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heading down to nevada to meet my sister and my oldest niece. mary lynn asked to spend the week with jenny & me, so we’re meeting at the burger king just off the interstate. when they called to say they were running late, i was already an hour down the road, so i told them that was alright. it gave me a few extra minutes to stop in ft. scott, drink a red eye, and catch up with dav mohler’s daughter, ceilidh. she works in a local coffeehouse on main street.

when you sign up for karaoke in a small town bar, EVERYONE eventually grabs a microphone. here’s an incomplete list of the songs that we screamed, sang, butchered, and swayed to:
invincible by pat benatar & bridget
big bad john by jimmy dean & me
whip it by devo & curtis the bartender
great balls of fire by jerry lee lewis & curtis’ dad
delta dawn by helen reddy & jenny, bonnie, donna, and penny

BIG SIS: come out of there bubba! the folks won’t think twice about making you ride home like that!
LIL BRO: but i don’t wanna come out! i don’t wanna go home! why does the family reunion have to be over?
BIG SIS: you do this every year! why do you put up a fight? why do you ALWAYS try to make this weekend last longer? people have jobs! y’know? we can’t stay here forever!
LIL BRO: aw c’mon sis! there’s another kennel right over there by the kitchen! i bet if you climb inside that one and join my revolution, it will buy us some time until someone airs the bouncy house back up! then before you know it we’ll be circling up to eat spaghetti again!!! whaddya say?

i went back to the ranch mart medicine cabinet thursday, and left a postcard inside. i blogged about the medicine cabinet inside the men’s room the day after jenny & i ate dinner at urban table. we wanted to stretch our legs, and i had to find a restroom. when i told jenny what i found inside the bathroom, she suggested that i leave something inside it… so i made a postcard from the past. 

it’s been a long time since molly attended the herman family reunion. a lot of us are making the trek to marengo this weekend to circle up, tell stories, sing songs, and eat spaghetti and hot slaw. i’m pretty sure she won’t be there this weekend, but the moment she puts on a lampshade, picks up a bottle, and the hula hoop goes around– she’ll be with us in spirit.

last week jenny & i volunteered at our church’s vacation bible school. it happens every summer. we sing, we dance, we eat fatty foods and quote scriptures. this year one of the volunteers walked like an egyptian after the kids pretended to be dead livestock as the result of a plague. things even got sillier when the kids made pillows and balanced them on their heads. i snapped a few photos, then asked easton (the boy in the middle) to take my picture.

when something seems REALLY out of place– like a dog wearing pants, i can’t help but notice it. yesterday at ranchmart i discovered a medicine cabinet in the men’s room. yesterday was a strange day, a woman brought her dog into homer’s (no, it wasn’t wearing pants), later i saw eye to eye with a tree–…and then i found a medicine cabinet inside a public restroom. i’m going back now so i can start leaving little trinkets there like boo radley left for scout. it’s gonna be a good summer!

normally i don’t go to musicals, but when our friends, kevin and victoria invited us to see their daughter, kimberly in A Year With Frog and Toad, i said “ok.” it was a good experience. i was immersed in a make believe world where a frog can bake delicious cookies for his toad friend. i even ate some of those cookies. part of that night is still with me, and it happened before the play even started. a song by the muppets played softly as we took our seats. jim henson and his gang were doing their twisted version of bohemian rhapsody, and when animal (pictured above) sang MAMA, i lost it.

…these pictures wouldn’t be as spontaneous. as i promised last tuesday, here are some more pics from sara’s visit: the first frame is a shot from the downtown streetcar, the second was at mickey’s surplus, and the third was at old shawnee days after sara bought root beer in a glass flask.

she wears it well. most people look drunk in a lamp shade, but personally i think molly looks like a bemused gardener. she texted this photo to jenny friday night with the caption we know how to keep it weird. according to slate.com one of the earliest images of this type is in The Adventurer (1917), Charlie Chaplin plays a rich yachtsman who, pursued by the police, puts a lampshade over his head and stands still as the cops pass by. you’re in good company, molly.