Thanksgiving Without All The Fancy Trimmings

This is shaping up as the Thanksgiving when people return to old fashion values and go sparingly on all the exotic side dishes that have come to signify the opulence of the Holiday and our own sense of excess.

In a lot of respects this Thanksgiving promises to be something special – something we can really be thankful for. In spite of a recession families will once more gather to rejoice in their freedom and the bounty of their table, but this time most if not all of the trimmings will be homemade and not store bought. Is that so terrible? I rather like it, and the smells coming from the kitchen make my mouth water in anticipation.

You do remember the aroma of a home made apple pie wafting from the oven through the kitchen and out into the living room of a home you can afford to live in where a happy group of family and friends are gathered before a roaring wood burning fire, don’t you? Life can be good.

Is eggnog any better when laced with twenty-five-year-old brandy than with cheap dark rum? Does a Ford compact car get you where you want to go as well as a Mercedes Limousine?

What store bought barbequed bird can compete with a twenty-pound turkey basting in its own juices as its skin crisps and the smell of sausage and cornbread stuffing sends the dog whining in anticipation and dancing in circles?

Do the children playing games in the hallway know the difference between Oysters Rockefeller and chestnuts wrapped in bacon?

Is pumpkin and squash soup any less delectable and tasty then lobster bisque from the gourmet store? Are eating fish egg caviar what the pilgrims had in mind for their day of Thanksgiving?

If we are not alone, if we can share the holiday together, what difference does it make if we can’t spend a lot of money on some fancy trimmings? We have more than most people can hope for. We have a bounteous table of our own making, and the family and friends to share it with. We have a lot to be thankful for. We are together. We are free.

Too much emphasis on having all the exotic trimmings we can conger up may be why we got into this recession to begin with. Thank God the American public has enough sense to know when to stop spending on fancy luxuries they can do without, and start saving for their own and their children’s future.

When we all remember the lessons of the past that our parents and grandparents tried to teach us, we will truly have something to be thankful for. Then this recession will really be gone, and the real trimmings of a wonderful life will come racing back to us with our heartfelt thanks. They will always be ours to cherish and remember.

May the trimmings of your heart and mind make your cup full of love to the brim and your sense of joy running over.

Have a Happy, Healthy Thanksgiving.
*****



Hi this is Arthur Levine and Johnny Oops the principal character in my new novel wishing you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving. To read about Johnny’s escapades please join us at http://johnnyoops.blogspot.com.

Interview

Hi everyone, take a look at the interview about me and my novel Johnny oops by Soooz from Goodreads.com

http://sooozsaysstuff.blogspot.com/

Regards,

Arthur

Talking Politics With Twin Baby Prophets

*** Fictional Names changed to protect the not so innocent

Darling and Delicious, the twin baby prophets of Sarhara and her husband the prophet Johnny Oops, had a secret that they shared. Although they were only three months old, because they had genius genes, they had the minds of grown up women, and they regularly argued over politics telepathically. The trouble is that Darling was a republican, and Delicious was a democrat. They argued incessantly over conservative verses liberal points of view. Please keep in mind that their views were not those of normally mature women, but these genius young ladies were determined to solve the major political problems of the United States.

Darling: “We have got to do something about our long term deficit. We have got to balance the budget. Spending is going wild.

Delicious: That’s your fault. You republicans are supposed to be the ones who control the budget and are tough on spending.

Darling: We can’t help it. This war is costing a fortune

Delicious: Who started the war to begin with? I told you it’s your fault.

Darling: Protecting our people from terrorism is more important than balancing the budget.

Delicious: Now your talking like a democrat. We have to spend to protect our people. They are entitled. That’s what’s important.

Darling: It’s your damn entitlements that got us in trouble in the first place. Now see what you’ve done.

Delicious: We are going to have to cut back on foreign spending and the war to save the dollar and protect our economy.

Darling: Now look at who is talking about protectionism. I thought you are supposed to protect us against other countries, not ourselves.

Delicious: That’s not the kind of free market thinking we need. The whole world wants to be our trading partner.

Darling: Then why don’t they trade with us fairly?

Delicious: What do you want – a perfect world?

Darling: This whole discussion strikes me as a classic case of role reversal. What ever are we going to do?

Delicious: We may have to form a third party.

Darling: That would be impossible. We don’t agree on anything.

Delicious. That’s perfect, then we will fit right into the political landscape of the United States.

Darling: I guess when our forefathers fought for individual freedom they did mean it literally.

Delicious: That’s what so precious about our democracy, Darling. Let’s never forget it.

Darling: For once I agree with you, Delicious, but don’t let anyone know. They will start to think we republicans are becoming too liberal, too democratic, and God forbid, too weak.

Delicious: As long as we both agree that it’s America first, I am happy to keep your secret.

Darling: That’s okay, that’s a secret you can tell everyone about.

Darling and Delicious: I think we both should tell everyone it’s America first as soon as we find our voices, and learn how to speak. This growing up thing can be hell. Thank goodness that in our case it is happening quicker than for most.

*****

Hi, I am Arthur Levine, the author of the novel Johnny Oops. To read more about Johnny, his wife and children, and his fictional wild escapades please click on the link to Johnny Oops to the right.

Read All About It

Johnny oops just got featured at the Frugal Ereader. Take a look.

http://www.thefrugalereader.com/2010/10/johnny-oops-arthur-levine-099.html



Arthur

Johnny Oops Just Got A Five Star Rating

Hi everyone. My novel Johnny Oops just got a five star rating from Soooz at the Promotional Assistance Group of Goodreads.com. Check out Johnny Oops by clicking on the name below the cover.

Regards,

Arthur

Kooks & Spooks & Terror-nooks – Halloween Is Here Again

Little painted faces, pointy witch hats, two feet tall clowns, skeleton costumes – it’s that time of year again - Halloween is here.

Tell the truth, when you rummage through the basket of your kids trick or treat candy are you checking to make sure it’s safe or are you looking for your personal favorite candy bar to munch on?

Sometimes I think there is still a little bit of the child left in each of us. Who can forget the anticipation we all felt as Halloween approached. Don’t you remember going out in the dark dressed up in weird costumes with your friends, and depending on your age maybe one parent lingering in the background? Don’t you remember the tinge of fear mixed with a tingle of excitement?

Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat, I can still remember the well-intentioned taunt made to smiling parents of your friends and your neighbors. Then there were the nasty older kids who were only out to spoil everyone’s fun and throw raw eggs that splattered on doorways and sidewalks. I wonder if they grew up to be bullies or patrons of some other form of anti social behavior.

Today there are also unfortunately the Kooks. The weirdo’s who place razor blades in candy, who sneak up behind people and punch them and run off with their cherished possessions and rob them of their self-respect. I guess they are a product of the true state of terror we live in. No one is safe any more, not old people or little children, not the infirm or feeble, not the weakest amongst us, and especially unfortunately not on Halloween. And the worst is that there are terrorists lurking out there in every nook and cranny of our economic and social system waiting to take advantage of this era of our discontent.

The term Halloween (and its alternative rendering Hallowe'en) is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day", which is now also known as All Saints' Day. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions, until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day from May 13 (which had itself been the date of a pagan holiday, the Feast of the Lemures) to November1. In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints' Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day

· Wikipedia

Today carved pumpkins called Jack-o'-lanterns are used to scare off evil spirits and for decorative purposes and the holiday has become popular as a children’s event.

Isn’t it time we all returned to some basic values and helped our children celebrate a holiday of treats and traditions? Isn’t it time we tried to take the fear out of every day living for ourselves and for our kids? Isn’t it time we looked inward to our personal clown and started to have some fun again? Why can’t we just enjoy the moment?

Let’s cherish our traditions. Let’s spend some time with our kids. Let’s bob for apples not problems. Let’s have fun again. Let’s give ourselves a treat and not trick ourselves into forgetting who we really are and what we stand for. Don’t let a bunch of kooks and terror-nooks spook you. The guys behind the masks are the ones who are really scared.

Happy Halloween.

Dazzling Droplets Of Divinity Spewed Forth

Johnny couldn’t believe what was happening. Right in front of his eyes as if by magic, his mouth was spewing forth droplets of the finest hyperbole ever heard. Sounded like the words of God.

It was hard to believe the message that Johnny was delivering was from the Almighty himself, but this is what Johnny maintained as he spoke to a large gathering of the hopeful.

These were people who were hurting and were sinners. They were in need of redemption and salvation, and that’s exactly what Johnny was promising. You could see the eyes of those in the audience widen in wonderment as the fiction of the possible became self-evident and real in their eyes.

Johnny himself was a fiction, a character in a fantasy novel about alternate realities, Quantum forces at work, and the sacrifices and the glories of those who were willing to reach out and touch each other in a spirit of kindness and caring. This was a congress of the willing. And Johnny carried on, believing in the inevitable goodness of our common Lord and his own ability to deliver His message.

One has to wonder whether this Johnny character is indeed a prophet delivering the work of God or a charlatan who doesn’t even know if he is real Is he taking advantage of an adoring and needy congregation of sinners, or showing them a pathway for deliverance from their sins? How did his own religion, Dialectic Spiritualism with its reliance on touching other people in their private essentials play a part? Was any of this real?

Johnny felt a slight shudder as the car he was driving skidded through a paper thin sky high sheet of glass, and a delightful little fellow called Inney appeared as if by magic on the passenger seat next to him. Inney was only one foot tall, an Albino with pink eyes, dressed in a Boy Scout uniform who said he was Johnny’s inner self.

Johnny took one look at him and asked him if he was in his novel too. Inney replied, “Read the book Johnny Oops and you’ll find out.”