't be possible. I wonder if it's possible to become a citizen of Bora Bora? It's worth dreaming about.

Two Meals For The Price Of None

Some days are a complete surprise. No, I don't mean I woke up surprised to still be alive, although, occasionally, that does happen. I'm talking about expecting your day to go one way, straight ahead for instance, and it goes in a completely different direction. It takes a left, so to speak. Life can be interesting.
I was invited to lunch by a friend who was here visiting for a day, and so, I had to rush some things I was trying to get done, so I could get to the restaurant on time. Of course, I was late. When I arrived, however, my friend wasn't there. But three other friends of mine were there, along with two friends of their's. They invited me to join them, which I was a little unsure of, since I was waiting for someone else, but they assured me it would be fine, so I sat with them. Then, of course, I had to share a meal with them. It was the polite thing to do. How could I refuse. I love Chinese food.
Anyway, to move the story along, my friend, her baby daughter, as well as another friend, showed up about a half hour later. I think it was a half hour later. With all the food and conversation I completely lost track of time.
So when my three friends left, along with my two new friends, I joined my other two friends, and of course, my friend's baby girl as well. And then we were joined by two more of my friend's friends. Wow, what a small world. And there was lots of delicious food, including a new Chinese pumpkin pie dessert. I don't think there was any pumpkin in it, but it was wonderful, all the same.
And that, my friends, is how I got two meals, for the price of none.