Where Have All The Drive-Ins Gone…

Last summer, we had this great idea… let’s get Sofia’s sleeping bag, make a grocery bag full of popcorn, a gallon of refreshing libation and head to the drive-in. Mom said, where’s a drive-in anyway. I said I think there’s two, one in the south end and one over in southern Indiana. Up to google and within minutes it’s whittled down to one… it’s in southern Indiana but it’s about a 40 minute drive. I go to their website and click around and discover they went out of business 2 months earlier. My memories of the drive-in with our family and then later when we were all just trying not to get arrested are some of the best. I saw “Blazing Saddles” there and “Young Frankenstein” and “Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry” and when we went with my dad we saw “True Grit” and “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” and James Bond movies… this was before Roger Moore who was far from convincing even to a young’n and always reminded me of Buddy Ebsen in “Barnaby Jones” or Jimmy Carter in “The White House”, oh, right that wasn’t a tv show… but Buddy and Roger were codgers and they would run after 20 year old criminals and then kick their asses, please! I know, older reference lost on younger readers but remember that Cannon detective dude on “Cannon” (same era as “Barnaby Jones”)? That guy was pushing 300 lbs. but they would have him chase down a criminal in his 20’s and not even be breathing heavily. But I digress, I was busy at the computer the other day and the bug is behind me on the not-white-anymore carpet humming her little made up songs… she interrupts me and says, come look at the movies. So in the doorway on one side of the hall is this (the audience)…

In the doorway across the hall is this (the movie)…

I ask her a bunch of questions and go back to sit down and she says, wait you didn’t see the parking lot…

We had a great day yesterday. It was 55 and on the way to the Red Pooper, I started singing, I… can’t… drive… 55. Not sure why this stuck but Sofia sang it all through lunch and beyond. We had a long pleasant walk with the demon dog who I think is slowly being renamed Dingus. I’ve used so many epithets in frustration like dolt, doofus, dingleberry, satan, goofball, goofus, sunblaster, doltus, etc. and somehow have somewhat affectionately landed on Dingus. So when we’re playing with her, I throw the rubber chew toy and say Dingus Badingus, go get your thingus and this plays very well with a 5 year old… big yucks every time. Anyway, later we went for a longer walk with oranges in my pockets and had one at the softball field. Then on to the railroad tracks, the reservoir and the fountain at the natatorium and then all the way back home. Sofia stopped to pet this woman’s old dog and while she was playing with the dog and rolling down the hill getting muddy, this woman that I had never met before tried to convince me that I should send Sofia to a private catholic school. I kept trying to be diplomatic and say things like… well, Mom and I were both raised catholic but we aren’t catholic now. Unfortunately, this didn’t sink in and she kept up until she was convinced that Sofia wasn’t going to catholic school even though she just happened to be having dinner that evening with the kindergarten teacher at the catholic school she was recommending. Then she immediately switched to montessori schools… a disciplinarian no doubt. Anyway, home for dinner and it was a great day all round.

Tags: ceramics, clay, porcelain, pottery