a peek inside the fishbowl

When the girls and I are travelling along highway seven heading west we have a few special routines. We get gas in Carleton Place. Coffee and TimBits in Perth. And then there’s Kaladar. There’s a big gas station with an old skool restaurant and a store attached to it. It’s the kind of store where you can buy straw hats, Pop Rocks, milk, and poison for your mousetraps. We’ve also discovered that there’s always a stash of old comic books to be had for a buck or two.

Most of the comics are “scary” ones the girls really don’t have any interest in, sometimes we find a Donald Duck or Uncle Scrooge, but it takes a bit of digging.

Last time we were driving through Sarah found a Bedknobs and Broomsticks comic (who knew?) and Emma found the only Archie. Sarah was disappointed, although I secretly thought she got the better deal.

Emma waved her comic in front of me. I didn’t take a close look at it. There was a big word printed in some illegible scripty font across the cover of it. I glanced at the word, but honestly, I didn’t read what that word said. 

Now I know the word is PARABLES.

I accidentally bought a comic in which the Riverdale gang belongs to the religious right.

I know, I know. The fastest way to lose friends is to talk about politics and religion. But gee whiz Betty, this was weird. And if I had known what I know about that comic book now I wouldn’t have let the kids read it. (I would have bought it myself and stashed it away.)

As it turns out the whole thing is online as a PDF.

(I especially recommend the one in which Christian Archie organizes a Christian book store.)

 

 

This is going to be the Summer of the Road Trip. In preparation, I’ve been doing a casual search for some prerecorded storytelling for a few of the longest highway stretches.

I was originally going to download a copy of the first Harry Potter off iTunes, but it’s $40, a little rich for us right now. So I’m looking for free. So far I found a lovely reading of Alice in Wonderland, but other than that I’ve come up dry.

It’s easy to find podcasts of stories, but it’s much harder to find ones that I’d be willing to listen to for a few hours in a row. I’ve realized that the word “free” most often means “nonprofessional narrator.”

Any ideas out there?

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We have just returned from our one-night-camping trip. The girls loved it. I didn’t bring the inflatable mattress (against Mark’s better advice) and lived to regret it.

Despite my restless sleep, it always amazes me that camping can be so fulfilling.