I was looking for an old Halloween postcard from my stash of early 1900s postcards. I didn't have even one. I guess Halloween wasn't a big deal back then, but I did find a couple turkey post cards. The one I chose has a very apprehensive turkey eyeing a basket of cranberries. That ole Tom sized up the situation pretty well. The postcard got me thinking about our national holiday, Thanksgiving Day.

On November 22, 1621, the Pilgrims and Indians sat down to a feast of roast turkey, cornbread dressing, candied sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Yeah, right. They probably had fish, corn fixed some way and God knows what else. I don't think turkey was on the menu.

Have you ever eaten wild turkey. The breast is OK, but the dark meat is totally inedible. I know. Someone gave us drumsticks from a wild turkey a few years ago. I boiled those suckers for hours. They never did tender up enough to be edible. I finally threw them out for the critters to eat. We had a Food City turkey breast with rosemary cooked in our crock pot that Thanksgiving.

I read somewhere that Ben Franklin lobbied for the turkey to be our national bird. He felt it was more important than the bald eagle, since the turkey was edible and the eagle was not. He lost the fight. Cooler heads argued that a turkey is a mighty dumb bird. I can attest to that fact. Years ago we bought three baby turkey chicks, or whatever you call baby turkeys. They were so dumb that two drowned during a rain shower. They stood there looking up with their mouths wide open and drowned. We rescued one turkey and had him later for Thanksgiving Dinner. Corn-fed, he was tasty.

Back to the card. There is a royal stamp on it saying “by Appointment”. A closer look added the notation of “ART PUBLISHERS TO THEIR MAJESTIES THE KING AND QUEEN.” Come on now. Weren't there any American-made cards back in 1909? I guess the phrase “Buy American” hadn't been coined yet. Oh yes, the postage for that card was one cent. The price was right.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY!