I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving weekend was good. I was more tired than I knew. I slept until 7:20 am on Thanksgiving Day and until 9:30 am on Friday, which is unheard of for me. We had visions of going to the National Gallery of Art the day after Thanksgiving but decided to pass because of the cold. Yesterday I took the bus home. It left Arlington at 12:30 pm and we arrived in New York in a driving rain six hours later safe and sound. The bus drivers who work for the various lines along the Northeast Corridor do an extraordinary job. Unfortunately we saw a few accidents along the way.

When I arrived home I emptied my bag and took a hot shower. I was so keyed up that I stayed up reading and working until 1:30 am. I ordered some library books, explored up a few things in some databases, and moved a few files around. I also went online and bought a 2019 weekly planner, which will arrive Tuesday. I don’t want to go into the details just yet, but I have a strong sense of what my 2019 projects are going to be. I hope they come to fruition.

I thought I would share one more Thanksgiving-related image before putting this holiday in the books. The one above was taken during the Second World War, probably in 1942 although that is not certain. President Roosevelt had given his “Arsenal of Democracy” speech in December 1940 when the United States was still technically neutral. Here we see a father, mother, and daughter pausing for a quick Thanksgiving Day meal before supposedly heading back to their stations on the assembly line. I say “supposedly” because these do not look like workers on the line; they seem too clean and their clothes too well-pressed for that. The Office of War Information’s own Office for Emergency Management originally created the image, which could be a giveaway. Whatever its provenance, it is a striking photograph from a unique moment in our history.

Enjoy your Sunday.

(image/FDR Presidential Library)