Monday, June 12, 2006

Little Windows--The Bad Ship Lollipop

Some day I'm going to fly.
I'll be a pilot too.
And when I do, how would you
Like to be my crew...

On the good ship lollipop.
Its a sweet trip to a candy shop
Where bon-bons play
On the sunny beach of Peppermint Bay.


From "The Good Ship Lollipop"
music by R. Whiting and words by S. Clare

* * *

Ah, yes.

There she is. The Good Ship Lollipop. Moored in her cement berth at Idlewild Park, Ligonier, Pennsylvania. One of the nation's oldest amusement parks, by the way. (Wait a minute. Who the heck built an amusement park on Mount Nottasoullivesthere, Pennsylvania?? It's closest too...nowhere, actually. I guess the land in Pittsburgh was too pricey.)

See those dangerous seas? Don't even THINK about taking a paddle boat out there when the autumn gales are blowing.

Whoa, watch out for that swan!



Hey Mom. Why is Icabod Crane perched on the gunwale? That's not Shirley Temple. I know Shirley Temple. I hear her on the Hi Fi system singing the Good Ship Lollipop song, but that dude can't even tap dance!

He's creepy, Mom.

What? Take a lollipop from him? Why the hell does he smell like incense?



Jesus. It's strawberry. That's not an easy flavor to get.

Close one, Mom. Close one. If he had slipped me Passion Fruit, or Jasmine, or something trippy like that, I would've freaked. But strawberry? I can dig it.



Let's roll. I see the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.


(The "Little Windows" Series: A while back, I transferred our old Super 8 home movies onto VHS. Now I'm moving those to DVD. They're an odd record of the past. More vibrant than photos, but still distant and imperfect. I thought it might be fun now and again to share some of these "little windows" into my past.)

24 comments:

Flood said...

Strawberry really is best.

Terri said...

You're just too cute, Jason!
:-)

Linda said...

adorable just adorabe and you got strawberry!! :)

Rene said...

OMG, does every child have an odd experience at an amusement park? There is something kind of creepy to a little kid's vision.

How funny to go back and watch those videos. When I got married, my mom gave me a video of the wedding. At the end was a bunch of video of me as a little kid. I couldn't watch it.

Bernita said...

Aww...aww...
Well-behaved little guy, weren't you?
In spite of your thoughts.

anne said...

Very sweet...
No self-respecting adult properly understands the drama of childhood.
Good on you. :)

Jeff said...

I love to look at old photos and watch old home movies. Flood of memories. Some good, some not so good.
These are good of you, Jason.

Recently I found an old photo taken in Santa Claus, Ind. when I was around six. I am sitting atop an elephant.
What kind of parent puts their six year old kid on a live elephant ride? A pony, maybe, but an elephant? Geez :)

mermaid said...

To be able to appreciate and understand your past is an art not all manage to perfect. Though I would never suggest you are perfect, keep striving with your art!

Anonymous said...

Flood, :D

Terri, aw, thanks. :)

Beady, it's the curly hair, I think. hehe.

Rene, I like to try to put myself into my younger self's shoes. I never want to become a stranger to myself.

Bernita, I do remember being scared of the guy. It couldn't have been too bad holding mom's hand, though.

Anne, I had a lot of those shy, public dramas. ;)

Jeff, OMG! I have a Super 8 of an elephant ride also! They packed like six of us on the elephant's back. Too funny (I think...).

Mermaid, don't worry. I have a lot of striving to do. ;)

Bailey Stewart said...

When we moved from Iowa to Texas somehow we lost a couple of reels of film. Oddly enough, they were the ones that had mostly me on them (I think my brothers did it *g*). So our home movies are mostly from before I was born, with just a few of me towards the end. Memories I can never get back - makes me kind of sad.

Kelly (Lynn) Parra said...

So cute, Jason! Hey, for some reason I pictured you with dark hair. ;D

Anonymous said...

Eve, I hope you find them! That's heartbreaking to know they existed, then lose them. (Give your brothers a smack for me.)

Kelly, my hair darker now. Dark brown. And not curly. I plan on doing a little contest for you regulars. The Jason Evans reveal! Once I have a good picture to post, the one who can predict my appearance the closest wins. :D

anne frasier said...

i love the little windows, jason.

a current photo! fun!

it's always so strange to finally see a photo of someone after having a mental image for months and sometimes years. i've experienced that with editors. even after finally meeting them i will often revert back to the original mental image even though it's not even close.

Flood said...

I wanna play before the pic goes up!

I have this Patrick Bateman image of you. Haha.

Chemical Billy said...

Funny, I pictured dark hair, too!

These are great, nothing so packed with emotional energy than blurry, nostalgic glimpses of another time - even if it isn't your own past. Might be some good fodder for fiction. Hmm...

Anonymous said...

Anne, that's exactly what I'd like to explore! We only get one chance at this. I'd love to hear (although not now, hehe) what people think I look like. Does writing voice track appearance? Interesting question. It might. My experiences as a person created these elements, and the interraction of people is affected by appearance.

Flood, American Psycho? Wow. I don't know whether I should be flattered or disturbed. Given my dark sense of humor, I guess I'll choose flattered. I haven't seen the movie, though. ** When we play the game, I'll call for descriptions for a period of time, then do the reveal. :D

Chemical Billy, you are so right about the grainy, jumpy images. They allow for much more nostalgia than crisp video.

Melissa Amateis said...

My comment got SUCKED into cyberspace!

Sigh...

Oh well.

My grandma has a ton of those old films. I loved watching my dad growing up. No sound, of course. :-)

Flood said...

It was the lawyer/dark theme thing that made me think of Bateman.

Anonymous said...

Melissa, when my wits are about me, I copy my comment before trying to post it. Nothing is worse than writing a long, brilliant comment only to have Blogger choke on it.

Flood, not sure I'll live up to Mr. Bale, but I'll try. (Yeah, right.) :D

Shesawriter said...

Hey sweetie!

Just dropping in to say thanks for all the kind and thoughtful notes you've been leaving on my blog. I'm back from hiatus. My daughter is now out of school and I'm out of revision hades. Still writing though. I hope everything is going all right for you and I'll be stopping by here more often now that the monkey is off my back. :-)

Hugs

Tanya

Anonymous said...

Hi Tanya! Great to see you back! Glad the pressure has eased up. I was getting worried about you. We don't want to lose such a great blogger! :)

Esther Avila said...

:) how sweet! Thank you for letting us peek in through your past's windows.

Anonymous said...

I love these shots. I still remember the bowl cut birthday trauma shot.

Anonymous said...

September, I'm happy to open the curtains now and again. :)

Eileen, hehe. I'm snipping out some good ones! Stay tuned. ;)