Random Notes from the Sandwich Life

1.  Have you ever seen Jimmie Dale Gilmore live?  Or Todd Snider?  They both have a tendency to suddenly start rambling about whatever has come into their mind. It adds a whole other level to the great music.....  Todd Snider gives a standard explanation at all his shows:

My name is todd snider and ive beendriving around for fifteen years making this shit up and singing it toanybody that will listen to it. Some of its funny some of its sad someof its short some of them go on longer than others and sometimes I¹llramble on for as many as eighteen minutes... in between the songs.

Well....living with Owen is kind of like living in a Jimmie Dale Gilmore or Todd Snider performance.  Yesterday he put his new camouflage quilt on his bed in his new room and invited me upstairs to admire it.  I was about twenty pages from finishing a mystery (thank Kirsten) but this was a big event so I begrudgingly put the book down.  He showed me around the room, practically levitating from the beauty of it all and then invited me to play a game of chess.  I reminded him that I didn't know how to play chess but he waved off my hesitation, assuring me that HE could teach me.  So I spent roughly the next hour laying on his bed playing a game that most wouldn't know as chess, sharing some strawberries midway and listened to Owen alternate between giving me chess instructions and then all of sudden doing a little Jimmie Dale/Todd style rants.....  Then he would pause, let out a joyful sigh and say, "isn't this a wonderful time we're having?"  I had to agree.

2.  Had to do my mother's grocery shopping as it was Sunday but decided to drag the whole family along.  So we headed over to mom's, shopped, planted flowers on her deck (only a couple of months late) and chatted.  Then we took off for Target where we spent an inordinate amount of money on shoes, socks, a lampshade and most importantly....a wallet for Owen.  He's been DYING for a wallet...."just like the one Mr. Krabs has."  Then Leo announced he was starving and that maybe we should go out to lunch.  I promptly fell over.  He shyly suggested the Esquire so we just nodded our heads and headed over....  We came back home, the guys headed to the park to play and I indulged my youtube obsession (I don't even want to tell you how many videos it says I've watched).  Nothing better than sitting in the front yard with a nice breeze, a glass of wine and watching music you love....especially when you're with this guy....

3.  While at Target I had a sudden realization that I am exactly like my father in some ways.  Growing up we all knew that if we asked for something Dad was pretty much mush and would say yes.  My mother tempered this somewhat and we somehow learned NOT to ask for things that we knew we couldn't afford or weren't realistic.....had to protect my father from himself.....but...   Don't even ask about the time my mother was out of town and my dad and I went to the O'Hare antiques show by ourselves.  HA!  Anyway....while I stood there considering lampshades the guys saw the lava lamps and Owen almost exploded.  But you know....when you have a brand new room and a new camouflage blanket and a new old desk.....well a lava lamp would just set the whole thing off, don't you think?

4.  Speaking of my father....this song by Griffin House pretty much kills me.  The current war just broke my father's heart.  He literally would cry for the soldiers and what some of them will carry with them for the rest of their lives.  Owen is so proud of his grandfather for being in WWII---as he should be---but I try to help him also see that even though Grandpa was proud of fighting for our country (at all of 17 years old) it also made him hate war and that's something he needs to learn from Grandpa as well. 

Anyway....do watch this.  There's a version with an wonderful introduction by Griffin House as he talks about his 88 year old grandfather whom the song was written about---and in fact is in the video....go watch the intro but the sound isn't great for the song so watch the rest here.....can't decide between the two clips---the video does have his grandfather in it after all---but I really like the great live version so I'll put both on so you can decide...

5.  My father was a signalman on a LST in World War II.  He took thepennant from his ship and it was very important to him.  I remember him showing it tome when I was a child.  He never talked much about the war then...hesaved that for his later years....but I remember seeing the pennant. He passed it on to me and I always put it out on Memorial Day and theFourth of July.  I imagine it will go to Owen someday....