Thoughts from the Long Thanksgiving Weekend

A little of this and a little of that following what was for me a four-day weekend:

• It certainly was for many a very different Thanksgiving Day with most choosing to stay home or spend the day with a smaller-than-usual family gathering. However experts are predicting a spike in positive COVID-19 cases in a week or so from those who ignored pleas to avoid traveling as well as those who defied orders to stay away from large indoor groups.  With Christmas just around the corner it appears we are headed in the wrong direction in the battle against the pandemic.

• The nice weekend weather saw many outside decorating their homes for the holiday season and moving inside to put up their Christmas trees, real and artificial. Just 25 days until the big day!

• The Borough of Seaside Park is hosting a Holiday Craft Show & Tree Lighting thus Sunday on the lawn in front of the police station. The craft show runs from 10 a.m. -4 p.m. and will feature homemade crafts, jewelry and clothing as well as food and hot beverages.  The tree lighting takes place at 6 p.m. and will include a special appearance by Santa and Mrs. Claus.

• It’s a pretty good time for the many loyal Rutgers fans who have not had much to cheer about in recent years. Greg Schiano has amazingly put together an exciting football team that plays with great enthusiasm and now has two Big Ten victories.  Meanwhile the basketball team is off to a 3-0 start and ranked in the top 25.  Good times on the banks of the old Raritan.

• Leave it up to the headline writers for the New York Post to sum up the Giants sudden ascent to the top of the NFC East the best. “Beast of the least” says it all!

• Over the length of the pandemic we have watched our fair share of strange shows and series on the various streaming services. I would have to put “The Act” somewhere at the top of the list and what makes it even more interesting is that it’s based on true events.  The 8-part series on Hulu tells the story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard whose mother Dee Dee abused her by fabricating a tale for years that the child was sick and bound to a wheelchair.  The series is both compelling and disturbing at the same time.