Thanks for everything
November brings many blessings: Comfortable sleep, kindness, square dances, peanut butter, puzzles, Peter Pan — and the end of daylight saving time.
November is the month of thanks — or online, thumbs up. Turkey gets the most likes, but this cornucopia month spills out lots of reasons to be grateful — peanut butter and banana pudding, twinkle lights and drums. And c’mon now, give it up: even vegetables.
1 Aviation History Month, Sleep Comfort Month, Men Make Dinner Day. Buzz boys. Zzzz boys. Sizzzt! boys.
“YOU GONNA FLY”
Keith Urban, 7:30 p.m. at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Details at verizonarena.com. Call (800) 745-3000.
HE GONNA FLY
2 Trike Theatre production, Peter Pan, through Nov. 3 and Nov. 9-10 at Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville. Details at waltonartscenter.org. Call (479) 4435600.
TIME WARP
3 Civil War Weekend and reenactments through Nov. 4 at Old Washington Historic State Park near Hope. Details at arkansasstateparks.org. Call (870) 983-2684.
TIME WARP AGAIN
FAW DOWN, GO BOOM
5 England’s Guy Fawkes Day
remembers the fizzled plot of 1605 to blow up the British Houses of Parliament, King James I and all. Today’s version: Internet trolls.
CHECKS MARK THE SPOT
6 Election Day — when even Superman has to decide what color to fly, red or blue.
THAT’S Y’ALL, FOLKS
7 Ozark Folk Festival through Nov. 19, Eureka Springs, with Barefoot Ball, Funky Feat. Details at eurekasprings.org. Call (479) 253-8737.
SHOPPITY-SHOP-SHOP, LOOK AT FROSTY GO
Junior League of Little Rock Holiday House shopping through Nov. 10 at the Statehouse Convention Center, Little Rock. Preview party at 6 p.m. Nov. 7. Details at jllr.org. Call (501) 375-5557.
BANJO FAN SHOW
8 Mountain View Bluegrass Festival through Nov. 10, with Monroe Crossing, Cedar Hill at Ozark Folk Center State Park, Mountain View. Details at
mountainview-bluegrass.com. Call (870) 501-5105.
WALK LIKE A MAN
9 Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, 8 p.m. at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Details at verizonarena.com. Call (800) 745-3000.
WALK LIKE A MANCHESTER TERRIER
10 Puppy Up Little Rock walk and silent auction, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at MacArthur Park, Little Rock, benefits canine medical research. Details at puppyupwalk.org/littlerock.
ELGAR SIDEBAR
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra concert, “Elgar’s Enigma,” 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10 and 3 p.m. Nov. 11 at Robinson Center Performance Hall, Little Rock. Details at arkansassymphony.org. Call (501) 666-1761.
See Nov. 14.
SALUTE
11 Veterans Day. And this year’s observance carries over to Nov. 12 for a three-day weekend.
AT EASE
12 Veterans Day, the state and federal holiday. Monday off is one more reason to thank a veteran.
A DO GOOD ADO
13 How to celebrate World Kindness Day: Pay forward. Payback is for mobsters, pay up is no fun, pay down means a bad economy, and side bets are for suckers.
ELGAR’S FAVORITE
14 Game and Puzzle Week. The 19th-century English composer Sir Edward Elgar’s “Enigma Variations” refers to 14 different versions of the same musical theme. The piece supposedly contains a hidden melody, besides — one that he hinted is “well known.” But the musical world has been
guessing at it ever since. Hint: Elgar is famous for his graduation march, “Pomp and Circumstance.” Our guess at the mystery tune: “School’s Out Forever.”
MOLDY OLDIES
OLD MARKED SOLD
16 Antique Festival of the Ozarks through Nov. 18 at Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center, Eureka Springs. Details at heritageeventcompany.com. Call (918) 619-2875.
ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRATION
Lights of the Ozarks downtown square lighting through Dec. 31, Fayetteville. Parade at 6 p.m. Nov. 16. Details at experiencefayetteville.com. Call (479) 521-5776.
IN THE GLOW
17 Holiday Lights with millions of twinkles and a 50-foot decorated tree at Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs. Details at garvangardens.org. Call (501) 262-9300.
GOO AND IMPROVED
18 Peanut Butter Lovers Month, Picture Book Month, and beware of pages stuck together.
THANKSGIVING TURKEY — CORRECTION: TURNIP
19 Vegan Month — and which of these birds might a vegan eat for Thanksgiving: (A) Mock Chicken, (B) Tofurkey, (C) Turducken, (D) Chick-OStick, or (E) Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
Answer at Nov. 29.
LIGHTS ENTERTAINMENT
20 Enchanted Land of Lights and Legends light show through Dec. 31 at Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Regional Park, Pine Bluff. Details at pinebluffcvb.com. (870) 534-2121.
HOWDY DO ADO
21 World Hello Day celebrates inventor Thomas Edison’s idea for what to say when the phone rings. Hello? Telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell wanted callers to cry out, “Ahoy!” But either way, the message goes straight to voicemail.
HURRAH FOR THE PUMPKIN PIE
22 Thanksgiving.
But the turkey that goes gobblegobble is too old-fashioned. Today’s smart birds are finding new careers in computer research. So now, the turkey goes, “Google, google.”
STRAIGHT ARROWS
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec.21): Is today your birthday? If so, let fly the arrow of time. Have a shot at the candles. For you, mighty archer of
the stars, another birthday is just one of those twangs. Celebrate all a’quiver with fellow string-pullers Miley Cyrus, 26 on Nov. 23; and where’d-he-go Jon Stewart, 56 on Nov. 28.
HOLD THE GREEN CHEESE
23 Full moon. Everybody is full after Thanksgiving, even the moon. Black Friday shopping remembers when Myles Standish camped all night outside Ye Olde Best Buye. The Plymouth colony leader snagged a major kitchen item, a stick of wood at 70 percent off.
STRIPED SOCK-IT-TO-ME
Elf the musical through Dec. 31 at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, Little Rock. Details at murrysdp.com. Call (501) 5623131.
DUTCH TREAT
24 Ten-year-old Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands settles into day two of her reign, 1890. Arkansas’ Queen Wilhelmina State Park was named in hopes she might pay a visit, but she never did. Just as well — Arkansas’ fall foliage would have spoiled her for tulips.
BIBBIDY-BOBBIDY-BOOM
25 International Drum Month beats the drums for left-over drumsticks.
REAMS COME TRUE
26 National Novel Writing Month — or for Stephen King: 12 novels, 11 novellas, 10 novelettes, nine short stories … and an ink cartridge in a spared tree.
THE ORIGINAL BAT-MAN
27 Bat Masterson’s birthday, 1853. The Old West lawman had his own way of bringing the bad guys to a stunned surrender, namely: (A) Socked ’em with his lightning jab, (B) Bopped ’em with his lightning cane, or (C) Forced ’em to open a “quick and easy” account online.
Answer at Nov. 28.
MY FAVORITE MARTIAN
28 How to celebrate Red Planet Day: Watch the skies! When the invaders come, it will be to drench the earth in green slime and other things they’ve cleaned out of their refrigerators. What choice do they have? Their green dumpsters are full, and the pick-up schedule is late because of Thanksgiving.
Oh-whatta-conk quiz answer: (B) cane, at least in legend. Bat batted baddies with his baton — that is, until his later years,
when the tennis ball on the end just bounced off.
NAP TIME’S OVER
29 Square Dance Day — because it’s at least a week after Thanksgiving before anybody feels napped-up and ready to dance again.
VEGGED OUT
Yam-what-it-yam quiz answers:
(B) Tofurkey, a meat substitute made of soy beans, and (D) Chick-O-Stick
— for desert, a candy made of peanut butter and no chicken. Chick-O-Stick continues the strange tradition of candy that pretends to be a barnyard fowl. The Depression-era candy bar, Chicken Dinner, showed a roast chicken and trimmings on the wrapper. But inside? No chicken, not even a Cadbury Creme Egg.
30 Steve Martin and Martin Short, 8 p.m. at Verizon Arena, North Little Rock. Details at verizonarena.com. Call (800) 745-3000. m “Sometimes, people get passionate about the obscure jokes.” — Martin Short m “Well, excuuuuse me!” — Steve Martin Jack Frost in Santa Land through Dec. 31 at Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre, Little Rock. Details at arkansasartscenter.org. Call (501) 3724000.
Coming next month: December! Write to Ron Wolfe at
rwolfe@arkansasonline.com
by Nov. 15 to suggest December calendar entries or how to celebrate December 14 as International Monkey Day, such as: Holler monkey’s uncle. All entries require a web address and/or phone number that is answered during business hours.