My pom pom characters in particular have the personalities of beloved real life relatives in my family. This oh so fat Tom Turkey with his long legs and fine feathers reminds me of my father who, if you asked my mother, could only be described as Hard Headed.
Case in point, Thanksgiving 1969. The year my brother and I fondly recall as the year we nearly were arrested due to my father's Hard Headed ways.
We had just settled into the Neighborhood with the Hills from our overseas assignment. Thanksgiving dinner too much for my mother having just set up house, my father decided we would eat at the Mess Hall on the naval installation on Bowling Air Force Base in Washington, DC. Despite my mother's pleading we eat at a restaurant, my father insisted he wanted to eat with his fellow men in uniform. Even my brother and I knew what this really meant was we could eat there free as Dependents.
To get to the Navy Mess Hall, we had to go around the long air strip to the other side of the base. Being that is was Thanksgiving, there wasn't any activity on base, no planes in site on the RUNWAY! My father drove us right across the middle of the runway in our White Behemoth!
Sirens drawing close, "Sir, Please step out of the car." For all the times I was so embarrassed by my father's imposing height and bearing, this was one time I wasn't. I could see the small white uniform looking up, up, up at my Dad's black one with all the gold braid. My father spoke in his deep baritone, "Thank you for coming to escort us to the mess."
My brother and I giggled in the backseat of our car all the way home as my mother's commentary about our father's Hard Headed ways filled the space about us. "If they can put a man on the moon, you would think we could have a Thanksgiving meal like any normal family!"
TAIL FEATHERS: Tacky glue white feather to red feather. Tacky glue tip of brown feather to white feather. Place feather section on top of back tail piece and button stitch up both sides. Outline stitch detail. Repeat with each feather section. I have slipped a length of pipe stem into center section to .....
Well, you get the point!
