Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Gobble Gobble!

Today's Wonder of the World is...the Turkey!

Flickr photo by William Dalton
Aren't turkeys majestic birds?
No wonder Claude Monet wanted to put them on canvas.

A French dinde says glouglou, not gobble gobble.
Monet's turkeys are lovely!
Although I must say, turkeys are prettier from a distance than up close.

Flickr photo by Festblues~
No offense, Turkey.

Readers, do you know your turkey anatomy?
The red thing hanging from the underside of their beaks is called a wattle, and that crazy looking scarf like protuberance that drapes over the top of the beak is called a snood.
Now you know, just in case it comes up in conversation.

I love this turkey too.

Flickr photo by rich66~
It reminds me what Benjamin Franklin said about the turkey, that it would be a better national symbol for the United States than the eagle. Here's an excerpt from a letter to his daughter on the subject. I found it fascinating!

"For my own part I wish the Eagle had not been chosen the representative of our country. He is a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead tree near the river, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to his nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the Eagle pursues him and takes it from him....
I am on this account not displeased that the figure is not known as a Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the truth the Turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on."

Oh Ben, I would so love to have you over for tea!
Anyway, back to turkeys...

Look! The mystical turkey in a piece of wood is talking to you!

Flickr photo by clickclique
What's it saying?

Is it telling you to eat these instead?

Flickr photo by PhillipWest
Origami turkeys!

Or maybe we should dig into this turkey cake!

Flickr photo by simmiecakes
I like the white meat. What about you?

Of course, you could forgo the turkey platter all together.
You can still have plenty of Thanksgiving spirit!
Just wear this on your head instead.

Photo by angelacatirina.etsy.com
You can find the knitting pattern on Etsy of course, here.
Or for a more subtle look, try this one instead.

Photo by plentyofyarn.etsy.com
Buy it at plentyofyarn.etsy.com
Or maybe this one at the same Etsy shop...

Flickr photo by plentyofyarn.etsy.com
Oh my goodness! My mouth is watering! Pass the stuffing, please!

Have a Wonder-full Tuesday, y'all!
And before you turkey trot away, take a look at this crazy gobbler in action! It makes me wonder that age old question: Why did the turkey cross the road?

Love, Becky

20 comments:

Creations by Marie Antoinette and Edie Marie said...

Hello Rebecca, Did you know that peacocks are in the turkey family? They also hate each other and its not a good idea to raise them together.They fight.We not only raise peacocks,we also raised turkeys.I had a turkey knock me to the ground and pin me down.Let me know if you would like to hear what happend.Happy Thanksgiving sweety..Hugs Marie Antionette

LW said...

The good old turkey and
hear, hear
to good old Ben Franklin…

Louise

Rebecca Ramsey said...

Are you kidding Marie? I MUST hear the rest of that story! Please, do tell!

Rebecca Ramsey said...

Hey Louise! I didn't see you there. Yes, Ben is one of my heroes!

Anonymous said...

Majestic, perhaps, but also exceedingly dumb. I'm always running into a herd of wild ones IN THE ROAD these days. I wish someone would shoot them.

Rebecca Ramsey said...

Ha! Looks like I struck a nerve, Green Girl.
So I guess I won't be seeing you wearing a turkey hat any time soon?

Creations by Marie Antoinette and Edie Marie said...

Okay sweet Becky,
I've always had very big German Rotts.The one I'm going to tell you about weighed a mere 152 No kidding.His name was Buck.All my rotts were very gentle,would not hurt anything.
I was feeding young peacocks that we keep in a caged walk in pen.The chicks were in higher small cages.This pin has two heavy screen doors,Kept closed all the time.To keep animals out.Someone left the outer door open.When I went into the cage ,there was a very big turkey.My husbans favorite turkey.When I went in, at first i did not see it,to busy closing myself in that pen with that monster.Next thing I knew,he jumped me,knocking me and a beam down upon me.He was going to spur me really good ,I screamed and covered my head,next thing I knew,Buck tore that door open with his teeth and pen that turkey to the ground.The monsters head was on the dirt with Bucks teeth holding him their.I didn't want him to kill it ,because my husban love that thing.Anyway i yelled Buck 1Don't kill it,Daddy's bird.He let it go and came and stood between him and me.He walk out of the cage and was just fine,until I cold cocked him in his ugly head with a feed bucket.I thought I killed it.LOL...He dropped and then got up,wobbled alittle and was Okay.I had a big cut on my leg from the beam and a big bruise on my side ,where he knocked me down.I told Buck he was a wonderful,and gave him the rest of my left over steak.End of story.
My very first rott weighed 182.He was hyuge,did not look like a rott.But the vet said once in awhile a true gene will come out,in other words thats how big they use to be along time ago.To much breeding them down.Hugs Marie Antionette.

Rosemary said...

Hi Rebecca,
The turkey is ugly and cute all at the same time.
I do like turkey!!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving,
Rosemary

Suzie said...

I love that Ben letter it is really great stuff and I agree the turkey would have been better

Suzie said...

WOW Marie that is some turkey story!

David Ebright said...

Now yer gonna have PETA protestin' your blog!!!

Have to disagree with old Ben though - Franklin not Ramsey - Think about the man on the moon thing when the lunar module touched down - It would have sounded awful announcing - "The Turkey has landed."

Attic Rat said...

Love the turkey hats! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Teresa

CC said...

aren't you a few days early with the turkey????

Adrienne said...

I went to Va. Tech - our mascot was a turkey and we were known as the fighting gobblers. That was hard enough to live down...not sure we'd really want to be known as a nation of gobblers...

lotusgirl said...

We love eating turkey at our house--my husband especially. Last summer when we went to Paris for a week he about went through turkey withdrawal. All he wanted was a turkey sandwich. Ha! ha! Not so easy to find in Paris. He ate one in the Airport in NY on the way home.

No way would I want the turkey as the American bird. I love to eat it too much! I'd feel bad eating the national symbol. Plus they are so dumb. They have turkey farms near where I grew up, and I heard stories about the turkeys drowning because they would stand outside looking up at the rain. We should ask Marie Antoinette if that's true.

We have a couple of families of the wild turkeys that live near our neighborhood and they like to cross the road whenever. It keeps you on your toes. I like seeing them though.

Happy Turkey Day!

Unknown said...

What a cute turkey hat in the picture. It's adorable!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Unknown said...

Oh, that turkey hat is hilarious! I had to send a link to that hat to my friend and we had a good chuckle together via emails! The patriotic turkey is my fave and I love the turkey cake. That is one of the best turkey cakes I've seen...which isn't saying much since I've seen a lot of really baaaaaaad turkey cakes lately. Do you read Cakewrecks at www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com? It is too funny!
Happy Thanksgiving to ya! :)

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU SO MUCH---I WATCHED MY 4 YEAR OLD GRANDDAUGHTER TODAY AND I SHOWED HER THE VIDEO OF THE TURKEYS AND SHE LOVED THEM---I ENJOYED WATCHING HER GET EXCITED OVER THE TURKEYS---HAHA---HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING JANET

Jojo said...

I try not to think about the big bird in any other form that with dressing. Otherwise it gets hard to enjoy the feast! Then again after reading about Marie's battle of the turkey....

Susie Q said...

Hmm...maybe I love the turkey so much becasue I myself have quite a wattle...and a wadle too but that is a different story. : )

My Grandpa had some turkeys that were real turkeys...not too bright and attacked anything that got near them...like me! : )

Love,
Sue