Vacation Time

My wife finally took a week’s much deserved and needed vacation from her demanding job as chief bunker (fuel) buyer for a leading Greek shipping company. She has spent 100% of it (waking hours only, of course) swearing like an angry, drunken sailor under the hood of her 1996 Ford Ranger. Good times. Right up there with our early ’90s three-week trip to Izmir (formerly Smyrna of classical antiquity, currently ground zero for suicidal Syrian refugees launching the Islamic invasion of Europe) in Turkey, including a three-day excursion to historical Ephesus with its well preserved Roman ruins, walking – quite literally – in the footsteps of St Paul.

Ephesus, Turkey vacation ca 1994

Ephesus, Turkey vacation ca 1992.

Ford Ranger vacation 2015.

Ford Ranger vacation 2015.

Enjoy Your Christmas/Holiday Turkey

I’m not advocating going complete vegan (although I tried it for roughly 6 months once, and I’ve never felt better), but there has to be a better way than this. Turkeys (and all sorts of animals and critters we raise, keep and slaughter for our own consumption) are God’s creation too. God gave us dominion over all creatures, in the air, on land, and in the sea (not really, but I’m using religious references for effect), and as such they deserve ethical treatment. There’s a right way and a wrong way to handle this responsibility. Whenever possible I urge you to avoid giving your money to the industrial food complex. If you require the flesh of dead animals for nutrition and sustenance and/or celebratory purposes, the least you can do is purchase your dead animals from someone who let them have a good life (for as long as it lasted) and then killed them in a humane way.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day everybody. Take a moment to self-reflect and give thanks for everything that makes your life happy:

Thank you Lord Jesus for coming down from Heaven and sacrificing your life so I can have salvation. No. That’s a different holiday.

Here we go again:

I’m thankful for pre-Black Friday sales, Black Friday sales and Cyber Monday sales. I’m thankful for our culture of consumerism that makes the American way of life possible. And the Indians who saved the pilgrims.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

(Oh, and let’s not forget all the turkeys that had to die so we can be happy today. Please observe one minute of silence for all our feathered brethren who selflessly gave their lives in pursuit of our happiness. One-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, three-Mississippi, four-Mississippi, five-Mississippi…)

turkey day

An artist’s rendition of a turkey. Picture credit: An artist specializing in turkey pictures.