Thanksgiving on the Beach

Trying to decide how to celebrate Thanksgiving in a new place is rather odd. Do you go ahead and attempt to prepare a traditional meal in your new (and not very well-equipped) kitchen? Do you break with tradition and just fix a pizza? Or do you accept an invitation from a well-meaning stranger who is kind enough to think that newcomers shouldn't be all alone on this family-focused holiday?

Back in the old days, we dressed up for Thanksgiving dinner. The folks would invite another family over and the kids would go off into another room and watch TV or play Twister or Clue or Life while the parents did whatever parents do when the kids are out of the way for a while.

When all the food was finally ready (which always seemed to take forever), Dad would be called upon to carve the turkey, which he did with much dedication, carefully segregating the different types of meat onto the platter so the diners could easily select their favorite portion: white meat, dark meat, drumsticks, and the cherished tuchas (or tukus, or tuckus, or however you want to spell it)...that is the rear end where the tail feathers used to be. I never personally liked the tuchas - I was a thigh girl.

Dad (carving) and Grandpa Kordner (observing), circa 1965

In recent years, our Thanksgiving family get togethers have been pretty stressful. I've taken to referring to it as "Angst"-giving. Everyone seems to spend more time getting their feelings hurt and being angry than enjoying each other's company. I usually try to lay low until around 5 pm when I can get Dad to whip up a couple of martinis. A few years ago, we thought that maybe it would be less work for Mom (and fewer meltdowns) if we went out for dinner. So we all met in San Francisco for a Chinese dinner on Thanksgiving Day. I won't go into the details, which are better off forgotten, but suffice it to say that this strategy did not work and has never been tried again!

So this year, here I am in Maui, with not enough time or money to enjoy a family Thanksgiving with Mom and Dad. But happily, a coworker of mine at Maui Community College invited me and George to join a Thanksgiving potluck on the beach. We did not know a soul there - even my coworker, Renee, was someone I had only met once and did not even recognize in her hat and sunglasses! Fortunately, she recognized me and introduced us to lots of other really nice people. Although Renee had extended the invitation to the MCC community, everyone there was actually asociated with the Kihei Canoe Club, where Renee is a member.

There was lots of food - all of it delicious! We had our share of traditional Thanksgiving fare: turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberries, and pumpkin pie...plus other delicious potluck food like ham, baked beans and cornbread. It was a beautiful day, but incredibly windy and every so often a big gust would blow through and everyone had to chase down a tornado of plates and bags and foil.

 

  

Thanksgiving at Kamaole III Beach Park

So this year, the Thanksgiving story had a happy ending (except for the turkey). And we made sure to carry on the tradition of the Thanksgiving martini, inspired by my friend Robin, a somewhat tall girl...thanks Robin!

And the best part? Three more days off!

 

Turkey on the deck, back in Idaho, says: "Eat more ham!"

Struttin' his Stuff

One of the first things that I discovered I had overlooked when choosing our rental house in Makawao is the noisy neighbor. This is not a human neighbor - not someone you could go have a friendly chat with, and ask nicely...Say!...you wouldn't mind keeping it down a little bit at 3 am, would you?

No this neighbor is a rooster. A colorful, strutting, hen-chasing, night-crowing rooster. I don't have a picture of this actual rooster because I'm afraid if I got close enough to snap a photo I might also snap his scrawny neck. But he looks like this:

So this here rooster (who belongs to our landlord) has the run of the place, which pretty much means the whole two acres around our landlord's house, our house, and the neighbors' house right in front of us. It might seem pastoral, but when this guy winds up at 1 am during a full moon night, and then keeps up a regular rumpus until about 7 am, it can sure mess up a good night's sleep. Most mornings he sleeps in til about 3 or 3:30 am so I found that if I sleep with earplugs and slap a pillow over my head for a couple of hours, I can just about tune him out.

I can only be thankful we only have one of these close by to deal with. Cockfighting is big sport in Hawaii and just a few blocks away, there is a whole rooster planned community that pretty much looks exactly like this:

Now, I can only imagine what" it must be like to live next door to this. But as a popular bumpersticker reads around here: "Chicken fighting is not a crime. Please respect local culture." However, according to the U.S. Humane Society:

Cockfighting is illegal in every state and the District of Columbia, and any animal fighting activity that affects interstate commerce is a felony under the federal Animal Welfare Act. Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia have made cockfighting a felony offense. Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia prohibit the possession of cocks for fighting. And 41 states and the District of Columbia prohibit being a spectator at cockfights.

So actually, yes, chicken fighting IS a crime. But in Hawaii, it is not a crime to possess a fighting rooster, be a spectator at a rooster fight, or possess rooster fighting "implements." If you are busted for cockfighting in Hawaii, it's a misdemeanor with maximum jail time of one year, and maximum fine of $2,000. Hawaii ranks 47th out of 51 for severity of cockfighting penalties - above Kentucky, Idaho, Mississippi and Alabama (where the maximum fine is $50).

Our landlord's rooster is not a fighter - he's a lover. A loud one.  So I got to thinking - I can't be the only person who is losing sleep because of a rowdy rooster. Hasn't anyone thought about coming up with a genetically-engineered rooster that doesn't crow? I did a little searching, but got distracted by this Foghorn Leghorn cartoon.