Sybil Bruncheon’s “Thanksgivings Past”… Breaking News from the CNN News Desk: A Reprieve...

The president and first lady have been violently attacked shortly after a press conference in the rose garden! The couple had just presided over the annual pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey, in this case TWO turkeys named "Bread" and "Butter".
Mr. and Mrs. Trump had returned to their residence in their part of the White House when bloodcurdling screams and pleas for mercy were heard echoing through the halls by the serving staff. Secret Service officers were called, and the Trumps were found hideously disfigured with gouged out eyes. The President was discovered in his bathroom missing his hair as well, and Mrs. Trump was located near a garden shed with the words "Bug-Wife" scrawled in what looked like bloody claw scratchings. The turkeys were nowhere to be found nor was their luggage in the Lincoln Bedroom where they were to be guests for the Holiday weekend.
Police are questioning everyone involved with the ceremony including the farm where Bread and Butter lived prior to their celebrity in the nation's capital. Investigations are also being opened at the incubator where they were both raised as orphans and where there may be some evidence of juvenile records of violence or sexual deviancy that might have been sealed. Details at 6. Cranberry Sauce at 11.

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Sybil Bruncheon's OUR THANKSGIVING HERITAGE... "Holiday cheer, and cheerfulness!"...

… yes, Friends, at this time of year, we invite our families and friends to gather in our homes and share the bounty of the Fall season and the harvest of an abundant country...but how many people in rural areas of this nation may be deprived of that abundance? Did you know that in various parts of Appalachia and the Dust Belt, when Thanksgiving delicacies were hard to find, the townspeople would celebrate by actually DRESSING as their favorite recipes!!... and then put on a parade through the community, distracting everyone from their hunger pangs!... Between the festive costumes, the antics of the marchers, the kazoo and jug bands, and the delight of young and old alike, this Holiday tradition always managed to be a favorite and memorable event of the year, and a cherished one.

Several famous authors based short stories and even entire novels on the events of these distant times and places; Harper Lee's "Boo Radley Has Big Radishes", Carson McCullers' "The Artichoke Is A Lonely Side Dish", Truman Capote's "In Cold Leftovers", John Updike's "Rabbit Stew", Ernest Hemingway's "The Bun Also Rises", Willa Cather's "Oh Parsnips!", Sinclair Lewis' "Elmer's Pantry", John Steinbeck's "Travels With Barley", and of course Eugene O'Neill's "All God's Chillun Got Wings, Breasts, and Drumsticks"....

Many others immortalized the "Pilgrim Poverty Parades" as they began to be called... How inspiring that an empty larder can be the source of great art and fond childhood memories too...... (Shown in the photos, clockwise from upper left; Mr. Josiah Arph as "Cornwallis The Game Hen", Meyer Pyerstutz as "a Gourd, or maybe a Punkin", Miss Penelope Simonson as a "Leafy and Nutritious Side Salad With a Light Citrus Vinagrette", Wilbur and Natalie Blunt as "The Parkerhouses", Noah Nutterton as "A Braised Pork Loin", Mrs. Melba Totter as "A Mess o' Cracklins", and in the center, Enid Entwhistle as "A Bedeviled Egg". All photos courtesy of the National Geographic Society, The Library of Congress, and Gourmet Magazine)

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Tour-ette from the suburbs of Philly on Diwali, the Festival of Lights... India's New Year!

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From Sybil Bruncheon's "It's All Relative! The Theory of Alternate Universes!"...

It has been proposed that in other dimensions, our very own histories in this dimension may be similar but slightly altered in fascinating ways. For instance, it has been surmised that Abraham Lincoln might have leaned forward at just the right moment in some other dimension's Ford Theatre during a production of OUR BULGARIAN COUSIN. An actor named Thetus Chomsky through a jealous rage over a jar of gooseberry preserves, might have shot at the president but killed his wife, Mary Filbert Päerdsgeschoss, a famous Norwegian yodeler instead. Lincoln, devastated, but riding high from his victory in the Civil War, finishes a record seven terms as President of the 312 states... he marries a sheep... and retires to Key West to open a mixed-species bed & breakfast... well?... it could happen...

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Sybil Bruncheon's "A Whole Month Of Thanksgiving!"... Housewifely Hints For A Happy Holiday!...

... Ladies, (and I use that term loosely)... do you try to serve your Thanksgiving crowd a wide but still nutritious variety of side dishes with your turkey? Sure, who doesn't? But sometimes a new and untried recipe from a passing stranger, a resentful in-law, or an adulterous neighbor can turn out just terribly, can't it? Even our healthy and usually heart-friendly vegetable-dishes can suddenly become the stuff of hideous nightmares. I'm reminded of the time a supposedly prize-winning artichoke dip stood up on my beautifully laid dining table and, after kicking over the candelabras, proceeded to eat my Cousin Delia and her husband Carl, a perfectly nice aluminum-siding salesman who had never been to my home before. Well! You can imagine my embarrassment as a hostess, especially when the fire spread to adjoining blocks and killed 13. Ah well... my advice? Always, ALWAYS try out Holiday recipes a week or so beforehand. Why get caught at the last minute in a cuisine catastrophe? There'll be more suggestions in my new cook book/memoir, starting on page 312. Bon Appétit!!! 

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Sybil Bruncheon's “A Few of My Favorite Things”… The Good Wife and Archie Punjabi...

Apropos of my advice every week on being "present, mindful, and grateful", I'm starting a new series called Sybil Bruncheon's My Favorite Things! In this world of so much angst and anguish, and "calling out" all those things and people we DON'T approve of or value, I want to make a point of saying what DOES give me pleasure, lights up my world, and fills all my senses, my heart, and my head with joy. These are a few of my favorite things; people, objects, works of art, food, animals, wonders of Nature… you get the idea! Stay tuned...

I watched THE GOOD WIFE when it was aired originally from 2009 to 2016, and then, thanks to technology, I binge watched it again and again as the years passed. It remains one of my very favorite TV shows ever, and, more than being just another TV show, I think it may become an iconic piece of art over the next decades and an artifact representative of American urban life at the opening of the 21st century. Rarely do actors get cast in roles that "no one else could play" so to speak, but this show, season after season, used both its core cast and all of its guest and cameo actors brilliantly. Although we've seen all its stars in many other great projects (Julianna Margulies on ER, Christopher Noth in LAW & ORDER and SEX AND THE CITY, Christine Baranski, Nathan Lane, and Alan Cumming in theatre and films, etc.), their roles on THE GOOD WIFE have become their individual touchstones; something that they can be particularly proud of. And I admire and celebrate them all.

But for me, it’s Archie Punjabi as the enigmatic Kalinda Sharma who dazzles! Throughout the entire series, she never raises her voice, never erupts, never explodes or loses control. Indeed, even when she kicks, punches, or shoots, she does so almost placidly, as if breaking a thug's nose or kneeing him in the crotch is a matter of course. She has none of the fireworks or emotional pyrotechnics that every other character gets. As an actress, she has only her personal beauty (stunning!) and an equally stunning wardrobe a la a 21st century Emma Peel to embellish her character. But the writers capitalized on Punjabi's imploded method-acting style of mumbles, shrugs, and askance-glances to create something rare in all fiction; a soft-spoken, gentle-mannered, highly sophisticated but implacable force of Nature… as a woman! It's Kalinda who becomes the weekly fixer of everyone's dilemmas, tip-toeing her way into homes and psyches to find the weak point, the missed detail, the subtle clue, and often the ultimate solution.

After five seasons of close calls, narrow escapes, and happy hour cocktails with Cary, Alicia, and unwitting adversaries, including her violent and psychotic ex-husband Nick, Kalinda finally had to solve a life-and-death situation by turning in an infamous drug dealer to save her coworkers. And in an unrelated situation in that same episode, she had to dispose of Nick, once and for all. She arranges for the drug dealer and his cohorts to be caught by the Feds, and she confronts her ex in a scene that ends vaguely, leaving the resolution up to the audience's imagination. But when I see her reactions and interactions with Nick, and when I think of all that she's seen and gone through throughout the whole series, there's nothing vague about it to me. I'm convinced that she settled on the "final solution" to her violent and uncontrollable ex. It explains her rye farewell to Alicia. Somehow or other, she managed to kill Nick and dispose of him without a trace. She ends up being her own fixer, solving her own dilemma as she strolls out of the show that final time. Nick is "gone... permanently"! And it explains that wonderful enigmatic smile in the last shot. For me, she will always be one of the most beautiful, mysterious, and alluring characters in ALL fiction... and additionally one of the most perfectly written and inhabited by one of the most wonderful actors... ever. Thank you for being one of my favorite things, Archie Punjabi.

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Tour-ette from the suburbs of Philadelphia on Election Night. 11/3/2020

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Sybil Bruncheon's "We've Got a Nose for News!!"...

… from the White House. Donald Trump, in a fit of despondency over growing scandals, reports of criminal activities, possible charges of treason, and both a failing presidency and marriage, was just sighted blowing his brains out in the oval office. Medical personnel were on hand immediately but tragically they could not restore all of his brain matter either from his index finger or from under the edge of the desk where apparently he had been hiding much of it over the last few months. Details at 6. Kleenex at 11.

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Sybil Bruncheon's "WHO'Z DAT?"... Hollywood Birthdays in NOVEMBER!... The CHARACTERS!

(Clockwise from top center: Marie Dressler, Edward Van Sloan and Boris Karloff, Mischa Auer, Ed Wynn, Edna May Oliver, Norman Lloyd, Will Rogers, Burgess Meredith, Jack Elam, Esther Rolle, Jack Oakie, and Michael Gough)

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Sybil Bruncheon's "WHO'Z DAT?"... Hollywood Birthdays in NOVEMBER!... The LADIES!

Answers below!

(Clockwise from top center: Gene Tierney, Grace Kelly, Virginia Mayo, Frances Dee, Eleanor Powell, Dorothy Dandridge, Hope Lange, Elke Sommer, and Vivien Leigh)

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