Wild Turkeys and Two Unforgettable Thanksgiving Movies

Happy Thanksgiving to our American Friends   

  And here is a photo of the main attraction...wild turkeys in daughter's backyard.  The numbers of wild turkeys around here continue to grow.  You don't have to travel  far from downtown Ottawa to encounter them usually trying to cross the road, which they tend to do one at a time in single file much to the ire of drivers.  Why they don't just fly across I don't know but they seem to need to feel somewhat threatened before they use their wings.
There have been two American movies about this holiday that are favourites of mine.  I loved Home For the Holidays and it had to be good with that wonderful cast  and script.  That movie held so much of all the stuff families are made of - the good, the bad and the ugly.  You wonder just why is it that family gatherings can become opportunities for all the angst and issues and stresses to surface, despite everyone's good intentions.  I was very interested in the role of the mother, played by Ann Bancroft, in this family and Holly Hunter as daughter was marvellous.  I read that the cast had to eat five turkey dinners to complete the table scene to the director' liking (who was Jodie Foster).
The other movie is Trains, Planes and Automobiles which showcased the amazing talents of Steve Martin and John Candy.  This was a movie that, while very funny and making you laugh, had a certain poignancy running through it.  Something about the idea of being alone on a holiday, with no family or far from family, is sad; and if you haven't made friends into family it is especially sad, like poor Del.  But a happy ending, none the less.