I was one of those kids who danced. I spent hours and hours at dancing school for years and years. With all candor, I wasn't very good. In every recital photo, if the whole group is pointing to the left, I am pointing to the right. If the group is doing pirouettes, I am down on one knee. You get the idea. I had so much trouble keeping up. But I loved it.

Today, I am all about surprises. Yesterday, my husband and I threw our eldest daughter a surprise bridal shower and, even though there were slip-ups, i.e. text messages not meant for her sent in a group family text, I think we pulled it off. She had a fabulous day and she seemed, genuinely, surprised.  

With Thanksgiving and for many of us a long weekend approaching, I find it nice to anticipate gatherings of families and friends.   Every Thanksgiving involves memories and traditions. Some revolve around the food and how we prepare it. Others peculiar to some celebrants.  

I'm excited...my favorite holiday is just about here. No presents exchanged, no religion, no politics (maybe:) and of course great food.   I'm particularly looking forward to frying a turkey and barbequing a couple of ducks. Both require a bit of finesse and thought. The ducks in particular have quite a bit of fat and the drippings can easily spark a flame. In fact, that happened a few years ago. I was tending the turkey in the fryer and my daughter said to me: "Dad, the gril is on fire." I turned and there were flames shooting out of my grill.  

You could say this piece is about recycling (which is a good Green thing), but I prefer to think of it as a the start of a primer of stuff which is intended for a specific purpose and has other worthy uses. My list is as follows:

I’m not one who pedals conspiracy theories but I do marvel at some coincidences. We live in stressful times. Cable news attests to that. Is it any wonder that the standards for hypertension have been lowered? More blood pressure medication will flow. And the new head of Health and Human Services comes from Big Pharma. And all this came in one day earlier this week. The perfect storm.

Twenty-Six letters. Seven colors in a rainbow. Isn't it amazing what human beings can do with just a few musical notes, or colors or letters. Create joy, bring back forgotten memories, enlighten nations.

  It gets earlier every year.     I used to comment that the songs, sounds and decorations of the holidays had arrived just after Thanksgiving. I thought that was early.