The Peanut Butter Cafe & Roadhouse

Ah, another movie

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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.

The Peanut Butter Cafe & Roadhouse

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!”
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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.

This and That at The Peanut Butter Cafe & Roadhouse

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.

This and That at The Peanut Butter Cafe & Roadhouse

Grover is missing

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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!!!”

Just Me - AmeliaJake

Another installment

grover-coke

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.

Just Me - AmeliaJake, The Peanut Butter Cafe & Roadhouse

Well, shoot . . .

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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.

Just Me - AmeliaJake, The Peanut Butter Cafe & Roadhouse

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.

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