God, Mother and Country

Faith, Family and Flag!  Holey Shamoley!  Doesn't that translate in God, Motber, and Country?  I believe it was that old Elitist Dr. Johnson who remarked that patriotism was the last refuge of the scoundrel.

I remember a speech about GMC in the Riverwoods Village Hall, Riverwoods, IL,  by Barbara C. way back in the late 70's.  There may have been dry eyes in the house, but not her's and her chin quivered and her eyes teared up as she uttered the sacred words, "The Children."  I was a young mom but even then I knew enough to recognize demagoguery.

Today is Thanksgiving, and we can all count our blessings as we overindulge and watch football and prepare for the marathon weekend of shopping.  I will try my damndest not to do any of these things.  Food in moderation, football, well, just the Pats and no shopping whatsoever. Abstinence is good, sometimes.

Be thankful if you have a brain that can think and parse information and use logic and is not polluted by celebrity worship, and all the hoo-ha that our age vomits forth.

Grapeshot

Black Friday

Greed is ugly whether manifested by greedy bankers and businessmen or greedy shoppers, whipped to a frenzy by advertising and the lure of Black Friday"bargains."

I am appalled. The fact that a horde of "Christmas" shoppers would trample store employees like pilgrims in Mecca is shocking. Well, Christ left Christmas years ago and not only that but the true spirit of giving is gone, along with fellowship and charity. Now I guess all those shoppers were "holiday" or "seasonal" shoppers. They were rampaging clods and to an extent you have to blame retailers for creating this kind of a climate. This whole season and economy reminds one of why the moneychangers were driven from the temple.

Retail was my unwilling corporate home for years. I always hated it. Loved manufacturing--"fulfillment" was somewhat short of fulfilling, but oh god, retail was detail, and the people in the back offices were often not my type.

Retailers bitch and moan about everything. Too hot. Too cold, Too this. Too that. Of course this year they have the economy to bitch and moan about. You could not pay me enough to stand in line at 4:00 a.m. to get into a retail store. Are these people crazy? The so-called bargains will be just as good in two-three weeks. Maybe better. We don't need them anyway.

This frenzy for consumer goods is really getting to me. My friend, when we were discussing the wardrobe malfunction of Caribou Barbie, said, "Well, any blouse costs $400! "
Excuse me? Last winter I found a very nice shirt at Brooks Brothers outlet and it cost nowhere near that.
Of course my friend lives on Fifth Avenue and shops on Madison Avenue, and I know she shops the sales, but nonetheless.

If I bought a $400 blouse you can just about bet that it would have a grease stain on it before you can say "spot remover!"

I am thinking of a Christmas boycott this year. Books, yes, magazine subscriptions, yes. Maybe warm socks or pajamas. Flannel shirts, the soft warm kind. Mittens. Cat toys.

But all this consumption is disgusting. Really.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/business/29walmart.html?em

Bah humbug.

Grapeshot

Friday is Cat Blog Day

A well-behaved Proustian cat. . .

We seem to be getting the knack of the injections (Thisbe and I). The secret seems to be don' t
swab her fur with alcohol. I suspect she knows the smell of alcohol from the vet and the Proustian memories it calls up are not the equivalent of tea and cookies in cat.

No, the latest crisis, well, mini-crisis, is the Eating Of The Christmas Cactus. Our Christmas cacti almost never bloom at Christmas. We've already had the Halloween cactus and the Veteran's Day cactus and now the Thanksgiving cactus. I hope these plants save something for the Holiday they are SUPPOSED to bloom for.

We've been out of cat grass for weeks, and both cats decimated the Baby's Breath that was part of a bouquet. I put the Christmas cactus on the library table where said plant will be easy to admire. Ooops! Thisbe admired it and ate a blossom or two. Probably a spent blossom. Eeek!

I don't wish to gross anyone out, but the vomiting from this little snack was profuse and disgusting and lasted several hours. I was beginning to think "Call Veternarian on a Holiday" when the cat appeared to be all right and stopped tossing her cookies, or in this case her cactus. She actually came upstairs and slept on the bed last night, and seems fine this morning.

Today I will brave Black Friday at the pet store (how bad can it be?) and buy cat grass. Yesterday when I mentioned "Black Friday" on this blog, it immediately received a comment which was actually an ad in not very great disguise. I guess that's why some blog sites make you copy the crooked numerals and letters before you can post. Not a bad idea.

So Black Friday! Black Friday! yada yada.

Apropos yesterday's food contributions: The Brussels-Sprouts-Cauliflower casserole was a winner. I took it from the oven just a few minutes before we had to be out of the house, neglecting to take a picture. It was toasty and brown and a little cheesy (in the good sense) and the pine nuts had turned a golden hue. If you ever need a holiday side dish that is not lo-cal, this one is a winner. And the veggies tasted so good.

The cheese cake was to die for and we probably will, with all that cream cheese and eggs clogging ye olde arteries. I dare not get on the scale today. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week. Maybe Jan. 2nd.

Shop till you Drop, but personally, I'm buying lunch and a couple servings of cat grass.

Meow!