(From Thursday : yes, it is every morsel as scrumptious as it looks. It’s Bryan’s home-made apple pie and home-made pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream. This was after Bill and Dave’s wonderful turkey dinner with cranberry sauce and stuffing and green bean casserole .. ! ).
So what is black about this Friday following Thanksgiving in the USA? The term ‘Black Friday’ originated in Philadelphia around 1966 (source: Wikipedia). Back then it was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Then later an alternative explanation began to be offered: that “Black Friday” indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or are “in the black” .. since many people have a day off work or take a vacation day and start their Christmas shopping. Stores used to open at 6 am on Friday, which in recent years crept up to 4 am. Then this year several large chains opened at midnight for the first time. It should be noted that Walmart opened at 10pm on Thursday and Sears was open all Thanksgiving day (gasp!).
But enough of that. I for one certainly did NOT go shopping. I did find myself back at Seattle-Tacoma airport, making my way to my brother and his family in San Diego. It was not busy at the airport and it’s 2 hours on Alaska Airlines down to California. And it doesn’t rain all the time in winter in Seattle, see? It was not even a gray Friday, but a beautiful blue-sky one.
