I am not comfortable telling anybody else what to do with their Thanksgiving holidays, I believe there ought to be at least one commercial-free holiday in our national lives, one day in which people can rest, reflect, be with their families, read a book or watch TV. I have some young friends who love Black Friday, they fan out to malls and text intelligence to each other and snap up some great bargains. They love it, it is their cultural Super Bowl, in a curious sort of way.

I love this farm on Route 313, it reminds me of the spirit of Thanksgiving, our most American of holidays, once the purest and least tainted by money, hype and greed. Many millions of people love to shop, and it does not seem my role to tell them they ought not to do that, I do wonder if some people, especially younger people, even know what quiet and peace of mind is, they are so engulfed in messages and images.

Life is about change, and just because I celebrated Thanksgiving in one way doesn’t mean everyone who follows me has to do it that way. So I looked for purity and simplicity yesterday and I found some in this photograph I took a month or so ago, it evoked Thanksgiving and it’s spirit for me, I will share it with you.