Something Special for My Girl Pearl
Pearl, the little white hen who taught me more about the art of gratitude and thankfulness than anyone else!
Of the chickens who live in my backyard and provide me with inspiration for writing and drawing, my favorite is Pearl. (Although you really aren’t supposed to have a “favorite” to help maintain peace in the coop!)
Pearl has almost always been a perpetual favorite of readers as well. While she never seems to fit in with the others as “a good, normal chicken,” she keeps going her own way and doing what makes her happy! And when she does, everything seems to turn out well.
For a long time, Pearl has wanted me to do something special just for her and just for you, our loyal fans, and so she and I are going to give this new series titled “Pearl’s Special Days and Special Costumes” a try. (We have already posted some of these illustrations and descriptions on Medium.
November: National Pomegranate Month
Pearl is a born entertainer. She loves dressing up and performing for an audience. Pearl does not worry about how much she will be liked. She simply does what she wants to do, and then trusts that her instincts were right all along.
For a long time, Pearl has wanted me to do something special just for her and just for you, our loyal fans, and so she and I are going to give this new series titled “Pearl’s Special Days and Special Costumes” a try.
Clarifying Note: This is also a series that we are sharing on our Medium website, and many of you may know us from there. The BIG difference for us is that we get paid for what we post on Medium but not on Substack which is our Newsletter Platform, and we have always shared freely what we are up to through our Newsletter, and we don’t plan to change that any time soon! (But we do like to eat!)
Pearl and I are going to put our heads together and develop what we hope will be an entire year’s worth of celebrating with costumes and hats. We are beginning with November, the month for Giving Thanks — or Thanksgiving — in which we celebrate a favorite fruit for all my chickens, the pomegranate.
Fun Facts: Pomegranates are packed with health benefits for people and for chickens. They also have a great deal of rich and ancient symbolism associated with them. The parts of the pomegranate fruit that get eaten are called arils. These are small seed pods that have a jewel-like appearance.
National “Tie One On Day” and “Cranberry Relish Day”
The day before Thanksgiving is the day that Pearl and I celebrated National Tie One On Day. The name for this day is a bit deceiving. This day is not about becoming intoxicated since that would be bad for a chicken and not particularly good for a person either! It’s about tying on an apron! Think about all of the memories that aprons hold!
Fun Fact: National “Tie One On Day” always occurs on the day before Thanksgiving. It is about celebrating the women who tie on an apron and prepare a delicious meal for those they love. It may be done for their own family or those who need some joy to be spread into their lives.
Quite honestly, my Bessie is the only chicken with a talent for working in the kitchen. We really should have only one chicken-sized apron (preferably pink striped since that’s what Bessie prefers) — and that one should be only for Bessie! (No borrowing, Pearl!)
Ironic Juxtaposition: Ironically, celebrating “Tie One On Day” was not particularly helpful for Pearl when she was also celebrating “National Cranberry Relish Day” which also occurs on the day before Thanksgiving. As you may remember, trouble just always seems to follow Pearl, and anything that can go wrong, will go wrong…and yes, there are still splatters of cranberry relish on the ceiling!
Note to Self: This year, I must learn from past mistakes, and be sure to buy the premade Cranberry Relish in the plastic container from the grocery store for much less stress!
But honestly, you just have to love Pearl no matter how big a mess she makes! (Pearl makes any day a special day! — It’s her gift and a gift for which I am tremendously thankful!)
And as far as Pearl is concerned, we will likely need to institute our own “National Cranberry Jewelry Day” where we make our own jewelry from Cranberries. This is Pearl’s own original idea for a National Day.
Actually the day before Thanksgiving Day might be the best day for “National Cranberry Jewelry Day”! Then on Thanksgiving Day, Pearl can model and show off her Jewelry creations! That should keep her busy while Bessie and I are in the kitchen preparing a feast for everyone to enjoy!
Thanksgiving Day and Cranberry Jewelry Day
Can there be a holiday any more American than Thanksgiving? Pearl decided to make her own Thanksgiving Day outfit as traditional as possible by keeping with the Pilgrim Hat and turkey feathers. Even so, she still dressed up the table with pumpkins and a pumpkin pie. Seriously traditional. Seriously thankful. Seriously ready to eat!
Fun Fact: We are very thankful for our Canadian readers and fans! Canada has a Thanksgiving Day holiday as well. Unlike the United States, which celebrates Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November, Canada celebrates Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October.
Special Note: One of the main differences between Thanksgiving Day in Canada and in the United States is not what happens on the holiday, but what happens after the holiday. In the United States, that means Black Friday which is devoted to shopping the sales in stores for gifts. In Canada, this doesn’t happen, most likely due to it being close to six weeks before the United States version of the holiday.
But one of the greatest things about being an American chicken is that you can start your own traditions! And that is what Pearl and I have done this year, and who knows, it may catch on and become a trend throughout these United States: Making Jewelry from Cranberries!
Think about it. Cranberries are shaped like beads or jewels and can easily be strung together to glamorize a chicken or other pet. They can also give a Christmas tree a boost of holiday cheer. The color of cranberries is very festive and fitting for Christmas. (I’m thinking our leftover cranberries that don’t get turned into jewelry will work nicely for decorating our Christmas tree!)
Until Next Time
If you have any comments—good or bad—please share them on Substack or you can also reach me directly at John.Spiers@yahoo.com. While we will be posting more of “Pearl’s Special Days and Special Costumes” here on Substack, if you’d like to keep up more regularly with “Pearl’s Special Days and Special Costumes,” and have a Medium subscription, you can do so here:
We didn’t include everything from Medium in this edition of our Newsletter—just enough to pull together what would hopefully be an interesting story with illustrations.
Medium will likely have more story to read and more illustrations to view because as Pearl would say, “Us Girls Gotta Eat!” (Medium pays by reading time, and we use what we earn on Medium to buy food for the chickens, the wild birds who visit our yard, and now Ernest, the mouse-catching cat who has adopted us!)
Special Note: My chickens love eating pomegranate arils with their juicy antioxidant flavor surrounding the seeds, but pomegranates are as much as $4.99 this year in our area. Fortunately, I found some for $2.99 each!
Our Best Advice for the Days Ahead: Get some cranberries and string them together to make some jewelry for yourself or even some garlands for your Christmas tree! Here’s a link for Cranberry Rope Garland. And in the meantime, keep yourself THANKFUL—you’ll be glad you did!
Thank you for reading!
John, Gracie, Bessie, Pearl, Blanche, Emily, and Amelia
The NDC is my preferred source as well.
Speaking as a Canadian: I'm not sure exactly when and how we started celebrated Thanksgiving, but since you had first dibs on the name and the menu, I'm pretty sure we stole your idea.
I like celebrating these National Days when they intersect with the concerns of myself and my characters. You probably know that from my past Medium and Substack posts...