“Middle age is when you’re sitting at home on a Saturday night and the telephone rings and you hope it isn’t for you.”
The sun is bright, and I can see blue sky. The wind is softer now. It is in the mid-50’s, about right for spring on Cape Cod. Gardens are filled with color. My forsythia has bloomed. Its yellow is almost eye-squinting bright. Today is a pretty day.
Saturday has always been the sweetest day. When I was a kid, it was the Saturday matinee in winter while, during the rest of the year, it was whatever struck my fancy. Sometimes I walked and sometimes I rode my bike. My mother knew not to ask where I was going as I often didn’t know. I had favorite places like the zoo, the town’s horse barn, window shopping up town, the golf course to hunt for the errant balls and Weiss farm. I liked to watch the cows. When I was older, I usually spent the day doing little. It was at night when my friends and I would get together. Sometimes we went to the movies. Sometimes we went bowling. I was a terrible bowler. I remember wandering in Harvard Square. I used to check out the kiosk in the middle of the square. I’d look at the newspapers from out of town and the magazines from everywhere. We used to eat at the Wursthaus. I always thought it a bit exotic with its German food.
In Ghana Saturday night was the best night. It was entertainment night. Sometimes we watched a movie a USAID guy would leave. I remember Great Expectations which my students didn’t understand. The English was too quick for their ears. I had to answer a million questions. The best night was tribal dancing night. The tribes were scattered around the school compound. My favorites were the northern tribes, like the FraFra, the tribe in Bolga. Their dancing was energetic and joyful. They clapped and sang. The tribes from the south, especially the Ashanti, were graceful and subdued. In the school cafeteria the students from other countries danced with each other to records. I remember them playing Say It Loud I am Black and Proud over and over and singing along.
Now, most Saturdays, I have no plans. I let my inner sloth freak flag fly.
keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
April 13, 2024 at 2:39 pm
Hi Kat,
Unfortunately, you and I are no longer middle aged unless we plan on living to 154. I don’t think that’s going to happen.
Saturday mornings was always the time for watching the kids shows on TV and then going to the kids matinee movies in the afternoon. Those shows were designed so that our parents could get rid of us while they had time alone to make more brothers or sisters. That’s where the expression, “let’s have matinee” originated. 🙂
We lived behind the Inwood Village strip shopping center in Dallas for a short period of time. This was long before the shopping mall even existed. There was a pass through leading to the front of the stores where between stores there was located a movie theater. The kid show always began with several cartoons and several short subject films. Then, there was always a double feature. Usually, they consisted of westerns or science fiction genres. I think I saw the movie, “The Creature From the Black Lagoon”, in that theater. Besides eating popcorn I would also get one of those caramel sucking candies on a stick. Those lasted the longest and did the most damage to my teeth. 🙂
April 13, 2024 at 8:03 pm
Hi Bob,
I just really liked that quote. It sort of fits me today as I have nothing going on until Tuesday, and I’m glad because next week is uke filled.
I sat on the floor eating my cereal and watching all those Saturday shows. I didn’t always go to the matinees. They were every Saturday in winter but not in summer. My younger sisters were always home as they were too young for the matinee.
The first mall around here was outside. The stores were well known like Jordan Marsh and Sears. It had a small amusement park and a movie theater. It was a bit away from where I lived, off a highway. As it was the first, it was a novelty. Over time the mall was enclosed. It still exists.
I went to the movie theater uptown. It was in the center of the square. It opened in 1917 as a silent movie theater. At some point it closed and was left derelict. It was bought by a non profit and reopened as a live theater in 2000.
Sugar Daddies!! I also bought them as they lasted so long. The show also started with cartoons and sometimes the news of the day. I don’t think it was a double feature.