“Oh, Bullwinkle, that trick never works!”
Along with millions of my generation, the members of The Grateful Dead were fans of a cartoon squirrel and his moose sidekick. Many of us will still, on occasion, affect a bad Slavic accent and utter some comment about “Moose and Squirrel.” It seems, for those of us who were fans at an early age, the puns and plays on words encouraged us to expand our utilization of our language skills for personal amusement. Jay Ward and his associates skirted political thin ice to write, draw, and produce cartoons that challenged a central facet of late 1950’s early 1960’s life, the Cold War. It was a poke in the eye at the dread we all carried from duck and cover drills and constant investigations of suspected communists, banned books, McCarthyism and mushrooms filled with strontium 90.
When Gloria and I met, it was one of the touchstones of identity we called upon to measure our compatibility and too see if we were both politically and humorously aligned. We seem to have passed the test.
When we went to Vermont and Niagara Falls in 2005- a trip that led to our move from Florida to Tennessee – we entered only one antique store. We came out with:
.JPG)
I’m 61. I don’t collect toys; never have had any interest in “action figures,” those toys disguised by name so that boys won’t feel guilty about playing with dolls. But these items were just too good to pass up. They’re part of our history.
Later in the trip we spent two nights in Niagara Falls Ontario. We chose this hotel
Yes! That’s right. We let a cartoon duo, from our late childhood, early adulthood days steer us to yet another “Moose and Squirrel” encounter.
Just to settle any questions that might arise, there was not a single artifact of the Rocky and Bullwinkle television program any place in the hotel.
We did, however, have an actual ringside seat to fireworks over the falls, bursting majestically exactly at the height of our window
That was a phenomenal trip. It was my first trip to western Massachusetts, to New Hampshire, to Vermont, to upstate New York, and to Canada. From our home in Palmetto Florida, we drove to Maryland for the wedding of Gloria’s nephew David Rutstein. It was my first chance to meet many of his mother’s sisters and brothers. Leaving Maryland we drove to Boston to visit more of Gloria’s relatives including her cousin Laurie and Laurie’s parents Arnie and Jeane. We’d hoped to celebrate our anniversary with them and with my younger son, Jedediah. But Diah stood us up, blew us off, and we’ve not seen him since. Nor have we talked to him. He’s removed himself from contact with almost all his family. He even failed to show up for his brother Joshua’s wedding in June.
From Boston into New Hampshire, New Hampshire to Vermont (Indian food in Montpelier on a rainy edgy travel day to smooth it all back down. A week at a B&B in Arlington VT to teach Gloria how to handle a fly rod. Then onto Niagara Falls, back to NY into PA and nearing a decision point we hated the thought of dodging cars, trucks, & hurricanes on I-95. We followed I-81 into VA and TN, then GA and back to FL. Door to Door, exactly 4000 miles to catch two brook trout in the Battenkill River, which we did not remove from the water, did not eat, and did not photograph. A wonderful trip, indeed.
Gloria with Martin Oakland, inn keeper Quill Gordon B&B, Battenkill guide, Orvis fly fishing instructor.
No comments:
Post a Comment