1. I made a to-do list for the weekend and into next week and put things like “make pies” and “thaw Tofurkey” on it. It’s Thanksgiving time! NYTimes editor Sam Sifton wrote a funny and authoritative guide to Thanksgiving: How To Cook It Well that I’ve been reading. You can get a sample of his style in his “10 Laws of Thanksgiving Dinner” on the Dinner: A Love Story blog I like. (Yes, it’s from 2012. I’m a couple years behind.)
2. Here is a quote from Middlemarch about being happy:
“The best piety is to enjoy – when you can. You are doing the most to save earth’s character as an agreeable planet. And enjoyment radiates. It is of no use to try and take care of all the world; that is being taken care of when you feel delight – in art or in anything else.”