Happy Thanksgiving! Make the most of it, enjoy your turkey and everything else.
— Andy
Many of your fellow neighboors are struggling to get by this thanksgiving. We are in one of the worst recessions in decades, with many parts of the market failing in ways that have not occurred since the thirties. Many people have lost their jobs and will not be having such a marry thanksgiving this year.
While some people will go in deep humility to the local food banks or be able to enjoy the holiday with family, knowing that one is without work and a victim of the current recessions must be painful. To know that one will likely be searching for a job for quite some time, and any job they get probably will pay less and not fully utilize their skills.
Others will have to work this thanksgiving and will not be home to be with their families. Those people while in many cases essential to our livelihood, won’t be able to enjoy the turkey at home this special day. Make sure when you pass them by not to forget to thank them too for their hard work and all they do for our society.
Eat your turkey. Have a good holiday. Just remember all those who aren’t having such a good one about now.
Everybody knows Halloween is a fun holiday for kids, to get out, meet some of their neighbors and have a good time in the fall. Giving out candy when visiting neighbor’s houses inspires community and less of a fear of neighbors.
Too often today our society has become isolated from one individual to another. Halloween is one such chance to get back together, and spend sometime as a community talking to our neighbors. At least for one night a year, the people you live so closely to are not so isolated from your life.
I do not understand why the religious right is so anti-Halloween. It’s a fun holiday, one more about community then the worship of daemons or fears. It’s meant to peak one’s sweet tooth at least for one night, and enjoy some candy. Most kids do not know or understand why they dress up and knock on neighbor’s doors, but the sense of community it brings is invaluable.
It is more concerning how some adults choose to partake of this holiday. Some older people now want to join kids in the celebration of the holiday. These big kids, often go tricker-treating or have parties. But shouldn’t adults have enough community experience, and know their neighbors well enough to not need to celebrate the holiday.
There also needs to be a de-commercialization of the holiday. Too often, it’s easy to get a Halloween costume for $20 or $30 dollars from a store, in about any commercially popular character that you want. All made out of toxins, proudly imported by China. Reinforcing commercial messages, encouraging children to excessively consume.
All in all, this high-fructose corn syrup holiday is a fun diversion from our everyday life. It’s a great chance for our young to meet our neighbors, and learn that they are not the scary people that the mass-media so often portrays them to be.
I look around and take a step out in the brisk October weather. I never expected this month to come so soon.
It was so warm out. It felt like summer for most of the previous month. Certainly not early fall as many of us consider September to be. Yet, fall came and now we are well into it.
The color is poping up. But it’s not as clean yellow, red, or orange as we normally would expect. It’s been too dry to get the beautiful colors this year, so we are seeing more brown. And that brown is spreading all over from crops to the fields.
It was not an excessively dry September of August, as we had some bursts rains, and our early summer was wet. Yet, it still left many with smaller apples, less lush hay, and pumpkins that were not as big or attractive as they might have been other years. But that’s how it goes with farming.
We have to look forward to October and the beautiful weather it will bring. Leaves are still not at their peak and all the crops are still not in. Frost is still a few weeks away, particularly with our warm weather. But clear skies are on the way. So enjoy your October.
