Thanksgiving Holiday

It’s only Tuesday, but I am looking ahead to Thanksgiving on Thursday, my favorite holiday! Being with family and friends to celebrate and be thankful for all that we have seems like the best kind of day. Tomorrow we bake pies (lots) and Thursday we have very traditional turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cranberry sauce. It’s our stay-at-home holiday, and not traveling –especially this year, with predictions of bad weather for Wednesday– make it a leisurely day. A long walk after dinner, and maybe a game of Scrabble or Seven Wonders as night falls.

Just as I always talk about my favorite holiday in this post, I also take the opportunity to let you know about the annual Buy Nothing Day and, in Rhode Island,  Winter Coat Exchange on Friday. Buy Nothing Day is an international day of protest against rampant, out- of- control consumerism.  As Scott MacKay, Rhode Island journalist and historian says:

“The coming of a New England winter reminds us once again that poor Rhode Islanders face a tougher time than the better-off. So once again it is time for us to search those closets for old winter coats to donate to the annual Rhode Island Buy Nothing Day Winter Coat Exchange. The brainchild of community activist and environmentalist Greg Gerritt, the coat exchange  will be held on the Black Friday shopping day, the day after Thanksgiving. The main site will be at the founding location, on the State House lawn in Providence, which is located in the shadow of both the Independent Man and the Providence Place Mall.

‘Buy Nothing Day is the international day to point out how consumerism is destroying our planet and our communities. We collect and giveaway winter coats to give back to the community while pointing out how consumerism is a dead end,’ says Gerritt,”

Coat collection and giveaway runs from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Nov. 28 on the State House Lawn.  In South County, coats will be gathered and given away at St. Francis Church, 114 High Street, Wakefield, between 10 a.m. and noon on Nov. 28. For more info contact Tom Abbott at dawgdays@cox.net or call 401-364-0778. There are many other locations around the state to donate coats or pick them up; the list is here:  Winter Coat Exchange 

From the URI Botanical Gardens and your grateful gardener, I wish you Safe Travels and a  Happy Thanksgiving with those you love!

 

 

 

Nine Kinds of Pie

Thanksgiving, as I mentioned in last year’s end-of-November post, is my favorite holiday. What is could be better than a holiday especially for getting together with family and friends, just to be thankful for, and to celebrate, all the wonderful things in your life?  Nothing better! Therefore, I’m not at the greenhouse today, I am home baking pies. Although our Thursday tradition is just the five of us and Grandpa, we go all-out on the pies. As one of my favorite little kid’s storybooks says, “There was nothing but pie, but there was all nine kinds of pie that Harold liked best”.

On a more thoughtful note, Friday is International Buy Nothing Day,  and as in years past, Rhode Islanders observe this day of protest with a free winter coat exchange. (Here’s a link to the list of exchange sites:  prosperityforri.com  .)  In addition to highlighting consumerism/overconsumption, this year’s activities also protest the move of retailers beginning their “holiday season” ON Thanksgiving.  The “War on Thanksgiving”, as Scott McKay says, means there are     “…empty seats at the table as workers run off to low-paying jobs at the mall to serve people who just got done saying thanks for what they have but vault from their dinner table to buy things they don’t need.”

I hope that love, family, friends, and neighbors, continue to be the focus of our celebrations…Happy Thanksgiving, from the URI Botanical Gardens and your grateful gardener.