... I will, because I'm still two more weeks out from returning to ranting (just in time for the *December* holidays).
Until then, though, I'll continue using this spot to summarize the daily statements of gratitude I'm posting over on the Facebook, because, as the accompanying image states, gratitude leads to awesomeness ... and I don't mind striving toward awesomeness every now and then. Here are this week's daily posts:
SUNDAY the 18th: I am thankful for Kolibri. To be clear -- I'm not gushing about the world's smallest handgun called the Kolibri (I don't carry ... 'cause I'd probably use it against those who fail to put their blinkers on whilst turning) ... but instead about Kolibri as in German for hummingbird as in the code name for the main character in the excellent miniseries Deutschland 8x. I say 8x because the original series was 83 and the one I just finished watching was 86. For the news that I recently learned that this story will indeed be a TRILOGY and that Deutschland 89 will one day air so that the rest of Kolibri's story can be told, I am so so thankful.
MONDAY the 19th: I am thankful for naps. Like the kind when you're on vacation, and so you don't need to set a nap alarm on your cell or tell anyone to wake you up at a certain time, and if you wake up too soon you just roll over and go back to sleep, and you've got one dog on one end of the couch who occasionally talks in his sleep and the other dog on the other end underneath the afghan that your mother (in law) made by hand, curled up on your feet keeping them extra toasty, and the TV is quietly on the 80's channel so if you do dream a little you're guaranteed to have happy dreams filled with people you might not have seen in a while ... and then when you do finally wake up, it's time for lunch and you haven't looked at your work email even just once all day. For *those* kinds of naps, I am quite thankful.
TUESDAY the 20th: I am thankful for Busy Phillips and her new talk show on the E. Admittedly, I was worried at first that I was witnessing what would happen if pumpkin spice materialized into a real life person ... and it's also true that I don't have a 'gram account or catch all of her references that only seem to be relevant to the vaginal crowd ... but I'll be damned if she hasn't won me over with her authentic great big heart and her knowing insight into her generation AND I can neither confirm nor deny whether I sing along to the closing "Mr. Nightgown" song at the end of every episode. For being the perfect talk-show-fix now that Harry Connick Jr's show is done and Kelly Clarkson's show hasn't started, I am actually thankful.
WEDNESDAY the 21st: I am thankful for doggie snores. Me and mine sleep in one big pack in the big big bed (for the most part -- the kitties opt out and use the nighttime to explore the whole house and to count down the hours until feeding time in the am), and occasionally that means that someone might wake up in the middle of the night missing a good bit of the blanket OR becoming aware of one or two or three of us engaged in a snore-fest. It may take some time to fall back asleep under those conditions but seeing as how the puppies are already approaching their fifth birthday (after one was on death row and the other was being abandoned to the internet) and knowing that their lives go by so quickly, I'll take them happy and content and sleeping and snoring -- I can always tuck in the sheet as my blanket and catch up on my sleep some other time. For the symphony of snores in c minor, composed by Ozzie and/or Casanova (with human accompaniment every now and then), I am quite thankful.
THURSDAY the 22nd: I am thankful for the feast. See if you can spot the brown sugar dry brined turkey with a homemade herb gravy, the candied yams, the bacon-shallot-honey pan-roasted Brussels sprouts, the spicy roasted whole carrots, the parsnip mashed potato bake with fried sage leaves on top, the northwest fruit and sausage stuffing, the spicy ginger cranberry relish and the brown-n-serve rolls with a cranberry-whipped-butter. (Not pictured: the pumpkin roll with maple cinnamon whipped cream.) More than the feast itself, I am thankful for him who prepared it (Chris Loomis) and them who joined us for the occasion (J.L. Quebbeman and Al Escoto). For being lucky to have so much goodness in one spot, I am so thankful.
FRIDAY the 23rd: I am thankful for the local newspaper -- even if the price keeps on going up and up and up. Whilst buying the Friday edition today (now up to $2.34), one of my convenience store clerk regulars let me know that the Sunday copies are going up to $4.00 starting this weekend. I seem to remember putting a quarter and a dime into the box on the corner to get the Lebanon Daily News back when I was little. Lookit -- I know the young folk get their news on their podcasts or through their dark webs or via a cell phone alert or just by asking 'Alexa' for it, but some of us old folks still like to turn the pages and have a tactile newsday experience, and apparently someone else figured out that we'll pay a pretty 400 pennies for it. Regardless -- for being able to see all the news that's fit to print the old fashioned way -- in an actual *printed* copy -- I am still thankful (also -- get off my lawn!).
SATURDAY the 24th: I am thankful for Penn State football. Mind you, I'm not going to pretend in any way to be a sporty kind of guy ... but I do like me a sense of tradition ... and it has been the way I've spent Saturday afternoons and evenings (and some other occasional random dates and times through the years) since the big move to Chicago nearly two decades ago (which obviously predicated the big move to SoFlo just a few years ago). As a way to feel more connected to my birth place of central PA no matter where in the country I find myself living, I am happy for a bowl-eligible season ... and I am very thankful.
