The sun is squint your eyes bright and is surrounded by the bluest sky. Little is moving. It is 65°. The day is quiet which surprises me for a Saturday. It is the perfect day to hunt for stolen objects in the yard. Another mouse trap has disappeared. It was baited with peanut butter, and I thought I hid it well, but nothing stays hidden from the intrepid Nala. I swear she’d find El Dorado.

When I was a kid, the future was only a few days away except for the countdown events like Halloween and Christmas. I never planned the weekends except on those winter days when I’d go to the movies. My theater showed a newsreel and a cartoon first. The movies were never first run. I saw The Wizard of Oz there in the late 1950’s. When it turned to color over the rainbow, there was a collective gasp from the audience as if we were watching something magical. The theater was always noisy, and we readily booed and cheered. Candy often flew through the air though Al, the owner, was vigilant. He was an aisle patroller.

I remember the back row of that theater. High school couples sat there. They were kissing which I found both disgusting and mystifying. I didn’t realize until much later they were young teens who didn’t drive and needed their own sort of lover’s lane, but a Saturday matinee seemed a strange choice.

My Girl Scout troop sponsored a nighttime fundraising movie event. We served as hostesses and wore our uniforms which were green skirts, white blouses, tams and our badge sashes. I remember how excited I was. Looking back I didn’t realize that it was a poor movie choice, one which didn’t bring in the crowds, Our Lady of Fatima. If she had been chased by a slasher, it would have been far more popular though probably religiously offensive, but I have been to Fatima. The streets surrounding the shrine are filled with kiosks and shops selling offensive but oddly appealing religious souvenirs. If I didn’t have to haul it in my suitcase for the rest of the holiday, I would have bought the ceramic statue of Mary on a hill surrounded by blinking colored lights. I still regret leaving it on the shelf.

I have a few errands today including the dump. I have been hauling bags down from upstairs one step at a time because they are heavy with used litter. They just need to be hauled or rather dragged to the car. Gone are the days of carrying two bags at a time to the trunk. I miss those days.

This entry was posted on October 3, 2026 at 11:58 am and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.