Time for Sappy "What I'm Thankful For" Crap

So, it's that time of year and I just can't help it. It's like blog peer pressure!
I won't go into the versions of the early Thanksgivings that are more about massacres of Indians by whites (or do you prefer the term "European Americans"?)
Those stories have made it a bit tough for me to celebrate Thanksgiving the same way most other Americans do. Though I still enjoy the gluttony at Aunt Billie's house (Aside: Billie was in the hospital for what appears to have been a gallbladder attack...sorry Billie! That sucks. Hope you're doing better).

BUT, I do like to think about fall, harvest, and what I'm thankful for. Sappy, but true.

Let's take the whole family-health-home-living in a country with flush toilets-stuff as read.

Leaving aside the obvious, here are some things I appreciate, but not in any particular order:

--That my friends and many of my family are funny and especially in a dark way.
Who can beat that story of Great Aunt Mary/HorsePoop ? That's funny. And sick, so funnier.
Or the Arm of Testicles story?
Or the one about Molly and, I think it was Katie, stomping through Billie's Christmas ornaments. In her own defense one of them said "I guess I lost my head."
Sure it's horrible to lose all those heirlooms, but now you've got a story and who can stomp on that?
Those are family things.
Friend stories...well, there is "Hellllooooooo Annnggggeeellllla", "Spokesmodel Bree", and many many more.

--People who put old blues, soul, and jazz on the youtubes. I love that stuff. Today I'm all about Big Mama Thornton
Her version of "Summertime" doesn't want to show up in the blog so you'll have to click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwlTOspKNh8
Here she is singing "Hound Dog" long before Elvis white-ified it (That's Buddy Guy on guitar)



There's also some great early Bo Diddley stuff that introduced me to the fact that he used women guitarists way back in the day.

--People who are strange and embrace it fully.
That's why "Grey Gardens" is one of my favorite films. Those ladies are NUTS and they don't care.
Also, Leslie Hall from Ames, Iowa. She's a youtube celebrity.
And, again, most of my friends. But not me. I'm totally normal.

--Obscure foreign and independent films.
Who doesn't love Blood Car, Following Sean, Persepolis, The Burmese Harp, L'iceberg, All My Babies, Whisky, etc (if you need more, I can copy my netflix history into an email).


--Random Weird Crap
Like when I'm at work and we get an email saying that there is free fish in the parking lot. It's usually huge steelhead. You have to clean them yourself.
Or when the woman who lives downstairs knocks on my door to ask if I'll take her partly used vegetables (they were organic and local and delicious)
Or when I was riding with Jonny in Iowa years ago, we were on the way to crash a party with Angela and a little fog and ice covered roads weren't going to stop us. Jonny was driving his little death trap down the road we could see nothing. The fog was like soup and the road was like glass. Out of nowhere, a car back across the road in front of us. It was surreal.
So was another incident on that trip...we stopped for gas and Jonny got hypmotized by the rotissery wieners that were blackened and blistered beyond recognition.
Or when someone in a recent road construction meeting I was attending said to a colleague "Do you have that erection plan ready for submittal?" I was the only one who laughed.

I don't think I can top that last bit so I'm out.
Happy Fall Food Fest