How I Spent My Thanksgiving Vacation

Well, I haven't spent much of it blogging or even reading blogs, I must confess. I was visiting family back in my home town and spending time with my own kids. I did find time to exercise, as the photo at left establishes. (I think photographic proof is still pretty good evidence, especially when the photo is taken by someone unrelated to the subject. In this case, it was the Salt Lake Tribune's Al Hartman.) The caption on the photo is: "Lowell Brown, visiting from Northridge, Calif., takes a brisk walk Saturday morning in a break between snowstorms at the 11th Avenue Park in the Avenues in Salt Lake City."

Okay, my 15 minutes have now expired. I can report on a few items:

• It's cold up in those mountains.
• Williams-Sonoma's Turkey Gravy Base can make any Thanksgiving cook seem like a genius.
• Reynolds baking bags are a close second. (A decent meat thermometer helps.)
• No, my legs were not cold.
• Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire is the best Potter movie yet. Every minute was a pleasure to watch. Isn't this what movies are supposed to be?
• Although we Yanks tend to lump all British accents together, they are many and varied. For example, just listen to the way different actors in Harry Potter say the hero's last name: Some say "Pottah," as we might expect, but many simply say "Potterr," just as most Americans not from Maine, Boston, or Queens might say it.

Time for church.