Recollections the Day after Thanksgiving

Fran and yammies - a Thanksgiving Classic

Earlier this year we thought we would have the meal in Grass Valley at Mark's - what were we thinking? As if this year the holiday wasn't going to already be missing such a chunk of our hearts. So only a week or so ago the venue was switched to Rick & Nancy's. Mark, just back from New York State was there when I arrived around 3PM. He looks none the less for wear. Also on hand were the neighbors, Rachelle and uh... damn! I knew I'd forget his name. Diego is home from university and Adan took a much needed break from filling out those infernal, never-ending college applications. And me, and it was a nice manageable Thanksgiving mob.

A moment for Being Thankful

Thanksgiving was, as usual, a triumph. Again, the Thanksgiving miracle occured; a diverse group of friends somehow bringing pot-luck that wound up being a tongue teasing extravganza of flavors and perfection. I mean, YUM. In the past we flirted with salmon, Paella and such, but again we returned to old Tom Turkey (with a side of Tofukey for the honored vegetarians among us). Really, I don't know how we pull it off every year, but every dish was delish and there was plenty there-of. There was the usual embarrasment of pies afterwards - apple, pumpkin, pecan (TX style) all home made (which means pie shells weren't perfect, fillings leaked, flavors blew our socks off.

A Contemplative Moment Before Saying Grace

Yeah, that's Hommer peeking over his shoulder...

After dinner Mark showed us an album of photos from Fran's life. This is our first Thanksgiving with her. It was both difficult and exhilarating to see Fran from a cute chubby baby to the beauty she grew up to be. Mark gave me a disc of Fran photos that just love. Must gift him with some of my photos.

Not long after that is was time for the annual games session. Last year it was 'Bananas', but this year we returned to the tried and true Cranium; a board game that challenges you to do stuff like charades, clay modeling, drawing, spelling, you name it, until midnight.

In the Middle of a Game of Cranium

Whew! I was bad and kept zoning out, casting spells on my iPhone Harry Potter app. We played in pairs, Rick & Mark, Diego & Adan, Nancy & Me. Nancy and I came in last, but winning was never the goal anyway.

Nancy trying to recover from a laughing fit after
watching me at charades, performing the word 'Waterbed'

Fancy a Side of Irony with that Drumstick?

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm soon to be off to Rick & Mommy Nancy's for Thanksgiving din-din here in Sacramento. Meanwhile, I'm here at home. There is a crackle log on the fire and I was just enjoying a cosmic joke on myself. It was back in October, you see, that I posted a week's worth of 'spooky shite'. As it happens, Thanksgiving is here and still I'm mulling over the issues that week brought to mind. Many of those so called 'spooky issues' tie in so well with the subtitle of my blog here; Claire's Sit-com Life.

Really, let me explain. I've had animal totems for ages. Totems, spirit guides, power animals - think of them as critters with a lesson for you. I'm going to tell you about my three main totems and how they totally fit in with the Sit-com I've always thought my life to be.

My first totem ever didn't exactly come to me in a dream - at least not a dream I can remember. When I was a first grader. My teacher told my mother there was something wrong with me. All I ever drew at crayon time was Red Foxes. Why? How the heck should I know? I just loved 'Foxy the Fox', as I called my totem. I don't recall if I dremt of foxes, or whatever, but they were close to my heart, pretty much on day one, 6 AM.

My next totem, came to me in a dream when I was 9 or 10 years or so, living in the Bronx. I dreamt I was walking to school and a waterfall sprang out from under the sidewalk by an empty lot. I fell hundreds of feet into a pond below and when I swam to the surface; I was a beaver. Great dream. I used to draw little comic book stories of myself as a beaver named 'Ronnie' (named for Rock n' Roll's 4 Seasons song, as I recall). I didn't realize that beaver dream was a totem dream until I was forty-something, but better late than never. From that early time thought I always thought of beavers as being very special to me.

My inch high toy Beaver - threadbare
via 40 plus years of 'Velveteen Rabbit' love.

When I did know my 'favorite' animals for what they were - totems, I had an amazing revelation; both totems are euphemisms for female sexuality. You know - a hot woman is a 'fox', and a beaver is... okay, moving right along... I decided that my two main totems were so sexual, and myself being on the verge of the asexuality of a single-celled yeast, had to be nothing more than a bizarre, and embarrassing coincidence.

Now my third totem - not my only totem, I've got loads of them, but the only totem other than Beaver, to come to me in a dream/vision; the Mountain Lion that appeared in my bedroom.


Recently acquired Mountain Lion pendant with Peridot eyes
Now here's my point. Last Monday, it dawned on me rather suddenly, that a mountain lion is also called painter, panther and yes, cougar. Guess what folks! Cougar is a new, and recently coined and accepted euphemism for female sexuality, that is, an older woman, who 'preys on' younger men.

GAK!

My Trilogy of Totems all contain a playful innuendo of female sexuality, and me here, damned near a vestial virgin. Now, is that not a prime example of my life having a distinctive Sit-com flare? Damn. Honestly, when I first realized this on Monday I more or less sat down and wrote a letter asking a wiser friend her take on it, then I journaled the whole thing and finally, I've come to the conclusion it all just proves my point. My life is a Sit-com of the non-televised sort, and that is OK with me. Let the polite sniggering begin!

Sunday Morning at the Farmer's Market

What is that under Highway 50?
Hurrah! Made a great discovery this morning with Mommy Nancy. We discovered something neither lost, nor hidden. Yes, we now understand how Europeans 'discovered' an already inhabited continent. Voila! We 'discovered' downtown Sacramento's Sunday Farmer's Market.

The market has existed for years, but neither of us visited it. As it happens, I invited Nancy to go there with me today because I didn't have time to hit the Fair Oaks Market yesterday and me here, all plum out of plums and other produce.

The market is so huge, it is difficult
to get a good panarama photo of it all.
First off, the Market is at least 5 times larger than any other Farmer's Market I've visited in California. I've been wildly envious of a Farmer's Market in Olympia Washington since 2002, only to discover there was one here in my county, virtually in my own back yard.

None of the photos I took today with my cell phone did the splender/glory of this market justice. The market not only has the expected fresh veggies, fruits, cheeses, potting plants, and such, but also has fresh fish and grass fed, free range beef, lamb & chicken. At its fish market section, there are HUMONGOUS carp, shrimps, octopus, strange ocean dwellers that appeal to the Asian palate and ping-pong ball sized Whelks! Can you believe it? WHELKS!

Whelks! A seafood so cool I have NO clue on how to
prepare it! Damned sure going to learn though!
I got overly excited with the available free range (REAL free range) chicken. I don't eat much meat anymore, but it's nice to know that when I do, it'll be raised happy, on clean food and not stuffed into one of those godawful henitentiaries where the chickens are overcrowded, etc. I'm dropping my plans to raise my own poultry (thank the lord for that, eh?).

Free Range Chickens! Don't have to raise them myself!
Nancy and I were so thrilled we did not hesitate to jump up & down like kids who just discovered the concept of birthday parties. We decided visiting the Sunday market is going to be an event for us whenever possible. I mean, think on it - I can now buy all my produce, meats and gardening starts at a Farmer's Market. The local grocery is now just for sundries. The thrill is that by shopping that way I will automatically further reduce the amount of over processed foods and cruely raised critters I consume. Damn. I am living the good life now. I wish it was located in MY end of town, but then I wouldn't get as much of an airing, would I?

The Farmer's Market is across the street from a South Sacto park and playground that totally blew the Mommy circuits in Nancy's mind. Toys that engage the mind, hand-eye coordination, rubber ground mats &/or bark everywhere underfoot. Toys that were - dare I say it - FUN! Here. Let Nancy demonstrate.

Nancy takes her Inner Child out to Play.
That's Nancy balancing on the left.

See the kid swinging around? And no Lawyers standing around ready to sue!
Why wasn't I out there playing too? Hey,
someone had to record all this for prosperity.
I did all I could to not to spend the mortgage money on produce and oh well, I nearly failed! My damages were a pink fleshed pumello, a pasture raised chicken ( hopefully for tonight's dinner, Moroccan style) in-the-shell chestnuts, cilantro, pomegranates (my seasonal favorite), 2 bags of fresh blue oyster and shitake mushrooms for the price of one (near to closing time at noon), and for instilation in the Gulag Garden, a nice in-the-dirt cluster of elephant garden. Oh, and I bought a small baggie of Purple Needlegrass seed for my back yard habitat project. Honestly - groceries ought to not make one so very happy.