Thanksgiving Weekend

In the previous post I made a comment about Thanksgiving being a time to reflect. That can be a little hard to do when you have 30 guests for Thanksgiving dinner. However, with the help of two turkeys (almost 40 pounds worth), 31 potatoes mashed to perfection, seemingly endless tubs of stuffing (traditional and oyster) and enough gravy to sink a ship, a fine time was had by all, and everyone left in a happy, having-overeaten-type-of-stupor. The weather was perfect; not a cloud in the sky. For a group this size, the china was left in the cabinet; this was strictly a paper-plate dinner.

My personal holiday weekend got off to a rough start on Wednesday when, while running, I was stung on the top of my head by a bee. I wouldn't have thought such a thing was possible, but I can attest that it is not a pleasant experience - what I imagine having a nail driven into one's head might feel like. Fortunately, with the help of a couple of beers that evening, the pain began to dull and was completely gone by Thanksgiving morning.

Lots of football...the suddenly resurgent Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving; the suddenly mediocre Texas Longhorns on Friday; the renewing of the historic USC-Notre Dame rivalry on Saturday night. When I was growing up, college football boiled down to two rivalries - the Trojans vs. the Irish, and Ohio State vs. Michigan. From roughly 1969 until 1977, those four teams were always in the thick of the national championship race, and there were an inordinate number of classic games stemming from the rivalries during that period. This year, OSU-Michigan played a game that might join those ranks, but once again the Trojans just mopped up the field with the Irish. So now, we likely have a national championship game - Ohio State vs. USC - that by all rights should be played in the Rose Bowl (to heck with the BCS - give me the old, traditional bowl lineup any day of the week).

On Saturday night, we attended the annual Christmas parade through downtown Elk Grove, to see son #1 play with his high school band. Going through old town, the parade feels like one might have, say, during the era of "A Christmas Story." Kinda corny, but fun - and over in time to watch the second half of USC-Notre Dame!

Today, a truly desultory drive from Sacramento to San Francisco in a driving rainstorm, turning what should be a two-hour drive into a 3 1/2 hour endurance test. For the next week my home is the San Francisco Marriott, resplendent with Christmas decorations for the holiday season. My view from the 27th floor includes a sliver of the Bay Bridge, and if the papers are correct, the weather should be improving over the course of the week. Stay tuned...