Twitter is a mashup – combining past and present – history and technology – cultures and places – and most importantly – people.

Kindred Spirits about Role of the Internet

Through Twitter, I have been able to do many things from finding tips about web design and graphics to pursuing political, environmental and social issues to posting links about our clients and about this area so that people all over the work can see them.  However, perhaps the most interesting Twitter  experience was a personal one. Tweeting led me to Peg Mullligan, a lady in New England, who is also interested in blogging, in distance learning, and practical uses of the Internet.  Because of our mutual admiration of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, we realized that we were kindred spirits in the way we envisioned the role of the Internet.

Squanto - Courtesy of the Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth

Squanto (Squantum)’s Link to Cupers Cove (Cupids)

Serendipitously, my son travelled to Plymouth, Massachusetts earlier this fall, through Cupids 400, to research and photograph a little known fact in the history of John Guy’s Cupers Cove Colony.  Squanto (aka Squantum), a Native American, who had been born and grew up in Patuxet (which stood where Plymouth now stands), lived in Cupers Cove (Cupids) in 1617 -1618.  He went back to his homeland in 1619, and was there to greet the Pilgrim Fathers when they arrived in 1620.

Though his knowledge of English, he was of great assistance to them. William Bradford, Governor of the Plymouth said of him:

…Squanto continued with them and was their interpreter and was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation. He directed them how to set their corn, where to take fish, and to procure other commodities, and was also their pilot to bring them to unknown places for their profit, and never left them till he died.

Squanto (Squantum) is little known as a person. He is usually portrayed as a Disneyesque caricature with the Pilgrim Fathers at Thanksgiving.  Yet, his life story is one of the most compelling in history.  He endured unimaginable hardships and personal suffering, and he was of great assistance to the Pilgram Fathers, helping them to survive in the New World.  I completed Internet research about him earlier and have included it in a website.

Squantum Website

Just as a little side comment, the caption on the bust of Squanto in the Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, explains that Squanto’s head is the only remaining piece from a grouping of  figures representing the Pilgrim Father’s arrival in the New World that stood at the entrance to the Museum in the early 1900s.  That seemed so appropriate!  Squanto is still the ultimate survivor.

Statue of a Wampanoag overlooking Plymouth Harbour

Twitter Connection

While in Plymouth, my son met Peg and her family who spent the Columbus Day Holiday in the area.  Then Peg invited my son to write a guest blog for her blog series: .

Technical and Marketing Communication: Content for a Convergent World: “Live with Abundance “

As I said, though Twitter and our mutual interest in history, we have been able to combine history, culture, and learning in an interesting way.  I hope others will join in our experience through commenting on the topic of Squanto and early New World settlement, which is of great interest to us in this area due to the 400^th Anniversary of Cupids, the first English Colony in Canada, in 2010 [References about Cupids 400 -  Cupids 400 Website,  The Cupids Archaeological Dig, Crossroads for Cultures - an Educational Site about Cupids 400 ], but also on the value of the Internet and Twitter as a cultural and a learning experience.

L’UDS è ormai finito e i vari team hanno ricominciato il loro lavoro e a prendere in considerazione le idee da portare in Lucid. In questa serie di post esamineremo le decisioni o le novità su cui si baserà l’LTS che verrà.

Player musicale Gli estimatori di banshee rimarranno delusi, anche Lucid viaggerà con rhythmbox, per il cambio se ne riparlerà poi per la 10.10. I motivi sono vari, ma il succo della questione è che banshee deve ancora maturare un po’.

Ubuntu Music Store Ne ho già parlato qui Appare chiaro che ora, alla luce della notizia precedente, l’integrazione avverrà per adesso principalmente con rhythmbox. Il partner di canonical è ancora sconosciuto, ma le ipotesi ci sono: dopo 7Digital, ora si parlerebbe anche della possibilità che sia Amazon. In ogni caso rimarrà valida la regola basilare del servizio: niente DRM.

Ubuntu One Il servizio di storage sarà maggiormente integrato con nautilus: volendo sarà possibile condividere file senza necessità di spostarli nella cartella Ubuntu One. È inoltre in sviluppo il plasmoide per KDE (PPA), è quindi possibile che anche gli utenti di kubuntu possano accedere più agevolmente al servizio on-line.

Gestione ed editing foto È confermato che il noto programma di fotoritocco avanzato molto probabilmente ci lascerà (qui il commento di Ryan Paul), rimpiazzato dall’accoppiata F-Spot & EOG. Quest’ultimo però acquista la possibilità di visualizzare gif animate e vari plugin extra. Per loro è poi prevista un’intera milestone di papercuts.

Video Editor Come anticipato dalle voci di corridoio, sarà un video editor a occupare lo spazio lasciato libero da GIMP. Il candidato più in vista è l’annunciato PiTiVi, ma la scelta definitiva verrà presa durante la fase di alpha testing.

Fase di boot Viene confermato che gli sforzi verranno concentrati sul portare la velocità di boot a 10 secondi prendendo ad esame un Dell Mini 10v con disco SSD. Sarà dunque ottimizzato il passaggio a upstart ultimato in karmic, sreadahead sarà rimpiazzato dal più performante ureadahead, e saranno fatte tante altre ottimizzazioni. Dal punto di vista dell’aspetto non ci saranno cambiamenti radicali, a parte la sostituzione di usplash con plymouth e armonizzazione del processo (Grub2 -> plymouth -> xsplash -> GDM -> xsplash -> desktop). Probabile ma non certo l’inserimento di un tema per Grub2. Certo invece è l’ampliamento delle schede che supportano il KMS.

John Lambert

John Lambert was born in autumn 1619, Calton, West Riding, Yorkshire and he dies on March 1684, at St. Nicholas Isle, off Plymouth, Cornwall.  A leading parliamentary general during the English Civil War (1642-51) and the principal architect of the protectorate, the form of republican government existing in England from 1653 to 1660.  Coming from a well-to-do family of gentry, Lambert joined the parliamentary army as a captain at the outbreak of the Civil War between King Charles I and Parliament.  He first distinguished himself in encounters with the Royalists at Bradford, Yorkshire, in March 1644, and he fought bravely in the major parliamentary victory at Marston Moor, Yorkshire in July 1644.  A major general at the age of 28, he helped Henry Ireton draw up the “Heads of Proposals,” a draft constitution aimed at reconciling the  conflicting interests of the army, Parliament, and the King.

At the beginning of the second phase of the Civil War in 1648, Lambert was commander of the troops of northern England.  He and Oliver Cromwell routed the Scottish Royalist invaders at Preston, Lancashire, in August 1648, and on March 22, 1649, Lambert captured Pontefract, Yorkshire, the last Royalist stronghold in England.

Second in command under Cromwell during the campaigns against the Royalists in Scotland in 1650 and 1651, Lambert and Cromwell, on September 3, 1651, decisively defeated Charles I’s son, Charles II, at Worcester in the final battle of the Civil War.

In succeeding years Lambert played a key role in Cromwell’s experimental governments.  He persuaded Cromwell to dissolve the “Rump” Parliament in 1653, putting the army firmly in control of the government, and was responsible for drawing up the Instruments of Government under which Cromwell assumed dictatorial powers as Lord Protector of the commonwealth in 1653.  Lambert served on the Council of State and was Cromwell’s right-hand man until, in 1657, he outspokenly opposed the proposal that Cromwell be made king.  When he refused to swear allegiance to the Protector, Cromwell deprived him of his offices but granted him a substantial annual pension.

After Cromwell’s death (September 1658), Lambert gradually returned to politics.  He did not openly cooperate with the army officers who deposed Cromwell’s son and successor, Richard, in May 1659, but he was one of the most powerful figures in the ensuing power struggle.  Although he helped restore the “Rimp” Parliament in May 1659, he soon broke with it and dissolved it by force.  Shortly thereafter, his army was defeated by the forces of Gen. George Monck, who marched from Scotland to reinstate parliament.  Monck proceeded to restore King Charles I to power (1660), and in June 1662 Lambert was sentenced to death for his part in the Civil War, Granted a reprieve, he spent the rest of his life in prison.

Pilgrims - An illustration for an old children's book

I love Thanksgiving. I love stuffing the turkey, making the pies, deciding how to prepare the sweet potatoes…I have a couple of recipes one old, one new. My daughter was born the night before Thanksgiving and her birthday falls every so often on this best of family holidays, in fact her birthday is today! I have so much to be thankful for… My husband, my darling, beautiful daughter, the life of my mother, my sisters, my gorgeous nieces, nephews, beloved first cousins a surviving uncle and his dear wife, the wonderful men I work for… I know there are more who should be on the list… like… my friends, near and far. What an amazing country we live in…

I hate to read stories about school districts and municipalities which are suppressing the traditional story of Thanksgiving such as this one. Making construction paper pilgrim hats, or drawing turkey feathers by tracing my little girl hands provide an especially strong memory of my little girl grade school years. The religiosity of Thanksgiving is part of our heritage, the relationship with the Indians, the Native Americans the Pilgrims encountered and were assisted by, can and should be told romantically. I am weary of political correctness. Let’s retain SOME of our traditions.

One of my favorite books from my girlhood was “Constance, A story of Early Plymouth by Patricia Clapp.“ I think I read it in fourth grade, but it gave me a firm foundation in understanding the Pilgrim story and the challenges they faced their first hard winter here in the New World. Naturally, it was written to appeal to a young, romantic reader such as myself. There was a a wonderful mix of romance and the hard realities of life experienced by those early Pilgrim souls. For years after reading the book, I wanted to name my child Damaris – the name of Constance’s younger sister. I checked “Constance” out of my public library in Naperville, Illinois in 1969 or so. Later, when Amazon came around, I ordered a used copy, so I would always have it, to share with my grandchildren someday.  I think it is out of print, which is a shame…

Apparently, the author is a descendant of the real Constance, who left the Pilgrim colony with her family to farm independently. The book is written as a diary and it is compelling reading, even if you are all grown up.

Have a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving….

As an Englishman I know very little about Thanksgiving so I thought it would be interesting/amusing/embarrassing to write down a few ideas of what the day commemorates before going and looking up the facts on that good old interwebnet thing. So bear with me and forgive my ignorance American folk, I was born on the wrong side of the Atlantic, after all.

So the Pilgrims left Plymouth on The Mayflower some time in the early part of the seventeenth century, looking to settle in the New World and escape the dreadful weather in England. Many of them had big hats, except for the women, who had big bonnets. They were all Quakers, of course, and ran out of porridge oats almost as soon as they arrived and were totally starving because they hadn’t learned how to catch turkeys yet. Some Native Americans tried swapping some beads for whiskey which didn’t go over so well as the Pilgrim Quaker Oats People were all teetotal and told the Native Americans that God would smite them with a big anti-drinking stick. But then they caught a waft of the food that the Native American’s were cooking from across the prairie – cranberry sauce, turkey burgers, pumpkin soup, McDonalds, etc. The Quaker Oats Pilgrim People were all of a sudden really nice to the Native Americano’s and asked them if they could possibly borrow a few items of supper until the harvest came in the next year. The American National Natives said yes, Joey, Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Phoebe and Monica did the cooking, and they all lived happily ever after, until General Custer came along some years later.

Or, if you want to go all Wikipedia on the notion…

Thanksgiving now commemorates the fact that the Plymouth Pilgrims just about survived their first very harsh winter in the New World. The Natives did indeed help the Pilgrims learn how to catch certain foods in the wild and, when the harvest of 1621 had been gathered, Natives and Pilgrims celebrated and feasted together. In 1863 Thanksgiving became a properly recognised tradition although it did not become a federal holiday until 1941.  Given that it’s roots are those of a harvest festival the traditional foods eaten are seasonal foods such as pumpkin, cranberry, sweet potato, sweetcorn etc. The day has become a time to travel and spend with relatives and friends and seems to mark the beginning of the Christmas season more definitively than any traditions back here in England (where Christmas begins in September once the chain stores and supermarkets start promoting it).

My version still sounds funky to me, but as I’ve never experienced an American thanksgiving I shall just have to reserve judgement and think of all the many things I have to give thanks for this year: my wedding to the wonderful Mrs Planet; spending time with friends, reconnecting with some old friends for the first time in years and making some new friends along the way; the sunshine which has surprised us all this morning; the health of our children; the health of most of our birds and the survival of little Annie the sheep even when she looked close to passing away when she first arrived on our doorstep a couple of months ago. The list of things to be thankful for is actually huge, when you stop and think about life. I’m even thankful for my swine flu jab, even if it is still making me feel rotten today.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Peg’s Note: The following guest post, by Neddal Ayad, is part of an ongoing series here, which celebrates stories of those who live with abundance. The connection of Squanto, the Pilgrims, and the first Thanksgiving to this “Live with Abundance” series, may at first seem not so direct, as the connection to previous guest posts in this series.

The more I reflect, however, the more I realize there is no better metaphor for living abundantly, than the hospitality the Native Americans showed toward the Pilgrims, the gratitude the Pilgrims expressed for their blessings, and the resilience of both Native Americans and Pilgrims alike, given what the author below aptly notes, as their respective isolation and dislocation. 

In the following post, Ayad portrays Squanto, who reportedly taught the Pilgrims how to fish in the New World, as a moving and fascinating protagonist, who even today, captures the essence of endurance, and helps us move across cultures. 

Neddal Ayad is a writer and photographer, based in Newfoundland, Canada. My family and I had the pleasure of meeting Neddal over Columbus Day weekend, in Plymouth, MA, where he was researching Squanto, as part of the Cupids 400 project. Neddal’s mother, Margaret Ayad of Baccalieu Consulting, is a friend of mine from Twitter. She coordinated my family’s meeting with her son, after I expressed a common appreciation for history and education, which she brings together so wonderfully in her online resource, Squantum.  

Here are Neddal’s thoughts and pictures on Plymouth, Squanto, and Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Holiday

Most people in English-speaking parts of North America have at least a passing familiarity with the story of the First American Thanksgiving.  Growing up in Newfoundland off the east coast of Canada, I picked up the story in bits and pieces from school, from movies and television, from trips to the US. In fact, I think we may have covered American Thanksgiving in more detail, than the Canadian version.

And by detail, I mean that growing up, I knew that Thanksgiving (American style) involved parades, football, and turkey.  Oh yeah, and there was something about Pilgrims and a friendly Indian named Squanto, and corn, and turkey……. and that to Americans, it was a really big deal.

Canadian Thanksgiving, on the other hand, seemed like a non-event.  There was turkey and a day off from school, but it seemed very much like a random holiday.  I hate to admit it, but I still don’t know the provenance of the Canadian holiday.  Ask me about Guy Fawkes’ Day (November  5^th), and I can lay out an essay. Ask me why Thanksgiving in Canada is the 2^nd Monday in October, and you’ll get a blank look and an apology.

Squanto (aka Squantum, Tisquantum, Tasquantum

Photo (Left), Courtesy of the Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth

Tie Between Plymouth and Cupers Cove (Cupids)

Where is all this going?  This year, around Canadian Thanksgiving, I was in Plymouth, Massachusetts researching Squanto (aka Squantum, Tisquantum, Tasquantum) – a major player in Thanksgiving, US edition.  I was there because prior to his encounter with the Pilgrims, Squanto spent time in the English colony of Cupids (Cupers Cove), located in the south-eastern portion of Newfoundland.  During 1617 -1618 when he lived in Cupids, by some accounts, he learned how to use fish as fertilizer, something he would go on to teach the Pilgrims at Plymouth. 

How he came to be in Cupids is long and involved and is covered in detail here: Squantum.  Little is known about what Squanto did in Cupids or even why he was sent there in the first place.  There is some speculation that John Slaney, a merchant with whom he lived in London, may have sent him to the colony as a go-between to help establish trade between the colonists and the Beothuk, who inhabited nearby Trinity Bay.  Regardless, Squanto wanted to return to his own home and his own people.  In 1618, the adventurer Thomas Dermer agreed to take him back to the eastern seaboard of the United States.  (See Squantum.)  

Squanto: a Warrior Shaman?

I should mention that much has been made of Squanto’s resilience – he survived slavery, he adapted to living in Spain, England, and Cupers Cove, and eventually to living as a kind of exile amongst the Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation.  One theory for his endurance is that he may have been a pneise, a warrior shaman who in Massachuset society advised and protected the sachem or chief – something akin to the secret service but with more intense training (see Charles Mann’s 1492 – Amazon Books ).  In fact, the name “Squanto” has religious overtones in Massachuset society; it translates to something close to “the wrath of God.”

All this must have served him well when he first returned to Southern Massachusetts.  In the five or so years from the time he was captured by Thomas Hunt in 1614 and his return with Thomas Dermer in 1619, close to 90% of the natives in the region had died due to an outbreak of what experts believe was viral hepatitis.  Squanto’s entire village was decimated, along with most of the Massachuset Confederation.  Dermer’s account of the voyage sounds like a trip through a nightmare.  They found village after village abandoned, or worse, filled with corpses.  Eventually, they encountered a handful of survivors who brought them Massasoit, the sachem of the Wampanoag Massachuset, which sets the stage for Squanto’s meeting with the Pilgrims.

Statue of a Wampanoag overlooks Plymouth Harbour

Isolation and Dislocation

The town of Cupids is about 15 minutes from where I live in Newfoundland.  The plantation site has been excavated extensively by Bill Gilbert, who is chief archaeologist with the Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation. ( See Baccalieu Digs Website.) I visited the dig site shortly before travelling to Plymouth, and shortly after returning.  One thought that struck me was that in comparison to Plymouth, Cupids must have seemed quite bleak.  Newfoundland landscape is known for its break starkness, very rocky, mainly coniferous trees, cliffs, and rough seas.  There is a beauty in the starkness that is almost impossible to describe, but to Squanto who grew up with his family and his people in the area which is now Plymouth, with its lush deciduous forests and low coves and beaches, living in Cupids must have been miserable.

While I was in Plymouth, I could not shake a feeling of heaviness; sadness is perhaps a better word.  Plymouth itself is a pretty town, and the area around it is beautiful.  But it was difficult to lose Thomas Dermer’s description of all the abandoned and decimated villages. Plymouth was once Patuxet, which was Squanto’s birthplace and one of the native villages obliterated by disease.  And in travelling around the town, I was thinking about exile and how Squanto may have shared the Pilgrims’ sense of isolation and dislocation in the New World, since they, like him, had left everything they knew behind.  Heavy, as I said.

The photos were taken at the Wampanoag Homesite on the Plymouth Plantation.  The clothing and activities would be similar to those that Squanto knew, growing up in his village of Patuxet.

Related Links

 Baccalieu Digs A Website of the Baccalieu Trail Heritage Corporation

Cupids 400  Official Website for the Celebration of Canada’s First English Colony

Indian New England 1524-1674: A Compendium of Eyewitness Accounts of Native American Life (Heritage of New England Series)  Ronald D. Carr, ed. (Description on Amazon)

Squantum.  A Baccalieu Consulting Website

Thomas C. Mann, 1492.  (Description on Amazon) 

William Bradford and Edward Winslow, Mourt’s Relation.  Version from  Google Books.

As we give thanks today for all that we have, even in these troubled times, let us remember to give thanks to those brave young mena and women who serve daily around the globe to protect our freedoms!!

Thanksgiving was first celebrated by the settlers at Plymouth in the Massachusetts colony in 1621 under the leadership of Governor William Bradford, when the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast which is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies.

Although this feast is considered by many to the very first Thanksgiving celebration, it was actually in keeping with a long tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops.

George Washington and James Madison each issued a Thanksgiving proclamation once during their Presidencies.

Thanksgiving as a national U.S. holiday is actually a more recent tradition – when Lincoln issued his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation that the holiday was established as a national annual event, occurring on the last Thursday of November.

Lincoln was inspired by a series of editorials and letters written by Sarah Josepha Hale, the New England editor of the hugely influential magazine Godey’s Lady’s Book. Though he initially resisted Hale’s appeals, Lincoln eventually embraced the idea of creating a national Thanksgiving holiday as a day of unity amid the strife of the war.

The first observance of the national holiday came one week after the dedication of the Soldiers National Cemetery at Gettysburg. The language of the proclamation is beautiful and marked by a rare felicity of expression.

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the everwatchful providence of almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore.

Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the most high God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United Stated States to be affixed.

–President Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, October 3, 1863

We are pleased to announce that 235 Adams, a majestic and grand Victorian home, has just sold. This 3000+ sqft landmark of Plymouth is truly a one-of-a-kind treasure in the City. From the spectacular circular staircase to the completely remodeled kitchen and breakfast area, you’ll find charm and character throughout.

To see more homes for sale in Plymouth and Northville, please visit our official homepage at www.bobbake.com.  Thank you.

Demain, le 26 Novembre, on célèbre la fête de Thanksgiving, c.a.d, la journée d’action de grâce nationale. Ce jour est chômé dans tous les Etats-Unis. Il commémore la première récolte des Pères Pélerins, fondateurs spirituels du pays, à Plymouth (Nouvelle Angleterre) en 1621. Les Pélerins, tous anglais, avaient quitté l’Angleterre, puis la Hollande, à la recherche d’une plus grande liberté de religion et donc, de liberté de pensée. Comme la moitié seulement des partants avait survécu au passage transatlanlique et a l’hiver précedent, les survivants avaient de quoi célèbrer.

Depuis longtenps, cette fête consiste principalement en un diner commençant, selon la coutume, tôt, en fin d’après-midi. Participent, familles étendues pour l’occasion, y compris des membres qui viennent de loin, et amis. La dinde en est le plat principal. En partie, c’est parce que la tradition veut que cette volaille américaine ait constituté le plat de résistance des Pélerins de 1621. En partie, c’est parce qu’il faut bien un gros animal pour nourrir tant de monde. Le reste du menu varie selon les familles mais on sert presque toujours de la geleé de canneberges et de la tarte de potiron (un légume d’origine américaine). La canneberge est une petite baie rouge au goût un peu aigre, cultivée dans les marais et peu connue en dehors de l’Amérique du Nord, il me semble. (Mise a jour: Mon ami russe, Sergey, m’affirme que les canneberges existent a l’etat sauvage en Europe du nord et qu’elles font l’objet d’une culture en Pologne et en Bielorussie. Etonnant!)

Moi-même, et ma femme Krishna, allons participer à un dîner chez d’autre immigrants que nous connaissons à peine. J’y contriburai un grand plat de ris de veau braisés et un autre de jarret de boeuf au bouillon et ciboulette. Je tâche toujours de bien représenter mon pays d’origine, au moins sur ce plan là. Après quarante, je demeure l’un des conservateurs officieux de la cuisine de concierge.

PS J’écris rarement en Français à cause de ces putains d’accents!

There has been a lot of fun and excitement associated with the filming of Trust, the David Schwimmer movie starring Clive Owen and Catherine Keener.   I don’t know too many specifics, but quite a few scenes have been shot on the streets of our little town.

There are some other web sources regarding this, particularly some cool stuff on Facebook.  I’m hoping to gain permission to share some of that information here (since it was gathered by someone else’s hard work.)

UPDATE:  As of about 8 p.m. today (Wed., 11/25), it looked like there was shooting taking place in The Gathering.  The intersection of Union and Penniman, and in front of the Penn, were closed to traffic.

Oh my goodness, look how yummy that is. (istock/ftwitty)

Have you ever been to Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Mass.? I ask this because, you know, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, which got me thinking about pilgrims and whatnot. Also, I went to Plimoth Plantation when I was about eight years old. I remember that the plantation overlooked the ocean, and that the sky and the water were so blue it almost hurt. I was terribly envious of the actors who lived at the plantation (I thought they really lived there), making pilgrim crafts and pilgrim food and sleeping in little thatched-roof pilgrim homes.

Fortunately, I just found out that the actors still live there and will engage you in conversations about the fictional lives they lead in Plimoth. For example, writer Marshall Berden asked “John Parsons” whether he was disappointed they’d settled in an area with such a cold climate. “John Parsons” replied, in the King’s English, that Plymouth was hotter than England, “plenty hot for me, thank ye.”

If you ask me, the coolest thing about Plimoth Plantation, besides the azure sky and the actors, was the famed feast that, centuries later, means I get to eat sweet potato casserole and drink 75 glass-bottle Cokes in one day. The original Thanksgiving feast didn’t include casserole or Coke; it included deer meet, Indian corn, wild fowl (maybe turkey, maybe not), fish (lobster or clams, perhaps), pumpkin, squash and peas. It wasn’t really intended to be a repeat feast; it simply was a celebration of harvest for a group of people who were, no doubt, having a rough time.

And that brings me back to the present. According to the Associated Press, Thanksgiving travel plummeted 25 percent between 2007 and 2008, due to the recession, and is expected to increase by only about 1.4 percent this year. Are you part of that extra 1.4 percent who are pulling out of the recession to fly somewhere this Thanksgiving? If so, I declare myself thankful for you. I toast you with a spoonful of sweet, sweet, sweet potato casserole.

Yum:
5 Scrumptious Thanksgiving Appetizers
10 Ways to Reuse Your Thanksgiving Leftovers
How to Cook the Perfect Turkey

I hope that all reading this will have the kind and level of Thanksgiving Day which seems appropriate and right for them. Not all of ye few, ye proud, ye brave– ye readers are Americans.  I am reprinting a Facebook Note from last year on the Thanksgiving  Holiday here. I hope you enjoy it as part of your season.

This morning in the very early hours  I sent out 40 e-cards to comemorate the holiday and Monday night I had Sarah, Alyse, Anika, Soren and my nephew Eli who is my sister Mary’s son over for a large dinner where we returned thanks and were in fellowship. Tomorrow I am scheduled to be with my Dad’s mother and his siblings and their families. So this is a pretty full Thanksgiving compared to last year but the parts of  the note which are not about my specific plans are largely accurate. So here is the note:

Getting Personal: A few thoughts about my life and Thanksgiving.

End of Facebook Note–

I am enjoying a happier frame of mind (not much)  than last year and do have many things on my mind to be thankful for in my life. I am heading into townto visit some people in a Thanksgiving way and we will see how that goes before tomorrow. Then hopefully a pleasant dinner with extended family.

1)  You get hammered at dinner and talk about how the American Indians were screwed out of Manhattan island during the War of 1812..

2) Make your daughter cry because you tell her that OBAMA chopped the head of Tom Turkey on the front lawn of the White House because he thought it was Bill O’Reilly…

3) Talk incessantly about how you played high school football and that during the 1974 Thanksgiving Day game vs your rival Teaneck that you threw a touchdown pass to your best buddy, who stole your 8 track player from your 1967 Chevy Nova…

4)  Make statements like  “  You think the recession is bad now on Thanksgiving, wait until Christmas hits kids…Trust me it will be brutal “…”  Just being honest people”….

5) Keep bringing up deceased members of the family at dinner  and what FOODS they DIDN’T like when they were ” with us”…  ex.  POP POP ( Grandpa) hated sweet potatoes, or “remember how Aunt Sylvia used to hate gravy”….

    Oh well you get it  …Let’s hear  some of your Worst things scenarios !

Q:  What kind of music did the pilgrims listen to?

A:  Plymouth Rock!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Santa’s coming to town this Friday! This year’s arrival celebration will include musical groups throughout downtown Plymouth with Santa arriving at Kellogg Park on a fire engine at 6 p.m. For information about this and other events happening in Plymouth, please visit www.downtownplymouth.org.

“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain, but it takes character and self control to understand and forgive.”

Dale Carnegie

As I’m finishing up the home stretch into Thanksgiving, I can’t help but think about an argument I had with one of my cousins a few weeks back, about why she doesn’t like Thanksgiving.  Since that argument resulted in her getting scolded for being ungrateful by another relative, I won’t name her here (and ALL my cousins are girls, so that doesn’t narrow it down for anyone).  So that I can refer to her as something other than “my cousin,” though, let’s call her “Z.”

Z doesn’t like Thanksgiving for several reasons.  She doesn’t like Thanksgiving food, like turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, et cetera.  I can’t agree, but maybe that’s why I’m “husky.”  Z also feels that it’s a hypocritical time in America, when we congratulate ourselves about getting along with the Native Americans that helped the Pilgrims make it through that terrible first year, only to repay them with war, atrocity, and stealing their lands.  I can’t blame her for this one, and I definitely can’t blame her for the last reason, which basically boils down to family issues.  It doesn’t make sense to her that we need to use holidays as an excuse to have a family dinner, but I think Z is also uncomfortable with the veneer of happiness that holidays attempt to impose over even the most dysfunctional of families, of which ours is certainly one.

The food isn’t a big deal, or at least it won’t be once Z starts hosting her own Thanksgivings, if she chooses to.  Personally, I hope she does.  I’ve come to appreciate the holiday more since I’ve been out on my own, and she’ll be able to eat whatever food she wants then.  Hell, the Pilgrims probably didn’t even eat turkey at the first Thanksgiving, and they certainly would not have had the sugar and spices on hand to make pumpkin pie.

The revisionist history of Thanksgiving does annoy me a lot, so I can kind of understand her feelings on that matter.  Personally, I try to associate Thanksgiving less with the Pilgrims and more with another important historical context of the holiday, October 3^rd, 1863, when President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November to be a day of Thanksgiving.  It wasn’t the first time a President had proclaimed such a day—in fact, feasts of thanks had been pretty common over the years.  It was however, the middle of the Civil War, and maybe at no time since the first year of the Plymouth Colony did Americans need so greatly to be reminded of the good things they still had in their lives.

My cousin Z’s last objection isn’t really something I can help her with.  Our family is kind of broken.  Getting four of us under one roof is a major accomplishment anymore, and we’ve never been all that close, emotionally speaking.  I think she’ll come to welcome these times more and more as she get’s older, though.  I certainly did.  I now live almost 800 miles from my immediate family, and I’m lucky if I get to see them twice a year—usually it’s only at Christmas—and I can appreciate now how having a few days when everyone is off from work and school to get together is really a blessing, even with all the stress and negativity that often come with family gatherings.

There are a lot of people out there who agree with Z, though, and I think I know why.  It’s really easy to get overwhelmed by all the trappings of our major holidays, the costumes, the candy, the presents and the food, and when we rebel against those trappings we often ignore the important sentiments that underlie those holidays.

I think that’s a mistake.  Thanksgiving is not about gluttony, or patting ourselves on the back about the one time we were able to sit down with the Indians and not murder them—it’s about gratitude.  Christmas isn’t really about Santa Claus, or presents, or even Jesus—it’s about charity, and giving something to others when things are at their darkest.  Easter’s not about jelly beans, eggs, or chocolate bunnies, it’s about renewal and rebirth, about hope.  And call them what you will, but just about every culture has holidays that celebrate these concepts, and the crassness of the trappings aside, to ignore the deeper meanings of such days is to belittle our souls.  We all need to be reminded of the good things we have, and the good we can share with each other, because otherwise we’re just floating around on a rock without any purpose, and what’s the point of that? If they do nothing else, holidays remind us that we’re not alone, and that we can be good, if we try.

Our little expedition made our way outside of the second barn and were just hanging around. I thought that we had done the tour, gotten the t-shirt and were on the downhill of an adrenaline spike. There was still a few Mopars in the immediate area. So while our host and my friends were chatting I walked around a bit.

Walking around next to the third barn was a well picked over Plymouth Duster. It wasn’t anything special, but it was a old Mopar. So it deserved some attention. It was a green on green car from the looks of it. Has some parts left on it, sad to see it though just sitting there, watching over the fields. Continue reading after the jump.

Nearby was a 65 Satellite parts car. It has the V8 emblem, so it could be a small block or big block car. This car looked as though many of its parts would be used for one of the other half dozen 65 Satellites he has.

Walking back towards Barn Three was a really nice old 70’s Dodge Extended Cab pickup. The kind you would find on farms. It was in pretty decent shape. Sure there was rust, but nothing compared to the rust in my 93 RamCharger. I wouldn’t mind dragging that thing out of there and getting it going! Would be one nice parts hauler.

After looking at the truck, I turned around to find the third barn had a large open area that opened up to the truck that was also full of parts! Hood, bumpers, seats, fenders, almost anything was in this little nook. And that got the wheels running in my head, could there be MORE in this barn?

I walked over to where the group was chatting and asked if I could open the door to the third barn, he said sure. And we opened it up and I was in the back of the previous opening. I thought that was cool, then from the left side I see Shad and Scott pop their heads out of a hole in the wall, there was more!

Walking in through the other door, you could hardly walk there was so many WONDERFUL parts. In the rafters was grilles from Challengers and Chargers that I could see, and each stall was full of different things, some were full of seats, others of hoods.

In the middle of the walkway was what I think was an late 60’s A-body 4 piston disk brake setup still on the k-member. Also in the hall way was some doors and a trunk lid from a 68 Road Runner or Satellite. All the pieces, while dirty was in great condition. There was even some sort of original drag racing Mercury Comet GT? hood in there along with all the Mopar stuff.

Spending some time in there going through the different stalls, I was just in wonderment of what he all had. I thought I had seen some crazy collections before, but this was just insane!

I finally emerged from the third Barn to find my Scott just smirking from ear to ear, and Shad was just shaking his head back and fourth as I began ranting about what I had just seen, like a kid going to the candy store! They laughed and we all were chatting again, then our host dropped another bombshell…. wanna see the other 30 cars out back?!?!?!?!?!…. There was MORE!

Ryan’s Cars in Barns Pictures

www.carsinbarns.blogspot.com

Gleaned in part from the SUN:

• November 24th  5 – 8 pm – Public Input for Lebanon Hills Visitor Center Phase 2
• November 25th  7:30 am – 9:00 am – Commerce Fusion Chapter BNI (networking event for local professionals)
• November 28th  1 -3 pm – Holiday Gift Sale – info
• November 29th 12:30 pm – 5 pm – Holiday Market at :  Unity Christ Church, 4000 Golden Valley Road.  website
   

In a few days Thanksgiving will land on the shores of the United States and there will be great cause for celebration!  A lot has changed since the first pilgrims landed in Plymouth in 1621.  Escaping religious persecution and surviving a hard winter, the band of settlers appropriately gave thanks to God for His care.  

Giving thanks — its not always easy to do.  The Thanksgiving of 1621 would have thrown many of us 20th century folk for a loop.  Further on down the line, Thanksgiving is still just as relevant for us as it was for those long-ago pilgrims.  No, its not about the football.  Its about remembering how God watched over those pilgrim ancestors of ours and how He still watches over us.  Every year, pilgrims land on our shores.  Perhaps we haven’t consciously thought of it this way, but persecution still exists in the world and many make the treacherous journey to the Land of the Free.  But their story doesn’t end there.  Their struggles continue with living in a land with a different language, an economic slump, and a realization that not all their dreams may come true.  Its more than culture shock and the pilgrims of 1621 experienced a little more than just culture shock too.  

So here we are, preparing to celebrate yet another Thanksgiving.  For some, it will be there first Thanksgiving.  Let this day be when we make time to think and remember how God has led us in the past — yes, even during our darkest moments.  Let this be the day when we focus not on criticism, spite, getting even, or even on common distractions, but on family, life, the small yet significant blessings, and the opportunity to reach out to others and provide hope.  For once in our lives, lets consciously dwell on giving thanks.