tia: tAkE tWo

Sunday has always been my favorite day of the week.   While the mornings may be a little hectic trying to make it to church on time, the rest of the day is generally way more relaxed.  It's normally the day to catch up and touch base with friends and family... take a walk... play some games... hang out and unwind.  One of my most treasured memories of Sundays were the times my grandmother, my mother's mother, and I would watch television together.  As a rule, it would begin with reruns of the TV show,"The Wild, Wild West", or a classic movie such as, "The Quiet Man" or "Casablanca".

She refused to have a television set in the living room because when friends came by for a visit, she believed in paying attention to them.  She also did not have a remote control... other than me.  And, Oh, how she loathed commercials!  The only television set outside of her bedroom where we could watch a show together was in her kitchen.

We'd sit on her wooden chairs, sometimes with pillows for added comfort.  Then she'd get this look in her eye, smile and get up... "Would you care for some popcorn?"... and I would say, "Yes, please, with butter?"  Then she would get out her very old popcorn popper, the same one she'd used since I could remember.  She'd heat up some oil, add the kernels at the appropriate time, put the lid on it and allow the popping to almost stop.  She'd then dump it all into a tupperware bowl, melt a bit of butter and then drizzle it all over the top of the popcorn.  We'd each add our own salt, as she had had a heart attack and switched to this hideous stuff called, "Nu-Salt"....  It should've been renamed, "No Way in the World Can You Call This Stuff Anything Remotely Similar to Salt" because it tasted a whole lot like how I imagine licking the bottom of an ashtray would taste.  Then we'd sit and munch and talk.  She'd fill me in on different old day actors and other movies in which they'd acted;  about the movie and things that were happening in that particular era (my own private IMDB!);  and then we'd throw in some details about the coming week and our expectations of it.  Nothing earth shattering... just spending time... hangin' out.

Found this in images... almost exactly like my grandmother's!

Labels: memories, popcorn, Sundays, watching movies