Another Thanksgiving weekend has come to an end. Except not quite. Because I am actually cooking a turkey dinner here at the Landfill tonight, Sunday night. Why? Well, whyyyyy not? Because we like turkey. I am cooking a whole turkey, not a turkey breast, by the way. I want the dark meat too. It’s the absolute smallest turkey I could find, a bit over 10 pounds.

Other than that? It was still pretty cold outside today but the sun stayed out and the wind died down. Some people were rather slodgy today and the GG and I couldn’t come to agreement about what to do with ourselves. GG: Go to Grand Blanc? Me: Walk in Miller Park? Christmas shop? Walk to Kerrytown? In the end, I walked to Kerrytown by myself, where I bought blackberries and a secret item for The Commander. I headed downtown and stopped in at Kilwin’s to harass Mouse for a few minutes, then I headed home.

I decided to walk through West Park, which has just been through a whole bunch of renovations. I used to live across the street from West Park in a loverly rockin’ ‘n’ rollin’ second floor apartment. I mean the floor was kind of rockin’ ‘n’ rollin’ although we definitely played some of that there rock ‘n’ roll music, any old way you choose it. And plenty of classical flute music too. Live. I hope it didn’t bother the neighbors too much. I was noisy then. I am quieter now. I think some folks might disagree with that.

I lived in that apartment for two years, until I married the GG. He had an apartment over in… Where the heck was that? Clawson? I drove over there a lot but, when we were on the Planet Ann Arbor, we frequently walked through West Park. Downtown to eat or go to a bar or the farmer’s market or the art fair. In those days, I got to the point where I didn’t walk through West Park alone. Why? Because it was where a large group of homeless men used to hang out. There was a public toilet in West Park in those days and the area under the overhang outside the public toilet was a mass of shopping carts and rather moldy looking old clothes, not that I ever got close enough to actually inspect them for mold. I wasn’t really afraid of the regular homeless folk who lived there. They never bothered the neighbors. But the whole hanging outside the public bathroom scenario attracted a certain type of male who would approach young women and I was careful enough that I avoided that place. I mean, why were these guys so forward toward random women. Didn’t they have mothers? Alas, probably some of them didn’t…

In some ways the park doesn’t look much different after the new reno. The public bathroom has been gone for years and a new homeless shelter has been built a couple blocks away from West Park. They’ve added the pond in the photoooo and some paved pathways. I think they are for bicycles and wheelchair access. The GG says they’re for the po-leese to drive their vee-hickles on. Probably both. I’m certainly not afraid to walk through there alone any more. And I am not terribly afraid of random men approaching me in general, depending on their demeanor and the setting. (Take a note, TSA.) So I gave a dollar to the purportedly homeless guy in front of Cafe Verde today. I don’t hand out money to every person asking for spare change but, well, I dunno where I’m going with this but I had enough money to buy *blackberries*, in the frozen north in November fer kee-reist, and I don’t know how hungry he was but I would have to be pretty desperate to stand outside Cafe Verde and beg for money. I hope I never am. Now, maybe he’s gaming the system and goes home every night and takes a shower in his McMansion out in the Polo Fields. But I don’t think so.

I am off on a tangent (or two) and there is a turkey that needs to be dealt with. Good night. Wonderful Thanksgiving weekend on the Planet Ann Arbor with the Regenstreif clan. Work tomorrow, hi-ho!

Oh, and now npJane is here (to drop off some boots the GG left at Chez Harry) and we are having a leetle bit of whine.

Cheers,
KW

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