November Traditions

Forget the fact that it's cold & rainy, especially if you live in Michigan, November is a great month. Here are some great past traditions that have occured in the month of my mother's birth.

The Annual "You're Gonna Throw the (expletive deleted) Dart!" Tournament

I used to have this every Saturday before Thanksgiving, with about 16-24 people participating. Good stuff, although the winner was never declared until the wee hours of the morning.

The Schroeder/Steinke Classic Golf Tournament

Eric Steinke invited me to play golf at Brookside Golf Course in Saline the day after Thanksgiving about 12 years ago. We suited up for the cold for years after that. The scores were never too good, though.

Thanksgiving in Deerfield

If memory serves me correctly, we were never too fond of driving to Deerfield on Thanksgiving day after church (I miss having church on Thanksgiving morning, too). The food was never that great, but there was usually a football game that occurred after the meal. That was fun. That was usually the day when Oma would give us our Christmas ornament for the year. I remember getting excited if somebody had already put their Christmas lights up when we were driving home from wherever we spent the rest of the day. Now, everybody has Christmas lights up starting in September.

Thanksgiving Night Movies

There was always good movies on Thanksgiving night. Some popular ones were Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Story, Grumpy Old Men. The most prominent movie shown on Thanksgiving was Home Alone. I wish that was still on. I remember that being one of the few times that we'd make a fire in the fireplace, & that was one of the few movies my dad would watch all the way through. He'd laugh with that high pitch laugh of his, the simplest sense of humor.

Potato Pancake Supper

There's Joyce's continuing thoughts on this tradition that hasn't been in my life for at least 15 years. The only things I remember about the Potato Pancake Supper was that the school stank for a good week before & after, there were lots of kids around that day, & best of all, I didn't have to eat it.

Restuarant

The Gentleman over there orders another pint,
well, that's nice, then I don't need to worry
if I have another myself in due course.
Trouble is, one straightaway thinks one is addicted,
I even read in an American magazine
that every cigarette you smoke takes thirty six minutes of f your life,
I don't believe that, presumably it's the chewing gum industry
that's behind that, or Coca-Cola.

A normal life and a normal death --
I don't know what they're good for. Even a normal life
ends in an unhealthy death. Altogether death
doesn't have a lot to do with health and sickness,
it merely uses them for its own purposes.

What do you mean: death doesn't have a lot to do with sickness?
I mean this: a lot of people get sick without dying,
so what we have before us is something different,
the introduction of a variable,
a source of uncertainty,
not an open & shut case,
not the grim reaper mounted on a bag of bones,
but something that observes, sees round corners, excercises restraint,
and musically plays a different tune.


Gottfried Benn

This poem reminds me of the scene in Clerks where a man waits behind the counter & badgers customers who are buying cigarettes, showing them pictures of smokers lungs & so on, until all the customers have formed a mob against Dante behind the counter who is simply selling them what they asked for. Dante's girlfriend saves him & asks who was leading the mob, only to find out it was a Chewlee's Gum salesman.

"As if I don't suffer enough indignities in my life, now people have to start pelting me with cigarettes?"

Great movie.

Five Favorite Songs of the Day

Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat-Bob Dylan, Amherst, MA 11.15.06

This is the best tour since Spring of '04.

Various Stages-Great Lake Swimmers, Bodies & Minds

Coyote-Joni Mitchell, Hejira

My Little Red Book-Love, The Definitive Rock Collection

Tell Ol' Bill, Take Two-Bob Dylan, Tell Ol' Bill Outtakes

Happy Monday, friends! Only one full day of work left!

andrew