Remember to walk the dog...

Are they served on a Sesame Street Bun?

Would you order a slice of Big Bird or some Elmo with fries?

Comments (more) welcome (now)

I figured out that I was not allowing people to comment anonymously. Since anyone reading what I am writing probably also would want to hide their identity, I have fixed that. Comment your heart out, Anonymous!

Thanking the Yous

It was only a few days ago that I mentioned Leslie Harpold and her advice on creating a Thanksgiving feast for many. If you liked that, you should love this one. Her old writing spot The Morning News just reran her even more popular and useful piece about writing Thank You notes, so I thought I would mention it too. If you have ever received a gift, Leslie offers simple rules to follow to get that all important note out quickly.

'Tis the season, after all.

Death and the Morning Commute

I'm sitting on a train on my way to work. I got a jump on the day due to an earlier-than-usual crying baby which brought me to an earlier-than-usual train. All advantages of that jump disappeared when the announcement came over the PA that there had been an "incident" with a "trespasser" and we would be delayed indefinitely, which is defined as 20 minutes to an hour. I don't know what I expect them to say when the train hits a person but the judgement in specifying them as a "trespasser" (which is standard) always seems a little crass.

The train got the go ahead to move closer and closer to the incident closer to the 20 min mark than the 2hr mark. We must have been the next train down because we had to stop to pick up the passengers of train 210 the one that hit the guy. Just before that we passed all the sheriffs milling about near the yellow tarp that almost covered the body. The passengers that we picked up are the regular commuting crowd and a whole lot of high school kids (damn, they are small) all on their cellphones telling friends and parents that "their train ran over a guy". I bet those kids will be the talk of the school for a few hours anyway until the story gets boring.

Weird morning all around. Weirder still when we passed the body and I mentioned it and said to the 60ish Portoguese (maybe) woman in the next seat that the day could be worse. She agreed and said "Yes, it could be raining".

Post of Thanksgiving Past

I just ran across this post from Leslie Harpold in 2003. She was an amazing person that Jenn and I were just getting to know when she passed away suddenly in early December 2006. Her writing always makes me smile and if you have never read this one, today is the perfect day. If you like it, she wrote lots more and lots more was written about her because many people loved her.

http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/how_to/how_to_cook_thanksgiving_dinner.php

Happy Thanksgiving!

Haiku-ing

A really good excuse for my lack of blogging has been the amount of work piled on me at home. This is not the typical husbandly duties like garbage removal service or protecting the family from dangerous flying insects (mostly moths) but the writing duties that I am assigned by the taskmaster at 13creative (who I married...on purpose). I am often asked to write some form of copy for Jenn's invites and projects. Today's (and Yesterday's) task was to write some copy for Sara Remington (our favorite photographer who did our engagement, wedding and Grace pictures)holiday mailer that will include fabulous food pictures and some chocolates in a box (it will look much cooler than I describe but I was not hired to write this description...yet). My solution was to go haiku as they wanted words that evoke emotional connection with food and obscure Japanese art form that I remember from 4th grade was the best I could do on short notice. I think they turned out ok...

Remember the food
Melting, sweet and delicious
The best of our lives

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Brown from the fire
Marshmallow melts chocolate
This night sticks for days

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The heat of the summer
Softening ice cream on cones
You have to lick fast

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Berries are lovely
Picked like perfect ripe moments
To squish with your tongue

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Warm smell of apples
Steams out of crust as it cools
Dinner please hurry

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Brownies are baking
My finger searches the bowl
For one final taste

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Both taskmaster and photographer went wild for them. In fact, Sara thanked me by giving me one back:

Grace is really cute
She makes the dinosaur screech
Watch out, she may barf

It's funny, because it's true.