It’s an old gag but that’s okay, I’m an old dog. Happy Monday is also a thing around here.
This is Happy Monday #454.
Continue readingIt’s an old gag but that’s okay, I’m an old dog. Happy Monday is also a thing around here.
This is Happy Monday #454.
Continue readingAs we talk about giving thanks I’m not going into this holiday season with blinders on. Over 258,000 Americans have died of Covid or Covid-related illnesses this year. Unemployment reached levels unheard of since the Great Depression with 33 million unemployed in April. (Unemployment will go back up as the total number of cases and hospitalizations rise and things shut down again.) Theaters, restaurants, airlines and hotels may never been the same, or so it seems. On a personal level, we all know someone that has been quarantined, hospitalized or died from Covid-19. Some families have been hit hard.
Continue readingThere have been a lot of 2020 memes but we’ve shared very few of them here. 2020 is sort of an easy target to kick around. We try to keep it positive and encouraging on the Happy Monday posts. Clark Bunch had plenty to say about giving thanks on the Satur-deja Vu. We just want to get you awake and smiling. At least awake. This is Happy Monday #402.
Continue readingThat is a cornucopia also known as a horn of plenty. It is a common image this time of year (although some readers of a certain age may recognize “the horn” from The Hunger Games). Pictured above is a ceramic wall plaque that came from my grandparents’ farm house. It hung in my mother’s kitchen for most of the years I lived at home and has followed Teresa and I through every move. In spite of all the jokes and memes about 2020 there is much to be thankful for. Imagine if this pandemic had been 20 years ago, before Zoom meetings were possible and video streaming was virtually nonexistent. Grocery delivery and pickup services are not just modern conveniences but have saved lives over the past year. We have all lost someone this year and perhaps know someone that is quarantined or hospitalized right now; and yet we are abundantly and richly blessed if we take honest stock of all that we still have. To read this post you must be not only alive and (presumably) well but have electricity, internet and a smartphone or laptop. That puts you in a high ranking category of wealth and privilege among the world’s 7+ billion population. This year has been tough. And God is good. Let’s be thankful this week and go ahead and look forward to 2021.
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Watch too much Alton Brown and you too may find yourself taking selfies with vegetables. What really happened is that I cut up several different raw vegetables and put together a veggie platter. True story: a few years ago I was cutting up bell peppers, broccoli, cucumbers and baby carrots to make a similar tray for an event. My mother asked if people really ate raw bell peppers like that. I pointed out the round section in the middle of the empty plastic tray and told her that space was for a cup of ranch dressing. “People will eat rubber car tires if they can dip them in ranch dressing.” She said I was probably right.
Welcome to Saturday. Enjoy the Deja Vu. Continue reading

With Thanksgiving coming up next week I’m going to reshare some favorite images from years past. A couple of these actually predate Happy Monday; I’ve been on Facebook since 2009 and blogging on WordPress since 2008. We’ve got some news items and other random bits as well. Maybe you’ve seen some of these before, maybe not. Welcome to the Satur-deja Vu. Continue reading
They say you have to pick your battles. For those of you that begin Halloween on September 1st and Christmas on November 1st, I choose not to fight that battle. I just quietly look the other way. That bell cannot be unrung. I want to address something different and perhaps I have stumbled onto something brilliant. Continue reading

If anyone is wondering, there is in fact a correct way to carve a turkey. Alton Brown via the Food Network gives us the step by step in this 3 min. highly informative video: Continue reading
Originally published November 24, 2010
Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’s birth, but there is no biblical command to observe it. There are however feasts, songs and prayers of thanksgiving are all over the Bible. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with Christmas; during his lifetime Jesus was an observant Jew, and every indication is that he observed all the Jewish festivals, including the historical ones not just the religious festivals commanded in scripture. The arrival of “God with us” is a major turning point in all of history. But we are commanded to praise God and give thanks. Moses sang songs of thanksgiving, David wrote his own. James reminds us that “every good gift and perfect gift is from above.” The United States was the first country to observe a national holiday for giving thanks. Continue reading

Most of our readers are in the United States and will celebrate Thanksgiving later this week. So let’s “get off on the good foot” with a compilation of scriptures and other fun things that make us smile. We live in a crazy world but there is much to be thankful for. Continue reading