Party Like It's 1909

On average, odd years have been the best for me.
I'm at a point where everyone I meet looks like a version
of someone I already know.
~ from "Fragments for the End of the Year" by Jennifer K. Sweeney

Today I spent a little time with the Library of Congress's Prints & Photographs online catalog looking at New Year's celebrations of the past. I was fascinated by the year 1909, when everybody seemed to be down in the dumps for no particular reason.

Not even funny hats and feathers produced smiles on this crowd of sourpusses.

The magazine Puck ushered in 1910 with an illustration called "The Safety-Valve".

Proving that some things never change, I found an illustration titled "New Year's Eve at the Hotel Prosperity" – where all the tables are reserved for special interest groups.

All of this left me wondering about 1909 – what was going on that year? According to the Internet, it was fairly quiet. On March 4, William Howard Taft succeeded Theodore Roosevelt, becoming the 27th U.S. President; the NAACP was founded under the leadership of W.E.B. Du Bois; unemployment was just 5.1%; and Paul Ehrlich discovered a cure for syphilis. From this distance, it doesn't look too bad. Then again, new years are always overstuffed with portent.

To see some cheerful images of year-end celebrations where at least some people appear to be having fun, visit Flavorpill's "Amusing Vintage Photographs from New Year's Eves Past".

All within is warm,
    Here without it's very cold,
    Now the year is grown so old
And the dead leaves swarm.

In your heart is light,
    Here without it's very dark,
    When shall I hear the lark
When see aright?

Oh, for a moment's space!
    Draw the clinging curtains wide
    Whilst I wait and yearn outside
Let the light fall on my face.

"In Tenebris" by Ford Madox Ford

Autumn Almanac

The one red leaf, the last of its clan,
That dances as often as dance it can,
Hanging so light, and hanging so high,
On the topmost twig that looks up at the sky.
  ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

At this time of year for the past few years I've posted scans of the lovely autumn leaves I've found around my neighborhood. This year the pickings were sad and slim. Hurricane Sandy, which destroyed so many beautiful trees, also battered the stuffing out of the ones it left standing.

In many cases, as the photo above shows, some leaves never changed color at all but grimly went from green to dead.

Here is my haul for 2012: three leaves, the best I could find – and even these are a little ragged and bruised.

Since there isn't much to show for the current year, I decided to show you some of my favorite leaves from previous years. And as you look at them, have a listen to the Kinks singing their wonderful "Autumn Almanac".

The tradition began in 2009 with these three leaves.

Here is my pick for 2010, which was a spectacular year for color...

And from 2011...

More information:

• To see more leaves, visit my posts from 2010 and 2011
• To find out why leaves change colors, scroll to the bottom of this post

"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address."
~ Nora Ephron

Thanksgiving lessons

"I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose."

~ Woody Allen

1940 photo by Jack Delano, a photographer for the Farm Security Administration. 
For more about this photo, visit the Library of Congress Prints and Photos blog.

These are some of the lessons I learned on Thanksgiving 2012, including a few I re-learn every year.

• It is best to "shake well" before you open the can of evaporated milk.

• I buy sugar once a year, always on Thanksgiving morning (because I always forget).

• The ground cloves in my kitchen almost certainly date from the last millennium. 

• All of my pie pans but one have migrated to my daughter's house. 

• There's always a little too much pumpkin pie filling – just enough for a couple of great mini-pies.

• Cats are not immune to the eat-until-you're-ill theme of the day.

• Something is always too salty. 

• I have never met anyone who likes turkey wings*.

• I am grateful for tea towels.

• References to "doorbusters" are a heinous linguistic blight at this time of year. 

Speaking of the cashification of Thanksgiving, linguist Ben Zimmer decimated the myth that "Black Friday" has anything to do with profitability. To learn what it's really about, read his 2011 Visual Thesaurus article. This morning I asked him (via Twitter) if he's written anything about "doorbuster" – he hasn't – but he directed me to Oxford Dictionaries, which first included the word in 2006, when he was an editor there. It has a surprising second definition. Update: The unfailingly polite Ben Zimmer sent me a follow-up note (tweet) today directing me to this comprehensive entry from Barry Popik's blog.

* Another update: After I posted this, a Facebook friend said that she does like turkey wings "as long as they're crispy."

"I'm thankful to be breathing, on this side of the grass. Whatever comes, comes."

~ Ron Perlman

Bonus! For those who had a less than blissful thanksgiving, watch this video and discover it could have been worse.