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A few nights ago, twelve friends and I attended the lighting of the Portland Christmas tree in Pioneer Square. My friends had all flown in for Thanksgiving, and we decided to join ten-thousand others who walked from all over downtown for the event. What we didn’t know is the spot where we squeezed into the crowd was 25 feet from a van  filled with what a young man believed were six, fifty-gallon barrels of explosive material. As you know, the FBI had staged a sting, and as the young man made a call on his cell phone from the train station across town that would detonate the bomb, we were singing Christmas carols well within the blast zone. We didn’t hear about the threat until the following morning, and didn’t even know how close we were to the bomb until I saw a picture in the paper, taken only a few steps from the corner of Pioneer Square where we had been standing. I’ve not talked about Islam or terrorism on this site at all. But reading about the young man, and hearing the talking heads discuss the threat on the internet has me wondering what we are really up [...]

So it’s been about a week since I left Nashville, and I miss the cast a lot. Not only do I miss watching them act, because they are amazing, but I miss them as people. Tania Raymonde is brilliant. I vote her the best person to have a cup of coffee with at 4 in the morning, which is usually about the time the cast and crew is taking a coffee break. She will be playing Lauryn, who is based loosely on Laura from the book. Here’s Tania: Introducing: Tania Raymonde from Blue Like Jazz The Movie on Vimeo.

Video Update 3 – Blue Like Jazz the Movie from Blue Like Jazz The Movie on Vimeo. Follow more consistent updates on the film at www.bluelikejazzthemovie.com

Thanksgiving is next week and I’ve got about ten people flying in to hang at the house, go snow shoeing and sledding, and watch the lighting of the Portland Christmas tree. And we are going to cook. My friend Mike Barrow is in charge of the turkey, and I’m going to smoke a brisket on the old Traeger (remind me to buy stock in the company that makes that thing) but the rest is up in the air. So lets hear it! What do you absolutely love to eat at Thanksgiving? Share the recipe with the blog and lets try some of this stuff out.

I was recently troubled to learn I think like a squirrel. A friend told me a story a while back about a squirrel he saw on the deck of his condo. He put a couple nuts out one day, and the squirrel came back the next day looking for more nuts. So he opened his sliding door, and placed a nut just inside. The squirrel studied the distance he’d have to run to get in and out of the house, then took the chance, grabbed the nut and escaped back to his tree. Each day my friend would bring the squirrel further inside the house, until, after a few weeks, he could feed the squirrel from his hand. Awesome story. Except for what happened next. My friend decided to stop feeding the squirrel. And the squirrel went nuts. The squirrel put it’s paws (whatever they are) on the glass door and shook it, chirping and squelching at my friend to let it in to get it’s nut. My friend tried to scare it off, but the animal only hissed at my friend. My friend now hates squirrels. He thinks they are spoiled animals and essentially slightly cuter than rats, though [...]