Getting The Bird

Number two of the eating holidays is over, with one more to go.* Thanksgiving is a nice day to be with family, have great food, but yesterday morning I had to back up on the belt notches. A little too much conviviality, far too many calories.

This is the first time the whole family has been together for Thanksgiving since before my father-in-law died in 2002. I realized that at one time my wife and I would go to these dinners and her brothers and sisters, their spouses, were all the young people. Her parents and their invited friends and relatives were the old people. Now we're the old people, surrounded by the young. It's fun to have a chance to catch up on how tall the kids are getting; a couple of them I hadn't seen since they were in elementary school, and now they're 6" taller and several years down the road in school.

My son, his wife and their daughters were there. My grandbabies were the youngest children there, and the cycle perpetuates itself. If we're all together again next year everyone will remark on how they've grown.

Here's a picture of my daughter-in-law, Loan, with our newest grandbaby, Gabby, who was born in June. It was a big night for the baby; lots of excitement, people milling around, lots to look at!
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I mentioned in my last blog the only sane way for me to buy presents for women is to let them pick them out and give them to you to give to them. It works both ways.

I have always liked Cat Stevens, so I was glad when he decided to get back into the recording biz under his Muslim name, Yusuf Islam. Here's a video from YouTube.com of his latest song.

Some of the lyrics sound a little strange to me, like "Heaven must've programmed you." I realize he's singing about a religious experience, and I don't know anything about how Muslims talk. I also picked up from some comments on the Internet that some of the new song was part of an old song of his. Still, what I appreciate is hearing his unique voice and the catchy hooks of a Cat Stevens song.

I bought the CD yesterday at Borders, and handed it to my wife. Another Christmas present to be. Oboy.

Ciao for now. El Postino

*Halloween, with its teeth-rotting candy overdosing; Thanksgiving with its orgy of eating, and finally Christmas with all of its excesses.

Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) - Heaven/Where True Love Goes