Serving pregnant turkey, ensures your goose is cooked

     Last year, during the Thanksgiving season, my sister and I were enjoying the beautiful fall foliage of the Eastern Coast. 

     

     We had booked a journey that began with a bus tour to Washington State, on to Seattle where we boarded a flight to New York City. 

     Our three-day stay in the 53- storey Sheraton Hotel, enabled us to have time for an organized tour of the Big Apple. 

     
     Though this was not my first visit to this popular city, I was again awed at its continuous bustle of activity.

     Hailing one of their iconic yellow taxicabs, we made our way to the Broadway musical hit, Mary Poppins, an experience in itself!   
     Visiting the Twin Towers site and the 9/11 Memorial, was unbelievable and very emotional to view. 
     

     

     Then, boarding the 3,100- passenger ship, the Caribbean Princess, we set sail, cruising to ports of call in the Maritimes and New England States. 

     Meeting with family and friends in the ports of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Saint John, New Brunswick was truly the icing on the cake. 
     

     Viewing for the first time the autumn beauty of Bar Harbour, Maine, a city tour of Boston, Massachutes, and seeing the lovely countryside around Newport, Rhode Island — where J.F. Kennedy spent his summers — was indeed delightful.  
     

     So, this year as I pause to give thanks while taking inventory of my many blessings, I am grateful for beautiful memories, and to have had the privilege to create them.    

     

     Did you know? — Americans did not invent Thanksgiving. It began in Canada. In the year 1578, the English navigator, Martin Frobisher held a formal ceremony in what is now Newfoundland, to give thanks for surviving his long journey. Frobisher Bay, an inlet in northern Canada, bears his name.   
     
     The Pilgrims celebrated their day of thanks in 1621, 43 years later. 
     

     On January 31, 1957, the Canadian Parliament proclaimed: 

"A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been so blessed — to be observed on the second Monday in October."  

     The Europeans, holding celebrations at harvest time, would fill a curved goat's horn with fruit and grain. This symbol was called a "cornucopia" or, horn of plenty. 
     
     A giant pumpkin at a farm in Windsor, Nova Scotia, weighed in at 1,813 lb. Imagine how many pieces of pie that would serve!  

     The main mascot of modern-day Thanksgiving is the turkey. Here is some Turkey Trivia: 

1. The long fleshy skin that hangs over a turkey's beak is called a snood. 

2. Male turkeys are nicknamed "toms" while females are called "hens." 

3. Reaching maturity, turkeys can have as many as 3,500 feathers. 

4. Faster than a speeding bullet, wild turkeys can run up to 55 miles an hour.    

Now, for the laugh of the day... 

Pregnant Turkey   

     One year, at Thanksgiving, my mom went to my sister's house for the traditional feast. Knowing how gullible my sister is, my mom decided to play a trick. She told my sister she needed something from the store. 
     

     When my sister left, my mom took the turkey out of the oven, removed the stuffing, stuffed a Cornish hen, and inserted it into the turkey, and re-stuffed the turkey. She then placed the bird back in the oven. 
     When it was time for dinner, my sister pulled the turkey out of the oven and proceeded to remove the stuffing. When her serving spoon hit something, she reached in and pulled out the little bird. With a look of total shock on her face, my mother exclaimed, 
"Patricia, you've cooked a pregnant bird!" 
     At the reality of this horrifying news, my sister started to cry. 
     It took the family two hours to convince her that turkeys lay eggs.  Yep, She's blonde!

— Author Unknown 

— beulah