Odds and ends

Just a few random thoughts on a Tuesday:

I'm baking my first-ever loaf of banana bread. It's in the oven right now and the house smells wonderful. My friend Melanie was kind enough to share her recipe when I was at her place recently, and I almost experienced the Rapture when the first bite went into my mouth. I hope mine turns out half as good as hers.

Tomorrow I'll endeavor to explain our Thanksgiving holiday for the benefit of our international discerning readers. I'll try to channel Dave Barry for this one, so our domestic DRs might enjoy it too.

If you're a regular or even just an occasional reader of the BYE blog, please do me an ego-boosting favor and click on the "follower" button on the right side of the screen. Becoming a follower doesn't do anything other than make a public profession that you're out there. It's been a while since I've had new followers show up, and I crave your virtual love. Also, if you've never commented to a post on the blog, be brave--your opinions are welcome here. I had an exchange with another blogger recently and we bemoaned the relative sparsity of comments.

The mother-in-law arrived last night, and Teri and Roberta are on the way to the airport to pick up Teri's brother, David. The holidays are officially here. Time to drag the Christmas ornaments out of the attic and basement.

The turkey this year is a monster, weighing in at over 22 pounds. I pulled it out of the freezer on Sunday. I hope it's thawed in time. I think there will be just the four of us this year, so the leftovers should last us until Christmas.

I'm thankful for so much this year, but not for the ongoing economic gloom and doom. I personally know too many people who are suffering right now. Part of what we're experiencing is just a natural consequence of economic cycles, but both political parties are to blame for exacerbating the problem--the Republicans for their shocking lack of oversight over the financial markets and the Democrats for their unbelievably profligate and ineffective spending. Collectively, we're all to blame for taking on ridiculous amounts of personal debt and expecting that our incomes and increased housing values would bail us out forever. If you want to be very, very afraid, click here. I'm no Nostradamus, but I can read the tea leaves, and I think there's going to be a huge political shakeup next November. People are angry and afraid, and that's not a good combination if you hold elected office.

Stephen King has a new book out--Under the Dome. I've read every book the man has ever written. He's prolific, but his last great book, The Stand, was published over 30 years ago. This one shows real promise. I'm only about 50 pages into this 1000+-page behemoth, but I can already tell it's his best and most imaginative writing in many years.

On Friday, Auburn University and the University of Alabama play in the Iron Bowl. Here in Alabama, this game always rates as a major holiday and the entire state shuts down for three hours while the game is on. I can't overestimate how seriously people take this particular football game. The stakes are particularly high this year as Alabama is undefeated and contending for the national championship and Auburn is a worthy opponent. Teri graduated from Auburn and teaches at Bama, so she is deeply conflicted about this game. We usually have friends over for brunch the day after Thanksgiving, but because our television is pathetically small, they want us to come to them this year so we can watch the game in big-screen glory.

The best wine for a Thanksgiving feast is beaujolais nouveau. It's a light red and goes great with turkey. It's always released the Thursday before Thanksgiving. This year's beaujolais nouveau is especially good--the best in many years. The brand you see everywhere is Georges Dubouef, but there are plenty of others. A good vintage of beaujolais bodes well for the 2009 French burgundy when it starts showing up later.

I haven't written about Carnival Time lately, but I'm deep into the third draft now, and I'll be shopping for an agent by Christmas. I had more work to do than I thought after finishing the second draft. I'm grateful to C-Tab (The Carnival Time Advisory Board), a small group of dear and literate friends who have gently pointed out the inadequacies of the second draft.

The buzzer on the oven just went off, and I've got to attend to the banana bread. Later.