Thanks For The Memory

Since it is in the middle of a long weekend Good Friday's TGIF music video is a bit different. A few years ago, before the inevitable onslaught of December's Christmas music, I decided to play some Thanksgiving music. Much to my horror I discovered there was no such genre, so I decided to create a catalog of Thanksgiving music to correct that grievous oversight.

The first song added to the catalog was Thanks for the Memory. Well, another year has passed and once again I've been far too indifferent busy to add to the catalog. Maybe next year I'll finally get around to adding a second tune to the Thanksgiving music corpus, but in the meantime we get to enjoy Thanks for the Memory again, this time by Dave Pell.

 

Traditional Thanksgiving music

On Black Friday I don't do a TGIF post because the long weekend started Wednesday night. However, I will use this Black Friday as an opportunity to play some traditional Thanksgiving music instead.

Regular visitors may remember a few years ago I went to play some Thanksgiving music and was aghast to discover the genre did not exist. Trend setter that I am, I decided to create the genre for the good of all. My first entry into it was Thanks for the Memory. 

Well, another year has passed and once again I've been too lazy busy to add to the genre's catalog, so this year we once again get Thanks for the Memory, this time performed by Sods' Opera. The lyrics seem to have been modified a bit, but the thanking is still there.

     

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving, man. Not a good day to be my pants.
- Kevin James - 

 

This year's budget Thanksgiving feast

Time to think outside of the box this Thanksgiving
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While inflation has priced Turkey out of the reach of many, that's still no reason not to have a tasty and elegant Thanksgiving feast. Since Flare's aim is to educate as well as elevate, here's a link to Depression-Era Dishes: 9 Budget Recipes That Are Still Good Enough To Eat Today. Certainly, you'll find a budget friendly and yummy dish to make you forget roast turkey, stuffing, cranberries and pumpkin pie. Below is one of their recipes which is sure to get your tastebuds drooling.

Hoover Stew

Ingredients: 16 oz. box of noodles (macaroni is best) 2 cans stewed tomatoes, undrained 1 can corn, undrained 1 can peas or beans (or both!), undrained 1 package sliced hot dogs

Instructions: Cook pasta until it's not quite done, then add sliced hot dogs and canned ingredients. Bring to a boil, then allow to simmer until pasta is done.

  

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving football

1876 Thanksgiving game, Yale vs Princeton
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Football is a Thanksgiving Day tradition. It started in 1876 when Yale bested Princeton 2-0. The score puzzled me. Reading the inter-collegiate rules from that era is baffling, but in digging around further football in that era was a sort of mix between rugby and soccer. Blocking (which they called interference) was not yet allowed; nor was the concept of having a set number of downs to advance the ball a certain distance before having to turn the ball over. 

I think points were scored, not by entering the end zone which only resulted in an attempt to kick the ball through the goal posts, but by kicking or slapping the ball through the goal posts at any time. Hence the low score. Teams, without the 4 downs to advance rule (which, when implemented was at first 3 downs to go 5 yards), would control the ball as long as they could as they ground their way down the field. Much of the later rules were instituted to increase scoring and reduce boring games. 

 

A Thanksgiving Day song

Christmas will be upon us soon and we'll be saturated, to the point of madness, with Xmas music. This Thanksgiving Day week I thought I would do traditional Thanksgiving songs instead. Then I realized there is no actual genre of Thanksgiving music so, trend setter that I am, I decided to create the genre.

This is the first, and so far only, entry into my new genre: Thanks for the Memory. 

This version features Ella Fitzgerald fronting the Marty Paich Orchestra. Older readers will remember that this used to be Bob Hope's theme song. As an aside, I saw Bob in one of his USO shows at Balboa Naval Hospital many years ago. It was a great show -- his standup stuff was a lot raunchier than his movies and TV shows. 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

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Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the company almost a week, at which time amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty. – Edward Winslow

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Yum, yum, yum! Have a good one, but don't stuff yourselves too much.
 

Problem solved

While looking for material for a Thanksgiving Day post I got sidetracked when I stumbled upon the Australian Brush Turkey. An interesting thing about them is they can walk up walls, particularly when they are chicks, even if the wall is inclined at a greater than 90 degree angle. Above is a video showing them in action. 

The scientists studying them call it wing assisted incline running. That's a wonderfully goofy phrase I'll likely try to work into a conversation sometime.

They're not actually turkeys, they're some sort of mound building bird and they can be quite a bit of pest in suburban areas.  The Australian ABC News has an article Man v bird: the brush turkey battle that discusses the problem. From the article:

Professor Jones says once a pesky male brush turkey has decided his mound, his nest which he uses to attract females, is going in your backyard, it's all downhill from there.

"It's just about impossible to get rid of the guy," he said.

"He has decided that's where he's going to put his precious mound, which is the most important thing in his world, and nothing will dissuade him.

"It happens all the time. People say 'I'm sick to death of that bloody bird', so they spend back-breaking hours spreading it all back out again.

"Next morning they wake from their exhausted sleep to find it all back in place.

"It's like the turkey is saying 'look I've made a big decision about where my mound is going and look buddy this is it, I'm staying'."

I have a suggestion for Professor Jones -- declare a national holiday, chop their heads off, jam stuffing into their carcasses and stick them in a pre-heated oven for a few hours. That should thin their flocks some.

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving all. Enjoy your family, the meal, pumpkin pie and football on TV.

Gobble, gobble, gobble

Have a good Thanksgiving