I went out for a short walk a couple of days ago and found myself walking through a farmyard, a mile or two from home, with three livestock pens, one of cows with calves, one of geese, and one of turkeys. The turkeys could probably look forward to nearly another month of safe gobbling, including gobbling up lots of food to make them fat. (According to answers.com, the verbs “gobble” meaning “eat greedily” and “gobble” for the sound made by a turkey are unrelated, so I suppose I am making a word play here.) And probably the same for the geese. It won’t be until four weeks from today that they will very likely find themselves the central attraction on a dining table.

But I understand that my American friends can’t wait for Christmas to come before killing the fatted bird, and serving it up with such strange accompaniments as pumpkin pie. So, to any of my readers celebrating today, happy Thanksgiving!