The day after Thanksgiving
Seasonable, and so reasonable, cold has settled in over Missouri. It’s not really all that cold. It’s not life threatening or such. Certainly it won’t stop the shoppers from descending upon the stores in the wee hours of the morning. I’d read a pundit who once said that our economy is not based on buying. It’s based on frenzied buying. So let me take this chance to remind you that it is National Buy Nothing Day. You culture jammers out there know what I’m talking about. If you’d like to read about someone who has had remarkable success at consuming less, go on over to Kate’s blog and read about her 90 Percent Project. Kate assures me that she is living comfortably, enjoying a full life. It makes me wonder what I could do without.
Perhaps our traditional family jaunt to Roundrock occurred today. Perhaps as you’re reading this, we are out in our woods, making ‘smores over a fire, walking the trails, admiring the diminished lake. Perhaps this has happened, but I’ll be the last to know if it does. I am subject to the whims and swiftly changing plans of a house nearly full again of family. Whatever we do, I know I’ll enjoy the time together.
The photo above is of sumac berries in our woods at Fallen Timbers. We have sumac growing robustly there, and this ridgetop stand is always a reliable provender for the wild birds who will feast on the berries through the winter.
Hope you had a happy holiday.
Missouri calendar:
- The Missouri Natural Events Calendar is blank for today.
November 23rd, 2007 at 7:49 am
Did you know you can soak the entire stalk for a couple of hours in tepid water, strain, add sugar and your have…voila…pink lemonade? Seriously. I can’t tell the difference between that and the real stuff. And FWIW, where I’m from (rural south central Kentucky) the trees are called shoemakes. Don’t ask me why.
November 23rd, 2007 at 3:32 pm
What a beautiful picture. One of the trails, I like to spend time on, has a great clump of the sumac. I’ve taken pictures of it, because it’s so pretty. I hope you get to Round Rock. It sounds like you’re having a great time.
November 23rd, 2007 at 7:00 pm
“Buy Nothing Day”?!? Eek! I participated without even knowing it.
Those are quite the colors, Pablo.
November 24th, 2007 at 7:21 am
I participated in National Buy Nothing Day, and I did so deliberately, though I would have done so regardless.
Its website is certainly a busy presentation – at least on my browser it is royally screwed up. But I like that it has naysayer comments on it.
Yesterday and today I ran across two things of interest: NPR proclaimed that the frenzied buying season has now been extended through the month of January. And today I learn that Americans have 5 trillion dollars of unused credit on their cards and so can spend all that. Halleluja!
That’s a very nice photograph of a sumac infructescence. They are notoriously difficult to capture! And you did it without spending a dime of your credit! Kudos!