THANKSGIVING!

It’s Thanksgiving morning, and I’m watching the big Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which is unfolding right now in New York City, and on my TV here in our friend’s house in Portland, Oregon. And boy, is it giving me an idea about just how big this celebration is in this country. The parade’s bonkers!!! I’ve never seen so many giant inflatable turkeys, cartoon characters and general dressing up madness before. Ever. And this afternoon, it’s gonna be all about the turkey… I’ll report back on that.
We’ve been up here for a couple of days now, and I love love love Portland. Whenever I come to a new city, I stretch out my city-vibe-feelers, and they usually tell me pretty quickly whether a place is right for me or not. I’ve always found that every single city has its very own vibe, and some vibes agree with me, while others don’t. My theory is that cities are a bit like people. Some, you love instantly, some grow on you slowly, but you need to spend some time with them, and possible revisit at another point in your life. Some are pleasant enough, but will never terribly excite you, and then there are some that just aren’t right for you. And I’m basing this purely on my own personal “feeling” of a city (don’t want to come across all New Age), I’m not even taking the superficial beauty of a place into consideration, or the experiences I’ve had there. But that’s what I mean about the “vibe”. Sometimes you get that “right” feeling when you haven’t really spent much time in a place at all. And Portland is certainly such a place! Along with Amsterdam, Prague, and London. And Sydney. All places I would happily go and live in. It’s really quite hard to describe, but so often when I’ve been excited about going to a place, because everybody had told me it was great, I ended up thinking “yes it’s nice. But…” Barcelona, for example. I mean, everybody LOVES Barcelona. And it’s a great place, I’ve had great fun there, and would happily revisit. But it’s not “my” place. Paris I had to grow to like – its beauty couldn’t dazzle me when I first visited, and I’ve had to go back a few times. Now I really quite like it, especially the Marais. But still… Madrid and Rome didn’t feel right for me, and I have no desire to go back to the former, whereas the latter needs another go I think. And San Francisco is a really great place, with its own peculiar dog-eared charm, amazing light (the sunsets are spectacular), cool people… and still, it’s not “my” place. Give me Portland any day! But who knows how and if my perception changes over the years.
Anyway, enough of the psycho babble for now (America is rubbing off on me). Here are some photos: