Posted tagged ‘hoopla’

“fuzzy black lines hiccuped across the screen.”

January 2, 2017

All the hoopla is over. It is time to put Christmas away, my project for the week. I also need to grocery shop. Alexa is keeping my list. I added coffee filters and trash bags this morning.

Tomorrow Gracie and I are going to the dump. It’s back to the mundane. All the anticipation is gone. January is a boring month.

Being stuck in the house was always a winter woe when I was little. It was either too cold or too wet or too snowy to go out. We’d play games until we got bored then we’d watch TV for a while. We’d play in the cellar. The bottom of the banister was a horse to me. I’d use old blankets to make a saddle to put over the wood. I’d concoct a story of me as the sheriff or the marshall, and I’d ride that horse until I’d captured the bad guy. I was every character, and I’d use different voices. My lowest voice was the bad guy’s. He always got caught.

My favorite way to spend time was lying in bed reading my new Christmas book. I was cozy under the blankets. The headboard lamp was warm. It lit the pages perfectly. I was by myself. I heard nothing. I had been captured by my book.

Even now, so many years later, I find books the best way to while away time. I don’t read in bed much anymore as I tend to fall asleep; instead, I get cozy here in the den on the couch with an afghan keeping me warm and Gracie asleep by my feet. It is always time well spent.

Today I watched Highway Patrol with Broderick Crawford who always wears a suit and his fedora. It is in black and white and dates from the mid-1950’s. In this episode, the Highway Patrol is hunting an escaped mental patient with homicidal tendencies and abnormally strong hands. He is a frustrated violin player whose hand jumps so he can no longer play. That is often what triggers his rage: any mention of his hand or music. He just killed a man who mentioned the shaking hand. 21-50 to headquarters. Body found! 10-4!

“Anyone who’s just driven 90 yards against huge men trying to kill them has earned the right to do Jazz hands. ”

February 1, 2015

That noise you hear is me running down the street screaming. The cause? More snow is coming starting later tonight into tomorrow. Luckily we are only getting 4-6 inches while Boston is expecting 8-12. I have no idea where they will put all that new snow. The street corners already have tall piles too high to see around. It seems Mother Nature is making up for what had been a snow-less winter.

The big game is tonight. All the hoopla will finally come to a head at kick-off. I am and have always been a Pats fan, even through the lean years, the pre-Brady years. It is just being faithful to the home team, an obligation of sorts.

Local Channel 5 is my go to it news station. This time of year especially I have noticed they have a hierarchy of sorts. It seems older announcers become on-site weather people who go to the places being highest hit. They stand outside during the storm’s ferocity getting buffeted by the wind and soaked by the rain or snow, all the while talking about how bad it all is. During the snow storm we just had, one announcer disappeared, blown off-camera by the wind.

My dad loved the Giants but changed his allegiance to the Patriots when the new league was established. He’d sit in his favorite spot, at the end of the couch nearest the TV. He was an ardent fan who yelled, castigated and complained. At Thanksgiving, he ate quickly so as not to miss any of the excitement. Most of the time he was by himself watching a game. My mother hated sports of any kind so she seldom would watch with him. If I were visiting, I’d spent a bit of time sitting and watching, but mostly I’d play Big Boggle in the kitchen with my mother. My dad would chit-chat with us when he made his forays into the kitchen during commercials or half-time. Usually my mother loaded up on special snacks for him so he never went back to the living room empty-handed.

My dad would have been so excited about the Super Bowl and his Patriots, and I’d probably have watched with him. My mother, being a wonderful hostess, would have made appetizers and joined us in the living room for this big game even though she knew nothing about football. One time she was cheering but the other team had the ball. We didn’t bother to explain. It was good of her to cheer.