He goes by the name of Jasper, and he’s one mellow rabbit. He was one of my (quite gracious) hosts for Thanksgiving dinner today in the vicinity of Roanoke. Seriously, this guy is chill. He lets all sorts of visitors pick him up and pet him. He has two siblings — one cat and one dog — and I’m told he chases them around the house.
I am thankful for
fine friends, gracious neighbors, and presently forgotten adversaries,
the smell of smoke outside, its rich and deep and ageless burning notes that sound upon the palette,
the hills under all my days, which pluck up my breath,
all the countless “hellos” their slopes will yield,
the mountains’ incandescence in this cooling season,
the colors now igniting their high and wooded perches,
this new home, this Old South,
this ranging, easy vale of firming winds and firm tradition,
its gentle people, and their surprising hearts —
this fair, far Star City.
~ Eric Robert Nolan, Thanksgiving 2019
1900-1909.
Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!
I’m not sure if the below scene from “WKRP in Cincinnati” (1978-1982) is overexposed; it annually pops up a lot before Thanksgiving. (I’ve shared it on Facebook at least once, I’m sure of it.) It is, of course, the famous “turkey drop” scene from the Thanksgiving episode of the show’s first year. (WKRP would have been on the air only two months when this episode first aired.) The title of the episode was “Turkeys Away,” and it’s still quite well remembered by people interested in television pop culture.
The scene is really funny — people went nuts for it back in the day. I still remember my parents and older siblings truly cracking up over over it. And it really is all tied together by Gordon Jump’s perfect delivery of its feckless final line.
Hey … there’s actually another bit of WKRP trivia that’s been making the rounds lately on social media. It turns out that the lyrics for its closing theme, which many people my age remember quite well, are actually nothing but gibberish. Seriously, check it out.
I’m honored today to see that Haikuniverse has published my “Watermelon Haiku.” Thanks, Haikuniverse! 🙂
By the way, the diet is totally working, somewhat … I lost nine pounds in under six weeks.
You know you live in the South when your neighbor keeps going on about Moon Pies.
Dude likes his Moon Pies.
I haven’t heard “pop” substituted for “soda” yet, though.
Man, did “The War of the Worlds” rock my world as a little kid. When this movie made the rounds on 1980’s television, it was arguably a bigger reason to celebrate than a “Godzilla” movie.
I’m a little puzzled to realize that neither the trailer or the original film poster below show the Martian ships, which were pretty damned nifty for a 50’s movie. I’m not sure why that is. (Maybe up to certain point the filmmakers wanted to save that as a surprise for people who bought a ticket?)
This isn’t the only adaptation of the classic 1898 H. G. Wells novel that I would come to love. A few years later, I wound up getting the famous 1939 radio play on cassette tape. And as an adult, I’ll always enjoy Steven Spielberg’s genuinely frightening big-budget 2005 version. I haven’t quite warmed to the new BBC series yet, but maybe that will change.
I’m happy today to see The Piker Press publish one of my short poems — “November, Blue Ridge Mountains, 1992.” You can find it right here.
Thank you, Editor Sand Pilarski, for allowing me to share my work once again with the creative community of The Piker Press!
I came a bit too close for comfort just now with the skunk who lives around my street, Leonardo da Stinki. I can usually saunter right by animals without them even noticing me, which I suppose is sort of a weird trait, or maybe a really boring X-Men mutant power. Leonardo and I both sort of stumbled upon one another, halted abruptly, and made some awkward eye contact. (It’s like running into your ex at Costco.)
He thankfully ambled off, after I oafishly backpedaled. (I can do oafish really well and with precisely zero effort; that’s another one of my superpowers.) I’d like to think we had a tacit exchange:
“I don’t want any drama tonight, do you?”
“Nah.”
So there was no odoriferous outcome, and I’m grateful for that. Leonardo has gotten quite big now that he is an adult, and I’m sure his own special abilities have correspondingly magnified. (Why is there no skunk-themed member of The X-Men, anyway? That feels like a creative oversight.)
I really want to snap a picture of him, because my aspirations in life make sense only to me, and he was crossing a well lit yard during his exit. But this is The South, and I’m not sure how the average Roanoker might react if they discovered a weird, New York liberal taking pictures their property at night. I have a feeling that’s a story that doesn’t end well.
By Twitter, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77807699
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 