A Stranger in a Strange Land

It's summer it's supposed to be hot, and the gods of weather have bestowed heat. Taking full advantage of all the weather has to offer Liz and I have decided to play tourist. I get a staycation, Paige gets to see Mayberry.

I have a hidden agenda. There are things to do and places to see in Mayberry that I couldn't find with a map. Places I've never been or haven't been in many years, so I think this may be a great time to find them, so long as my traveling buddy is willing.

We began at Laumeier Sculpture Park, a 96 acre outdoor sculpture museum. It's an incredible hidden treasure. We went to see an exhibit called the Dog Days of Summer, sculpture made for pets and their people. After walking for miles we found the best exhibits in the indoor gallery (read a/c), next to the parking lot.

Then we visited the Dr. Richard Schwartz observatory at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. That was a tough sell, and most probably a major disappointment. That didn't really look like any photo of Saturn she'd ever seen. Damn Hubble telescope!

We had to see Harry. In fact, Liz's visit was almost postponed so that she could see Part 2 with family and friends at home. No review is necessary, you're either going or not going whatever I say.

Today and everyday the pool. I have a date with a young lady on a paddle boat, on the lake, this afternoon. 36C and 70 % humidity. My eyeballs fog going outside. If this doesn't kill me, nothing will. I'm having a ball.

Toad

Remember your favorite summer?

Back in my day...

Memorial day came at the very end of May. It marked the end of another school term, which would not resume until after Labor Day. Three glorious months free. Those were fabulous days.

Remember your very best summer?

My mom had a very laisse faire attitude about child rearing in the summer. Her attitude was sleep as long as you want, do your chores, dinner was at 5:30. I have no idea what happened if you were late for dinner. It must have been awful, since no one ever did it.

When I think back on summer two stand out. First was that between 3 and 4 grade. We lived near Mrs. Blandings neighborhood. Absolute best was the summer between 8th grade and freshman year of high school.

The world was our oyster that summer. Right after school let out two friends and I pooled our grass cutting money and paid $25 cash to buy our first car. If memory serves it was an 1957 Peugeot. A most purposefully contrary car. Remember we were maybe 13.

We had to be very quiet about it. No way we could get it licensed, and the car needed everything repaired. I did learn to drive a stick shift in it though. Over chocolate colas at the bowling alley a bit of sense hit us and we arranged to trade it.

Some older guy had a boat we was willing to trade for our Pug. Sight unseen on all our parts. He put the boat on a trailer, which happened to be a wooden hydrofoil looking thing. It is probably worth a fortune now, if it still lives. New boy dropped it off, and took the Pug home with him.

So imagine, maybe we're 13/14, just sold our transportation, now we had a boat, in the middle of the city, 20 + miles from water. The boat seemed like a good idea at the time, because one of us thought they knew someone with a trolling motor we could use. Turns out we didn't.

The boat was a pleasant diversion for a few days, until friends mom began making noise about the boat killing her grass, and half a dozen boys eating her out of house and home all afternoon. The boat had to go.

So if you were among 3 barely high school boys with a boat to be rid of what would you do?

You're exactly right.

We traded it. This time for a case of beer and and a carton of cigs.

Took our stash to our hideout, divied up the cigs and began work on the beer. I had my first and last cig that day. Gave the rest to my mom, who never told my dad.

Spent the rest of the summer playing baseball in the school yard.

Toad