King Grover of Coke went for a stroll with Summer and the next thing we knew, he transformed into Diet Coke Vampire King who craves the blood of those who drink Diet Coke. Oh, woe is us.
No school
When I drove Alison to work this morning, it was very foggy and I think East Noble had already called a 2-Hour D. I worked a little and lay back down just because I wanted to do. Some time later I heard the cry of 3-Hour D and then a strangled scream of glee. Out she runs – Summer – and says, “I thought I saw East Noble was closed, but I’m not sure; I’ll watch for it to go around again. Okay, Grandma, if you hear a scream you’ll know it’s closed and if you hear a “Nooooooooooo!” you’ll know it’s not.” I heard a scream and I cried out, “Nooooooooooo!”
I have cleaned the kitchen and lit an evergreen candle in a jar and also the hurricane lamp. I like the glow that seems to say we’re home, we’re here . . . you can feel safe. The lamp oil isn’t so expensive that I can’t let that message reach out.
Hail the King
Grover has returned and been unanimously named King of Coke. He is welcoming one and all to a special party of celebration and unconditional amnesty.
We welcome all the folks here at the PBC&R and anyone who wants to stop in. Say, does anyone have any confetti?
Possible last jog in Kendallville
When Alison works as a nurse at the hospital, I drive her over sometime between 6:15 and 6:30 am. During quite a bit of the year, it is dark at that time – we are so far west in the Eastern Time Zone, dontcha know. When the snow is melting off the grass and fields and the landscape blends with the grey of asphalt, everything is dark. And when the sky is like coal, it is very dark.
When Alison works and I take her, I am doing a routine thing; I am not driving to the hospital because I am bringing someone ill there or because I have been summoned because someone I care about has been brought there. I keep in the back of my mind the fact that people in other cars may be doing just that and that their minds may be distracted by distress and worry. I pay attention .For someone this morning, it was lucky that is the case.
All this happened in a fraction of a second – I saw movement and thought paper in the wind? an animal very close to the ground? Oh, my gosh, it’s a jogger! Just then Alison exclaimed, “Is that someone running?! What a fool!”
Yes, it was. In all dark clothing and athletic shoes that were not at all reflective or noticeable, a man was jogging and crossing in front of me. I did not hit him. But I barely saw him. It was so dark when I passed him, I could not make out anything other that he was tall and covered in dark clothing. He ran with arms bent at the elbows and held up by his chest.
After I had made the loop to drop Alison off, I passed him again on my way back. I tried to see him – to see the look on his face – but it was too dark. I barely saw him running so very close to my car.
I imagine he will be at it tomorrow as well, at least this tomorrow.
Grover is missing
Yes, sometime yesterday after arriving home from school and learning about Grover’s promotion to the president of the Coke company, Summer snatched him. I don’t know what good this will do her since Grover will undoubtedly use his double secret cell phone to activate the “No Coke for Summer under any Conditions” directive. We are trying to get a reading on his triple secret GPS signal, but we are beginning to think our engineers may have gone one secret too far.
I’m certain Grover would want us all to remain calm during this episode in his exciting life . . . and I believe I can heard his special message to me, AmeliaJake: “Keep Looking!!!”
Another installment
Guess who has been named President of the Coca-Cola Company and will be determining who is allowed to have Coke and who is going to have to do without. The name Summer pops to the top of the No Coke for You List; why is that? Hmm . . . I guess we’d better put our thinking caps on and try to figure this out.
Interested in a cave house?
Hey, you bears there with Der Bingle in the Fairborn cave . . . here is something you guys might consider. CLICK HERE.
Well, shoot . . .
I can’t say for certain, but I think when all is said and done, I’m a person who would really like money and power. I mean really, really like – as if in make a choice between good and not-so-good. If I could keep the good intentions at the fore, I guess maybe it wouldn’t be a tragedy for me to have power and money. And if the good intentions outbalanced the bad, that wouldn’t be so bad. Like, say, I bought a wonderful house and provided a great income for people . . . and they sort of got out of my hair. Is that so bad? And I could live on the ocean front, with a lovely glassed in study looking out to sea. And I could provide a lot for others and buy plane tickets whenever I wanted to go see them – or have a private jet, or, gasp, a second home near them.
So that’s about the gist of me. Then a couple of days ago I was up in the sitting room straightening up a little since I have started allowing my granddaughter to go up there and share the space. I stick things I like on walls and shelves and have even hung them from the ceiling. I’m standing there pulling the sofa throw back into position and I raise my head to the wall space above the scanner. There I have printed out and mounted – with a tack – these lines from Secondhand Lions, a movie I saw with Cameron some five plus years ago. He’s 16 now; I imagine he was 10 or 11 then, depending on when he birthday was in relation to when we saw the movie in the theater.
Oh, these lines. I meant to cite them right away, but I got carried away with one of my sentences. Finally . . . these lines:
Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love… true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.
Actually, Cameron and I saw that movie and then the next night Cameron took his dad with him to see it again. We have two or three copies. We watched it often. And I actually printed out the quote and posted it some years later. Really? Why? I remember at the time stressing to Cameron that no matter how nice the words sounded, no matter how noble and inspirational, maybe you should keep a healthy respect for what seems to work out to be important in daily life. Things like affording medicine for your family, and food, and a place to live and lots of other things. Things like affording the best doctors if loved ones get really, scary ill. Things like the kindest, most competent nurses, round-the-clock care, the most successful doctors, the costliest treatments.
Yet, there those words are on my wall. And I’m thinking of my granddaughter sitting there and reading them and thinking, “Grandma believes this?” Perhaps it is the bit about the “should” part of being true that keeps them up on that wall. I don’t know. Perhaps I should pull them off and crumple them in a ball and send them toward the trash can.
It is easy for people with power and lots of money – heck, with just the power that lots of money brings – to hold the ideas of good and courage and honor high.
So what do we have? A grandma and a grandson watching a movie together and getting emotional about two old men and a lion and a speech. Is that enough? Oh, probably not. I guess it is something, though. And maybe it’s okay to hold things that “should be” in front of you where you can see them . . . as long as you know – like that old man speaking – you can’t let them blind you to reality.
Well, shoot . . . I don’t know. But the paper is still there, with the words still on it. She’ll have to make her own peace with it.
A head thunker – The Argyle Sweater
I read The Argyle Sweater by Scott Hilburn and so far my favorite is the very balding bear looking at toupees, i.e. bear rugs. Want to see it? CLICK for the UCLICK connection.
Today, though, was another one that just caused my head to flop forward – fortunately there was no wall right there, so, in truth, it was not really a head thunker . . . but it could have been. You can see it HERE.
I don’t know – maybe some people think hitting your forehead with the heel of you hand is head thunking. Maybe it is; I do that when I have been really slow on the uptake and all of a sudden I “get it”. Maybe the head flopping thing doesn’t have a name. I do it when something clever catches me unawares and I immediately think, “I am not worthy.”
But now I have myself thinking about the period inside or outside the quotation marks depending on the usage. Ah, the rules of English . . . deep down in my heart I love them. Still, I break them. Well, you always hurt the one you love, the one you shouldn’t hurt at all . . . and that’s all the lyrics of that song I remember. Oh, wait. I remember the ending: So if I broke your heart last night, it’s because I love you best of all. Whoa, the guy who penned that philosophy needs to be hit in the face with a fish. Talk about sleazing your way out of something.
Grover (the Muppet) abuse
First, before we delve into the dastardly business being conducted by Summer here at the Peanut Butter Cafe & Roadhouse. let us see some smiling faces from two of the guys who brought great happiness to us – first in their song and dance routine during dinner . . . and then during, well, a little after dinner interaction between the entire troupe and the audience.
Now, the dark side:
Summer seems to have a vendetta regarding dear, sweet, lovable old Grover, who is, of course, forever four. First she gave him a special cape mocking his super Groverhood and then she bucked his teeth.
So, Grover wrote a note to Summer – remember he is only four and a little shaky on his spelling – and left it on the refrigerator.
If the coppers arrest Summer, we are fairly certain we are not going to bail her out of the slammer – unless she decides to apologize to Grover and agrees to be his personal assistant (indentured servant).