This morning Cameron needed to leave for school a little early – I learned at the last moment – and I figured Summer would be a few minutes yet. So I took him and came back for her. I met my son coming out of the driveway on his way to take her himself – seems she had a hissy fit. I found this out later when I returned with Sydney from the fairgrounds. She was so mad at me she hid Grover in a place – and I am quoting here – “Where even she ( me) will never find him.” Funny thing is that I got back to take her before our usual departure time. And, as for Grover, well, I think he’ll turn up . . . and I don’t think he will be happy. Frankly, if I find her with a couple of black eyes, I think I will just vacuum the blue fur DNA right off of her and tell the investigation officer, “I saw nothing . . . nothing.”
Oh, gosh, a Peeps complication
Uh, about the Peeps that are too cute to eat . . . Well, it seems that unless they are eaten, they will turn to the Dark Side and become black bears that are not so cute . . . and are also crunchy. The fellow who sent them – Lonzopalooza, Der Bingle’s brother – called to pass on the warning. To say to us: To be eaten – That is their destiny.
But they are so cute . . . maybe we can wait until they start to get a little bit stale.
Breadmaker
Actually, I am not a breadmaker, nor for that matter, a breadwinner. I am indebted to Der Bingle for just about everything. Anyway, Cameron announced, oh, about a week ago, that he wanted to make bread. Well, okay, I thought, we can handle that. His mother, Alison, was thinking about homebaked bread herself, so things seemed to be working out.
There is a wee bit of a problem though; breadmaking is one of those things that really should be passed down from one person to another. I’m certain my grandmothers baked bread, and I think my mother knows and has worked with fancy breads . . . but we had storebought bread for our peanut butter sandwiches. Mother didn’t believe in letting me in the kitchen, telling my father that “anyone who could read, could cook”, thereby sliding away from the fact that so many aspects of skills are the tricks of the trade sort of thing.
So, I’m thinking this bread experiment would be the blind leading the blind and probably frustrating. I rounded up Der Bingle and we went to Wal-Mart and bought a BREADMAKER. We are in the process of making our first basic loaf. We may or may not post a picture of our first product.
UPDATE: Oh, I accidentally typed breakmaker as the post title – tempted to leave it. The bread was eaten before I could get a photo. Maybe tomorrow.
I want to punch out Charles Boyer
Okay, yes, he is already dead; and, yes, he was playing a role in a movie. But, gosh darn, I cannot bear to see him in his role of betrayal in “Gaslight” – even though I am watching it now. And I’m not the only one hear at the PBC&R who feels like that. For instance, Maxwoo, our beloved counselor who gives comforting advice to us when we are troubled, agrees.
Maxwoo.
Cuties . . . all the way from Iowa
Der Bingle’s brother, for whom we have to think of a good name that captures his spirit, sent some special treats because he knows how Peeps can bring Der Bingle to Nirvana. However, not even he can eat such cute little guys. Look at their little faces.
Part of an afternoon
In pictures.
Bookcase upstairs with Cameron and Grandpa.
A picture of one of Moo’s dear friends.
Tarping
Oh, goodbye, dear Bob.
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And, now, five pictures of the group gathering for a group shot.
The long and the short of it
Here is Sydney’s new buddy from Rural King.
Then when we checked out with our tarp and stakes and dog treats, gummy worms and gummy bears and those yucky circus peanuts Der Bingle likes -as well as some wintergreen mints to send to Quentin along with a cute little brown resin bear that carries big bears hugs. The wintergreen mints are pink and Quentin got his love of them from my grandma whose first name was Jessie and who was born in 1881. I loved her dearly. A generational link that skipped two generations – my mother’s and mine – and ties together two who are so dear to my heart.
Oh, yeah, I also got gummy bears, but I’m not supposed to tell that to Der Bingle’s bear colony friends. But, anyway, here we were, checking out and the cashier says if we buy a Rural King burlap bag for $1.49, we will get 10% off our purchase. I say yes and then mention about buying a lawn tractor or something like that and getting 10% off. The cashier tells me, “It has to fit in the bag, Ma’am.”
Up to the fight?
Well, you know I watched “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” last night and a couple of days ago I was writing about Hub’s speech in “Secondhand Lions”. And, so now the lost cause mantra is in my mind – especially the part about lost causes being the only causes worth fighting for. I was puttering around upstairs, thinking that I needed a lost cause and this thought popped into my head: Look into the mirror, AmeliaJake.
Well, that’s self-pity. I’m not a lost cause; I can’t be; I love and care about enough people to not be a lost cause – to not let them down. And so, by gosh, I’m fighting for this non-lost cause. I may not be successful, but I am certainly going to try. Because, you know, I should try.
King Grover in his Coke Room
I was going to tape this on the refrigerator with the title of this post written beneath it.
Der Bingle taped it up with “No Coke for You, Summer” written beneath.
Oh, my goodness . . . Katie, bar the door.
Ah, another movie
Well, Der Bingle walked in tonight in his trench coat and black fedora and Summer and Cameron were at his side from the get-go – still are in fact. At one point, after he’d changed clothes and when they were sitting in the den, he said, “AJ, they have found my stash of movies. But I told them they are not worthy of Split Second and my Kolchak collection.” Cameron was headed up to his room with an armful of movies and Summer has him watching one with her now.
And guess what happened to me? I got sucked into another movie with stirring quotes. Well, some of it is remembered stirring from when I watched such movies as a teenager on The Late Show” before the Star Spangled Banner played and the station signed off.
I saw “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” was on and I thought, no, no, you don’t need to watch this again. But in my heart I ached to hear the Kalterborn report on “Boy Ranger legs” – this quote:
…It is the most unusual and spectacular thing in the Senate annals. One lone and simple American holding the greatest floor in the land. What he lacked in experience, he’s made up in fight. But those tired Boy Ranger legs are buckling, bleary-eyed, voice gone, he can’t go on much longer. And all official Washington is here to be in on the kill.
And so I watched and those other quotes washed over me:
Just get up off the ground, that’s all I ask. Get up there with that lady that’s up on top of this Capitol dome, that lady that stands for liberty. Take a look at this country through her eyes if you really want to see something. And you won’t just see scenery; you’ll see the whole parade of what Man’s carved out for himself, after centuries of fighting. Fighting for something better than just jungle law, fighting so’s he can stand on his own two feet, free and decent, like he was created, no matter what his race, color, or creed. That’s what you’d see. There’s no place out there for graft, or greed, or lies, or compromise with human liberties. And, uh, if that’s what the grownups have done with this world that was given to them, then we’d better get those boys’ camps started fast and see what the kids can do. And it’s not too late, because this country is bigger than the Taylors, or you, or me, or anything else. Great principles don’t get lost once they come to light. They’re right here; you just have to see them again!
I guess this is just another lost cause, Mr. Paine. All you people don’t know about lost causes. Mr. Paine does. He said once they were the only causes worth fighting for. And he fought for them once, for the only reason any man ever fights for them; because of just one plain simple rule: ‘Love thy neighbor.’… And you know that you fight for the lost causes harder than for any other. Yes, you even die for them.
You think I’m licked. You all think I’m licked. Well, I’m not licked. And I’m going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause. Even if the room gets filled with lies like these, and the Taylors and all their armies come marching into this place.