Jack, amazingly, gets in on time for a change – –

Last weekend I had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving with dear friends – –

This is a very American celebration and as an immigrant I needed to do some research – –

The first immigrants to what is now the USA were white English Protestants looking for a new place, they arrived in what they named Plymouth and were met by some folk who’d been living there for a long time. The incumbents showed them how to survive and what to hunt and plant including turkeys and corn. The new arrivals brought nothing much except strange diseases.

Over time the new arrivals brought lots of friends who were much the same – white, protestant and European (including, by now, Scots).

Over more time they drove those original existing folks into the poorest areas and inside reservations – –

Eventually desperate folk who weren’t of the right branch of Christianity or even other beliefs began arriving.  – –

No Micks need apply – –

No Spicks need apply – –

No Chinese need apply – –

Send Japanese Americans to concentration camps – –

Nobody that isn’t like us need apply – –

I’m lucky – or maybe not!

Jack almost gets in on time – – –

I suffer from an occasional bout of gout (is that a Haiku?).

It first happened about ten years ago and I didn’t know what had happened to my toe. At that time, living in Big Stone Gap, I had regular sessions with the great Doctor Teri Dunton to keep my bones in order. Also then I had a serious issue with sciatica. Teri advised me to keep my bulging wallet out of my hip pocket and that solved that.

I had been hirpling (a great Scots word) with two walking problems and using a walking stick to get around!

Teri also advised cherry juice for the gout and it worked – –

What have I learned from all this?

1 – don’t add the only two bottles of cherry juice in the house to your wine mixture.

2 – carry a cane and hirple when you’re flying anywhere and you’ll get to board first.

3 – always have a spare bottle of cherry juice around somewhere.

4 – avoid shrimp, mushrooms, smoking and alcohol – hang on a doggone minute  – – –