The War on Thanksgiving

Posted on by

Photo #618: PheasantsLocation Taken: National Zoo, Washington DC
Time Taken: March 2010
Relevance to Post: They’re pheasants. People used to eat them. Still do in some places.

You know, I haven’t heard much about the War on Christmas lately. Maybe all the hysteria and hype finally died down for that. I never really cared much either way, since it was overly-paranoid and self centered religious folk on one side and politically-correctness-sans-brain on the other.

…Not that I don’t think a holiday is under attack by the retailers and politicians and whatnot, but that’s not Christmas. It’s Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Yes, even over Christmas (I dislike both giving and receiving gifts). To me, it’s a celebration of family and friendships and the joy of cooking elaborate meals. All things I highly value.

Now, though, it’s getting swallowed by the beast known as Black Friday. Not that I really understand Black Friday. I mean, sure, sales and all that, but is saving a wee bit of money really worth forcing other people to work obscene hours away from their families right after a day celebrating family, the joy of doing things slowly, and all the good aspects of life? Is such a strong contrast really necessary?

Not to mention all the other craziness that happens that you hear about on the news. I wouldn’t really know, though. I’ve never worked during Thanksgiving (…ever. Sheesh, my employment history is full of gaps…), and I dislike shopping. I very strongly dislike shopping during major sales that bring out all the extra-crazy shoppers in hordes. So I’ve never done the Black Friday thing. In fact, I try to avoid even leaving the house that day.

It seems to creep more and more into Thanksgiving Thursday each year, too. I hear story after story after story of retailers and shoppers pushing each other into earlier and earlier starting hours for The Sale. It looks like they’re no longer content with forcing employees to come in at midnight, now it’s “Alright kids, time to wrap this Thanksgiving dinner up early, Mommy has to go to work at 6pm tonight.”

Seriously. Stop it. Either that or accelerate the pace and skip over Thanksgiving entirely. Let’s do Black Wednesday instead, and give everyone (and I mean everyone) the following day off from work to recover from the insanity. Maybe you can spend that day hanging out with family and friends, maybe even spend some time cooking a nice large meal while you’re at it. Doesn’t that sound nice?

  

A Crack! A Gap! A (checks thesaurus) Rift! A Fissure! A Fracture!

Posted on by

Photo #617: Rock CrackLocation Taken: Ithaca, New York
Time Taken: March 2010

Darn it! I just noticed that this isn’t my 617th post, like the file number says, it’s only my 614th! There’s a gap in my files!

Apparently at two different times in the past, I’ve messed up the simple task of naming my organizational files with the number right after the last one. I skipped from post 296 to post 298, and then later from post 386 to post 389. I didn’t skip any days, just had…

Wait, I have an image file for post 297, but not the text file. *check check check* Aaaah, that was the day right after my old computer died. And I don’t have a copy of the text for that in my files. I must have just missed saving it in all the hullabaloo. *fixes*

…Wait, I’m still down 3 posts, now where’s the last one…

No wait, mental math error, I’m fine. Was counting off of the number of files in my “writing organizer” folder, and didn’t correct it for actually adding another in. Thank goodness for the “page up” key, though. That let me check my posts 20 at a time so I didn’t have to read the numbers of more than 600 posts to find what was missing.

Really wonder what happened with posts #387 and #388, though… Unlike 297, nothing big happened around then. It was a fairly boring April, all told. And yet, my brain blipped and skipped some posts.

…Of course, this means my (mostly personal) celebrations of hitting posts #400, #500, and #600 were actually two days premature. Now do I want to just accept the misnumbering and continue on as I have been doing, with the nagging feeling of it not matching up with me the whole time. Or I could go back and change the numbering on nearly 700 files (one for writing, two for photos), which would take a very long time to do. Or do I mess up my organizational tactic by just naming two random days #387 and #388 to fill in the gap…

Such a tough decision… At least option #1 is essentially the “don’t make a decision” decision, so I’ll stick with it for a little… Of course, doing that just makes option #2 all that tougher if I decide to do that in the future…

  

The Logically Named Ithaca Falls

Posted on by

Photo #616: Ithaca FallsLocation Taken: Ithaca, New York
Time Taken: March 2010

You know, I think I’ll keep it simple today.

This is Ithaca Falls in Ithaca, New York. I’m sure you can figure out why it’s called that. It’s surrounded by houses, so it’s solidly within the town.

Isn’t it pretty?

Gotta love how the local shale give this such a nice set of layered cascades.

  

Fronds of Grass… Frond is a fun word. Frond frond frond frond!

Posted on by

Photo #615: Lovely Dry GrassLocation Taken: Caseville, Michigan
Time Taken: January 2011

Is there anything lovelier than dry grass in the snow?

That delicate fluff, the interplay of all those shades of brown, all against the bright white snow for that perfect contrast. Truly a marvel of nature.

Yes, yes, I know there’s tons of things lovelier, such as blooming alpine meadows, waterfalls, a perfect sunset, and so on, but that was a rhetorical question!

I think it’s Maiden Grass based on the shape of the plant, but I’m really not at all sure about that. I’ve never been the best at plant identification in the first place, and for some odd reason all the plant sites put photos of the plants when they’re nice and green, rather than dry and brown.

  

A Lonely Bench on a Lonely Beach

Posted on by

Photo #614: Lonely BenchLocation Taken: Frankfort, Michigan
Time Taken: May 2011

It was such a lovely day when I took this photo, and yet, no one was at the beach, not even sitting on the benches enjoying the view.

Maybe because it was May, and Lake Michigan is still bitterly cold at that time of year. You can go swimming if you want, but only for about ten minutes a day before the icicles start forming.

Maybe because thanks to the cold water, tourist season hadn’t started up, and the only ones in town were locals, relatives of locals, and the few out-of-season tourists. I do recommend that tactic, by the way. Far fewer people around, and you get your pick of places. On the other hand, the ice cream stores aren’t open yet, and local seasonally open ice cream stores serve the BEST soft-serve. So I guess it’s a wash.

And maybe, just maybe, there’s no one enjoying the view because of the fog that’s completely blanketed the beach. Well, except for me. I was there enjoying the view, since I love fog. But then, even I left this bench all on its lonesome, choosing instead to wander around taking more photos.