With so much to do this time of year, I feel a bit like this guy:

As Thanksgiving Approaches

The following is one stanza from THE PUMPKIN, by John Whittier Greenleaf, written sometime during the mid-1800's.

Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West,
From North and from South comes the pilgrim and guest;
When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board
The old broken links of affection restored;
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before;
What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye,
What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?

A Bronx Tale

I just saw A BRONX TALE with Chaz Palminteri, his one-man show, which was made into the well known movie by the same name starring Robert Deniro. The actor lives the part—or parts of the wonderful characters in this play. Amazing and brave performance, taking me right to that neighborhood making the gangster and his crew, the kid, and all of Belmont Avenue fill the stage.

A few words from an interview with Mr. Palminteri about why he wrote A BRONX TALE:

My father said, 'What a waste of talent.' He always said to me, 'The saddest thing in life is wasted talent.' He wrote it on a little card and put it in my room. It was something I would see every day, I kept it there, and I think it's kind of what made me do what I did, to write this movie and do this.