Busy Neighborhood

FOOD SMELLS

Wood Smoke

smattering of snow

WALLPAPER:  THE REAL END OF SUMMER

-------  

.. A group of neighbors have planned a 'round robin' Thanksgiving.  Set times for visitations and food exchanges and social distance gossip.

.. Some fly exchanges prior to Christmas too. We're in and doing our part. Gotta run !!!

-------  

WALLPAPER: BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Sunday Treat

OH SO SIMPLE

Oh So Good

sort of  spectacular

 

WALLPAPER: START THE SEASON

-------  

.. Around our neighborhood the holiday season starts today. Lights go up. Rooms get rearranged. Trees get cut. Gifts get wrapped and cached. AND . . . food becomes special: cookies, cakes, pies, candies, and so much more.

.. Our starter is the "Dutch Baby." The name is an American corruption of the phrase "deutsch baby."  

..  As the story goes:  Dutch babies were introduced in the first half of the 1900s at Manca's Cafe, a family-run restaurant that was located in Seattle, Washington and that was owned by Victor Manca. While these pancakes are derived from the German pancake dish, it is said that the name Dutch baby was coined by one of Victor Manca's daughters, where "Dutch" perhaps was her corruption of the German 'deutsch.'  Manca's Cafe claimed that it owned the trademark for Dutch babies in 1942, (from Wikipedia.)

.. The recipe is simple and delicious.  It allows for savory or sweet additions or decorations. It is prepared with stuff you already have in the kitchen It is a side dish or a main dish. It is a perfect start to adjust your attitude for the upcoming season.

-------  

WALLPAPER: READY, SET, GO

Fowl Holiday

BED IT

Bind It 

bake it

WALLPAPER: GOLDEN AND CRISPY

-------  

.. The bird is done and sundered. The neighbors are pleased and, we'll compensate with a steak tomorrow.

Frugal Repast By Picasso

.. For us this day is about stock taking.We are alive and in relatively good health - (age considered.) We can share a not too frugal repast with friends and other neighbors. The snow has held off long enough for us to properly put the garden to bed and to prep the vehicles for he cold period of our calendar.
.. Our taste for football has diminished as time has passed and the game has changed. The names are mysterious and the penalties are strangely bizarre.
.. In our day we wore aluminum cleats screwed into the soles of split cowhide high top shoes. We remember the introduction of light weight kangaroo low top shoes - my my.
.. Time was when kickers had flat toed shoes and punters could drop kick for 40 yards. The single wing was viable and blocking used no hands, Grass was nurtured to reduce the bare ground that expanded throughout the season. The Super Bowl was an after thought and the Rose Bowl usually hosted the best game on the radio.
.. Those were the days. Thanksgiving often seemed a chore - but a pleasant one. Turkey was mandated and the marshmallows were the worst part. The golden fog of time has not erased the memories of sneaking down to the pond at the park, With small safety pins and scraps of popcorn we would catch 3-inch long sunfish and bring them home to die in a used paper cup.

HEADED DOWN THE BLOCK

.. No "fish pole" was necessary. A bit of precious kite string or some of grandma's floss would work just fine. On rare occasion the fish lasted until we could put them in the sink in the bathroom. They quickly succumbed and did the back stroke in their final minutes.
.. Today we mix beer and, wine and, lies and, laughter. It's just about as pleasant as the past and, our sensibilities are not even ruffled by the use of paper plates.
.. Preparation is less formal, now, in our neighborhood. No lemon juice and baking soda to polish the silver. No fancy napkins to fold. No crocheted table dressing over the white linen tablecloth. No pass the whatever or eat the thirds in the kitchen.
.. Now we just cram cubes of dried bread in the anal orifice of a turkey and call it good. We pretend that this is a holiday for the family and not the beginning of the Christmas season.  $$$$$$

----- 

.. There's a gentle snow predicted for the next few days. We will fish some and visit a pub to catch up. Rumors are rife this time of year - there being so few fish stories and  such. The town has had the Christmas lights up for a full three weeks already. The parade and merchant stroll is making headlines in the local rag. High school football is done and "vacation" looms. 'Tis a fully modern little village that we inhabit. We're thankful.

------- 

WALLPAPER: THREE THIRDS LOAF - RYE, WHEAT, WHITE

Truss It ??

THANKFUL IS GOOD

And . . .

so is history

..

-------  

.. The bare historic bones of the first Thanksgiving are simple enough. A traditional puritan harvest celebration with neighbors. It took 250 years for it to become a national holiday - end of bare bones!
.. Beyond that bare bones history there comes a pile of erroneous mythology and contemporary historiography that amounts to the worst sort of revisionist history - just ask a 6th grader about it.
.. Three historical facts that must be kept in mind: 1) Thanksgiving was not the beginning of a long friendship between the Pilgrims and the indigenous people, 2) The settlers did not respected the indigenous peoples' unique culture or religion, 3) The interlopers learned successful agricultural practices from the indigenous people.

IT'S A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE

 -----

.. We are thankful, today, about our present situation in this veil of mortal tears. We are also aware of the ramifications of Europeans entering he Americas.
.. The blood lust for riches and, the myriad underpinnings of competing religiosity swept through the two continents more rapidly and more thoroughly than any wildfire.
.. All told: hundreds of indigenous cultures were destroyed. Over 100,000,000 native Americans were killed in a matter of less than 200 years, -- (it continues to this day.)
.. As a nation we are righteously indignant about the events of 9/11. Rightly so. We are less concerned about the genocide in our history: so much so that the frontier massacres are glorified.
.. We, indeed, are thankful for today. Yet, today we are sad, embarrassed, revolted and, unhappily aware of the dark history of genocide and slavery that our thanksgiving is based on. We can not fix our nation's past sins. We can, on the other hand,  be thankful that we can make our current life one that is informed by the past.

EXCELLENT RESOURCE

>> Teaching a Lot of Misconceptions

-----

..  For the first time in over a decade we are doing a turkey for Thanksgiving. We really prefer ham or a rib roast. But the pressure of the neighborhood and it's residents have prevailed upon our oven. We have all the implements of destruction for the task. We even have a 50 year old speckled porcelain roasting pan. 
.. As the fowl thaws we are in the throes of a crucial debate -- to truss or not to truss, that is the question. More to come.

------- 

THE  SIMPLE ALCHEMY OF TIME AND TECHNIQUE

LEST WE FORGET

THANKS

A PAUSE FOR US ALL

Thanks Be . . . .

amen

-------

.. We've too much to be thankful for. Passing 14 lustrums and heading for another is the big one. Freedom to fish or not to fish. Friends - family - neighbors - etc. you know it all. It's more poignant as the years pass.
.. About 1,000,000 hits on this little family and friends notepad. And the big one: fishing this afternoon on a stream that is un-named and seldom fished even by the neighbors.
.. Enjoy the day. Trite as is seems counting blessings is soothing at our age.

-------

M.O.A.L.

SEEMS FASHIONABLE

Here's A Video For Big Fishers

finesse for the left coast

..
..

-------

.. We can only hope!
.. For the past two or three years the MOTHER OF ALL LEACHES, (MOAL Leach,) has become the go-to fly on the left coast -- for fish of the large and chrome variety, (and others as well.)
-- Fished with gear or fly tackle, (one, two, or three-handed,) it has an especially seductive bit of action. Across and down, up and across, stripped, bottom bounced from a drift boat, slung beneath a bobber, etc, // it just works.
.. It comes in all sizes, (mostly big,) and has sprouted a rainbow of color combinations. The colors seem to be personal and idiosyncratic.
.. The key to a successful execution of the fly is the string and the judicious application of a bunny strip with Cyanoacrylate glue. Done right this fly seems to be the wonder drug for catching. We'll see.

-------

.. This can be a raging river if given the chance. High surf warning, high wind warning, heavy wind warning. The system is in for a flushing. The neighbors are pissed. The fish, on the other hand, will have some fresh smells to follow. It's all good.

Brookings Redux

THE RIVER RISES

The Fish Flip Us A Fin

waiting for visibility

-------

.. As the rain and cold descend into the Chetco River Valley, the kings, (and a few steelhead,) are grabbing air without being stabbed in the lip.
.. Anglers are gathering for the break in the weather forecast for Thanksgiving. Bitter cold is also forecast for the Cascades and inland valleys. It's time to soldier-up and put some grease on the guides.
.. The returning Chinook population has a few below average intellects - but none so dumb as to get taken by us. Even the seals have abandoned the Chetco River this year, (except for the two residents asleep in the fishing fleet harbor.)
.. There have been no fly fishers under 60 years old spotted around Social Security Bar, (or elsewhere that we have been.)
.. There's not a single fly rod in the racks at the local tackle shop. This is gear heaven!
.. Fish are charging into the system and a few are getting caught down deep in the main channel. All that hardware must be worth it's weight in titanium.

.. Gear sales are up as is angler population. The Smith River is also sprouting a fine crop of elbows. We may add to the crowds in a few days.
.. We're about to pull on the silk undies, followed by long handles, followed by woollies, followed by something to delay cold rain. We may be able to walk to the river.

.. Stopped at the local tackle shop and found a lovely hollow-built salmon net from our old stomping grounds down in Queen Califia's Kingdom. Brought back memories of a different era. The price is right but our need is not. If you need it it's hanging from the ceiling and is beautiful to behold.
.. Well, a couple more days of torture among the catchers and others on the beautiful and chilly Chetco River. This is beautiful and strange country.
.. The deer are the size of doberman pincers and the fish are the size of watermelons.

.. The fog is everywhere and nowhere, while the trees hide the hills and mothers hide their children from the infrequent yellow orb that periodically appears in the sky. There's green of every imaginable shade and rain of every imaginable density.
.. Such a place. More later.

-------

.

Giving Thanks

WHAT A DAY !!

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twenty minutes. Half-times take twenty minutes. This is not coincidence.---

.."Thanksgiving Day, a function which originated in New England two or three centuries ago when those people recognized that they really had something to be thankful for - annually, not oftener - if they had succeeded in exterminating their neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months instead of getting exterminated by their neighbors, the Indians. Thanksgiving Day became a habit, for the reason that in the course of time, as the years drifted on, it was perceived that the exterminating had ceased to be mutual and was all on the white man's side, consequently on the Lord's side; hence it was proper to thank the Lord for it and extend the usual annual compliments."
- Mark Twain.

---

.."Gluttony and surfeiting are no proper occasions for thanksgiving."
- Charles Lamb.

---

.."What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving ?"
- Erma Bombeck , "No One Diets on Thanksgiving", 26 November 1981.

---

.."Got no check books, got no banks. Still I'd like to express my thanks - I got the sun in the mornin' and the moon at night."
- Irving Berlin.

---
---
P.S. This is post # 500

Give Thanks For Trout

BACK IN A FEW

A Fly Fishing Thanksgiving

the bikini bird wishes you a

HAPPY THANKSGIVING
from the fisherfolks in downtown Hoopa

This is where the mind wanders to when the weather forces indoor fishing.
++++++++++++++++++++

.