The Tail of the Dog that Bit Me

Came out of afib, much as I went into it ... inexplicably. I met the Leaves ... and I went on preparing the outside of our home for Winter. I typically face the truth but by not necessarily acting on it, one might say that I deny it.

We have too much space, too many bedrooms, far too many bathroom for our two behinds to sit upon, and much too much property. Lotta trees. Trees have leaves. Deciduous trees that lose leaves in November. No resident children, this year.

Last year, I may have kvetched that Child, in-law and 3 grandspawn were here ... filling the bedrooms, equalling out bottoms and bathrooms, help with Leaves ....

It was yesterday that after years of my droning on about how good we have it, Marsha began talking about the same thing. What to do for all those who have little to be thankful for on this coming Thursday, the American holiday, Thanksgiving.

I once wrote about the curious manner in which action-verbs seem to transmute int nouns and finally into Proper Nouns, a usage which seems to strip them of their meaning.

I wrote of Mammon which in the Gospels took on "nomen daemonis" ... the name of a demon ... (this, in some translations "Who will you worship? God the Father or Mammon." Mammon was a common noun in both Hebrew and Aramaic and meant lucre, money, filthy lucre in this context, freeing the churches to amass great wealth as the original meaning melted away.

Sabbath (Shabbos in Biblical Hebrew) was a gerund that meant restfulness. Restfulness was reified and nowadays Sabbath is observed only in communities we identify as odd. Too bad. Six Days we emulate the Doing Powere of our gods and on the Seventh, we admit to being creations .... like the howling dog and the roo.

Thanksgiving, I like to imagine, began as a mandate to offer up gratitude to our gods even before Winter threatened our forebears. Then it became a day of offering thanks ans was fixed on one of the last Thursdays in November. Now, its food, family and football ... and family is optional. Too bad, ay?

Reminds me of a joke from my years in Seminary. Young guy goes to head of Seminary. "Time for me to begin dating women but I don't know what women like." The Head say, after careful thought: "Women like Food, Family and Philosophy." (he forgot football, oops!) Guy gets a date and arranges to go for walk.
After a mile ...
Guy: (Thinking to himself ... Food) .... Hey, do you like Chicken Soup?
Girl: I do, I do!
After two more miles.
Guy: (Thinking to himself ... Family) ... Do you have a Brother?
Girl: No, I was never blessed with a Brother.
Three miles later, suffering, getting nowhere
Guy: (Thinking to himself, Philosophy) If you had a brother, would he like chicken Soup?