Thanksgiving-- last Thursday of November in US

 

images from Stencil

Next Thursday in the United States is Thanksgiving, the fourth Thursday in November-- officially since Abraham Lincoln declared it so, though it had been celebrated earlier. It has some typical traditions, which are often ignored. 

The idea is a day of being thankful, eating a lot of food, and gathering with loved ones. Its traditional basis was supposed to be the first European arrivals being gifted with a feast by their Native American hosts (wanted or not). In the US, it's gotten to be a bit controversial with some feeling it should not be celebrated but rather embarrassed by the effect of the new migrants taking Native lands and killing to do it.

But the concept to me, of a day to think about the good in life, is positive, no matter its history. In my life it was a major celebration with extended family when I was young and then family and friends as I got my own home and began cooking it.

Today for Ranch Boss and me, it's a day of diminished results but good memories. We do not live close to family; so it's just us. We don't have the friends we had in Oregon, as when we decided to live longer in Arizona, was right when Covid hit. We hunkered down as did many. Now I have some physical limitations that play a role in just a few nearby friends, who are great but have their own families for such celebrations.

Some years, we'd fix a full turkey with the trimmings. This year we just bought a turkey breast with plans for some limited trimmings. Overeating when elderly does not feel good. The pumpkin pie will come from the grocery store's bakery and not made by me. I've done them though using a whole pumpkin to start. That's really good but not worth the work for just two people. No more fixing cranberries, the whole berry way, as neither of us care for it. We won't overeat (due to above reason) and will have leftovers. 

I got curious about how others celebrate a Thanksgiving or if they do. Turns out France does not, but here is a link to those who do, not on our date but one of their own.

Thanksgiving Around the World 

Diane Widler Wenzel :Thankful for memories

Looking through my stack of paintings, I recall many memories tucked into each piece.



This  airbrush on newsprint is from a photo taken of my mother in 1934 when she married my father.

This is my first airbrush work done at a Linn Benton airbrush class. Done in 1986 a week after I  broke my left wrist!  I am proud of  how I was able to open the Higgin’s ink bottle just with my right hand and drop ink into the pen I was holding in a hand mostly enclosed in the cast.

For this post I pulled out paintings and drawings I have stored in a stack on shelves. The watercolor of the woman on top is a painting of my mother  in her last years.

Each one of my pictures has memories of the people who taught me like my parents, treasured teachers, and people who support me like my husband, family and friends. I am thankful I have been in a position where I can be so creative. My stacks of art work is a happy visual diary of my life.

the end of a season

by Rain Trueax
 

Equinoxes and Solstices aren't the only way the year can be divided. Most people are familiar with religious holidays but maybe less so of those from our more agrarian past when humans lived closer to the seasonal changes.