Category: Commentary

“If you have a garden and a library you have everything you need.”
-Marcus Tullius Cicero

Just days ago, I sat at our kitchen table and planted tomato seeds, tucking their pale little bodies into potting-soil-filled red Solo cups. It is winter and so begins my gardening year.
For those of us “green thumbers” who enjoy dipping our hands into the good earth and coaxing produce from the ground, winter is a special time. In years past, before we were all compelled to become “computer-head Freds” and do everything online, gardeners would pour over old-fashioned paper seed catalogs on winter nights, dreaming of spring and what they might grow. We still dream, but now most often simply plop down at our computers and shop for seed the modern way. And these days, with my gardening glory behind me (maybe), I find myself only wanting a small bounty of home-grown tomatoes.
It has been some time since I started my tomatoes at home. Normally, as spring arrived, I would prowl the garden section of our local Home Depot looking for my tomatoes. But this year I decided to go back to starting my own plants.
Thinking there might be a few intrepid gardeners within the ranks of my readers, a column on starting tomatoes seemed appropriate now. What follows is simply my elementary process and guidelines. If starting your own tomato plants, change things up any way you like…
First, decide what you want to grow – choose your varieties. If you’ve had success in the past, you might want to stick to your favorites. If your tomato crop was less than you hoped, maybe try something new. Note – tomatoes can be divided into two categories, determinate and indeterminate. Determinate plants bear all their fruit at once (good for canning) and tend to be more compact in size (good for containers). Indeterminate tomatoes bear fruit continuously throughout the season, typically until they are killed by frost, and plants keep growing so they need to be staked or supported.
I am trying some new varieties this year. Last year’s tomato crop was less than expected. My large beefsteak tomatoes were not setting fruit before our blistering summer heat kicked in. So this year I am cultivating smaller and earlier varieties in hopes of getting more fruit before our boiling August arrives.
Tomato growing success starts when you first plant your seeds (start seeds 6-8 weeks indoors before your last frost date). I use 18-ounce red Solo cups (the kind you might use for beer pong in college – I never did that). With a sharp knife cut two triangles at the bottom of each cup (on opposing sides). Use indoor potting mix or seed starter (this is usually sterilized so lacking the heebie-jeebie microscopic critters that might hurt your young plants).
Fill each cup half full with potting soil. Poke two holes into the soil and tuck your seeds in place, two seeds per cup. Cover seed with ¼ inch of soil and gently tamp down. Water soil for the first time from the top. I use a medicine dropper and gently water, so soil is not disturbed.
Next, place each red Solo cup in another plastic cup – use clear cups for this purpose. Using two cups allows you to water your tomatoes from the bottom (and clear cups let you see water level – bottom watering will promote root growth and is easier than carefully sprinkling every time you water). To allow space for water at bottom add a marble or small rock. Water level should be kept halfway up on your triangle. Water will wick up through the soil and keep your plants moist (be careful not to overfill).
After planting, place a small sandwich bag over each cup to help keep moisture inside as seeds germinate. Remove bags as soon as plants emerge. Seeds will germinate best at about 75 degrees Fahrenheit, so find a warm spot in your house for them (or use a heat mat).
As soon as plants peak through the soil, they will need 6-8 hours minimum of sunlight daily. If you have a very sunny window, this may work. But it is usually better to use a shop light or grow light. LED lights work well for this, but numbers have to be right for this to work on your tomatoes. Look for lights rated at 1500-3000 LUMENS (this is how bright light is) and 4500-6500 KELVIN (this is color temp which mimics daylight). You will have to find a way to hang lights above your tomato cups (lights need to stay on approx. 16 hours and off 8 hours each day).
Once plants emerge and true leaves appear thin by choosing strongest specimen, clipping the weaker seedling at its base. You can water with liquid organic fertilizer every week to give your plants a good start. It also helps if you talk to them.
Once plant grows over the top of your cup, fill remainder of cup with potting soil. Tomatoes will grow roots where the stem touches soil, so doing this will give your plants a larger root ball before planting.
Plant your tomatoes outside in the garden after your last frost date. Plant them deep and cover stem again for extra root growth. Be sure to stake plants or use tomato cages as needed. And get ready to enjoy your tomatoes! Happy gardening…

© 2026 Jody Dyer
typewriterweekly.com

“I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.”
-Julia Chil

I love a good omelet. When our youngest daughter was still at home, my favorite thing to do each week was to go out to breakfast with her on Saturday mornings. At the time we lived in the tiny community of Pearl, Texas. And our nearest breakfast spots were found in the neighboring town of Evant. Our favorite was the Elk Stop.
The Elk Stop, named for the local high school sports team mascots – the Elks (and yes, they spell it with an “s”) is a combination convenience store, gas station, and lunch and breakfast stop. In the kitchen there labored a tiny little lady (I am very sorry that I do not know her name) who made the biggest and best omelets in Texas. Full of vegetables and cheese, with your choice of bacon or sausage, these omelets were beyond amazing. It was our favorite menu item (that and their great hamburgers).
While seating at the Elk Stop was available in the upfront store area, they also had a backroom gathering place next to the giant beer coolers with additional tables and chairs. This was our favorite spot to eat. We would often take our chess board to breakfast. Deep conversation and a game of chess with our breakfast omelets made for a special time each week. I miss those mornings with Marigrace. And I often find myself craving a good omelet and more time with my daughter.
While I enjoy experimenting in the kitchen and am fairly capable in the arena of food preparation, I have found omelet construction one of the more difficult culinary tasks. I have tried repeatedly over the years to build, cook, and create a good omelet, but have always come up short. Most often my attempts simply turned into mangled scrambled eggs. The hardest part being the flip or folding of the said omelet. I realize that using a modern non-stick pan is a help in succeeding at this step, but I refuse to use them. Non-stick pans are coated with health wrecking PFAS (toxic “forever chemicals”) linked to health issues and serious concerns like cancer and excessive nose hair growth. I use regular stainless steel or cast-iron pans when attempting my omelet construction. Until recently, I’d had no luck.
If you attempt to learn to make a proper French omelet, there are precise directions you must follow. Eggs are whisked just so, herbs and cheese are added, and after cooking your concoction is delicately rolled, leaving you with a custard-like delicacy, neat and tidy.
I prefer the more American-style omelet, filled with vegetables and more cheese, and typically filled with bacon, sausage or ham (or sliced hot dogs if you prefer your omelet redneck style). An American-style omelet is still rolled or folded neatly, and this was always my problem area.
During one of my most recent attempts at omelet construction I made the mistake of seriously over stuffing my omelet. Filled with too much cheese, bacon, and vegetables, when I attempted to fold over the top, the contents spilled out over the edges. My omelet looked like a giant egg taco. But it was beautiful. Over filling had solved my problem. My omelet was not tidy and neat. It was more of a he-man big truck style omelet. But my ugly and mangled omelet problem was solved as long as I over filled it. Overstuffed, all that was needed was an easy token or partial fold over. With colorful red onions, orange and yellow peppers, and red cherry tomatoes escaping over the edges, it looked great. Over filling my omelet was the perfect fix. I call it the imperfect omelet.
For anyone that would like to try this at home, here are the basic assembly instructions for an imperfect manly omelet…
~ First, cook some bacon in the oven (375 degrees for 15 minutes). Be sure to use a pan and put aluminum foil down to catch drips, otherwise your wife might yell at you. After cooking, chop bacon into bits.
~ Next, sauté your vegetables in olive oil (I use one red or white onion, red, yellow, and orange peppers, and cherry or grape tomatoes).
~ Break 3-4 eggs in a large bowl and beat lightly. If you don’t like eggs that are too fluffy or full of air, gently stir with a fork.
~ Cook eggs in another large pan or skillet – low to medium heat – with olive oil, butter, or both.
~ As eggs set, they will look like a giant pancake. Add cheese of your choice first (sharp cheddar is always good).
~ Then add bacon (or meat of your choice – sausage, ham, or hot dogs).
~ Next add vegetables. When adding vegetables, meat, and cheese, aim for one half of pan, leaving other half without filling. This will make eggs easier to fold over.
~ When cheese is melted, gently fold over half like a taco. No need for perfection here. Just flip over top as best you can and let filling spill over the edge.
~ Top with chopped green onions and maybe a dash of paprika if you’re cooking in December (red and green for Christmas).
Enjoy your omelet with a hot cup of coffee and biscuits or a bagel. This is the breakfast of champions. Happy cooking!
© 2026 Jody Dyer
typewriterweekly.com

“Health is not valued til
sickness comes.”
-Thomas Fuller

With the peak pestilence of the cold and flu season upon us, it might behoove us to prepare. It is no fun to be sick. Recently I stumbled upon an ancient preventative, said to boost the immune system and give your body a superhuman protective shield. And the story behind it is too compelling not to share. Here it is…
During the mid-14th century, Europe experienced perhaps the worst pandemic in human history. Over 50 million people perished from the bubonic plague, or the Black Death as it is often called. The plague was one of the most significant events in human history.
During this time, in the French port city of Marseilles, four friends who worked the shipyards there had an idea. They launched a diabolical, yet profitable criminal enterprise after noticing something strange.
During the day these friends labored within the bowels of a seaside warehouse that processed herbs and spices from abroad. Every evening, they stumbled home from work covered in spice dust. And, as the plague-ridden dead bodies of their fellow townspeople were stacked like firewood, with many more sick and dying all around them, they remained healthy. They didn’t get sick. The dreaded Black Death didn’t seem to affect them at all. The four friends realized that covered in herbs and spices, they were apparently protected from sickness. And this provided them with a profitable criminal opportunity too tempting to pass up.
These friends went into business looting the infected homes of the dead. When a family succumbed to the plague, they promptly showed up at the empty residence to steal what they could. Either fearless or foolish, they worked ignoring the danger and never got sick. At some point, it is believed they began also making a tonic with their herbs and spices and ingesting it. The friends, covered in spice dust and drinking their spicy herbal concoction, looted and lived.
All good things must come to an end (or in this case, bad things), and the friends, now thieves were arrested for their crimes and faced death by hanging. The judge in their case, aware of their apparent immunity to the disease around them, made the thieves an offer they couldn’t refuse. In exchange for their secret plague-protection recipe, their lives would be spared. The thieves quickly coughed up their secret, were released, and went on to live honorable and upright lives, we assume.
The four thieves’ recipe, sometimes called Fire Cider, has been passed down for generations. The recipe does vary some, depending on your source. But essentially it is apple cider vinegar infused with various toe-curling extracts, spices, and anti-microbial herbs.
The 20th century French physician and world-renowned aromatherapist Jean Valnet is thought to have most closely re-created the original Four Thieves’ recipe. It includes some interesting ingredients like wormwood, meadowsweet, marjoram, angelica, horehound, and camphor. The recipe below may be the Texas version. It omits some of the more exotic ingredients but includes jalapeno peppers. Most of what is listed can be found at your local supermarket. I think it is okay to pick and choose the ingredients you can best tolerate. And when drinking a shot of this stuff every day to stay healthy, you might want to keep an ice-cold Dr. Pepper handy to use as a chaser. This stuff can’t taste good.
FIRE CIDER INGREDIENTS:
5 jalapeno peppers (or other hot chilis)
2 chopped onions (red or white or both)
4 cloves garlic – halved
½ cup fresh ginger – chopped
½ cup fresh turmeric root – chopped
2 – 3 lemons – cut into chunks
¼ cup rosemary sprigs – chopped
¼ cup thyme – chopped
¼ cup peppermint – chopped
¼ cup lemon balm – chopped
1 tbsp. cinnamon (use Ceylon cinnamon)
3 pods of star anise
3 – 6 cloves (or more)
1 tbsp. peppercorns – black
3 tbsp. elderberries – dried (optional)
6 cups raw apple cider vinegar
Maple syrup to sweeten (use real maple syrup – not fake breakfast or pancake syrup)
Add dry ingredients to a large sealable jar and cover with apple cider vinegar.
Store jar in a cool dark place for 3-4 weeks, shaking every few days to agitate.
After steeping period, strain through mesh or cheesecloth into a sterilized container. If your concoction is too strong, add maple syrup to taste (start with a tablespoon and adjust from there).
If you store your cider in the fridge it will last for several months. Take one to two tablespoons daily. Mix with water (or try carbonated mineral water). Drink up – stay healthy!

 “It’s like my whole world is coming undone, but when I write, my pencil is a needle and thread, and I’m stitching the scraps back together.”-Julia Alvarez

Pencils are practical tools, ever ready to capture words and scratch your thoughts onto paper. Since childhood, most of us have lived with pencils. In elementary school, they first gave us those big fat pencils that felt like logs in our little hands. Later we got to use real grown-up pencils, usually the bright school bus yellow variety (the best were the Ticonderoga brand). Somewhere in junior high or high school, most of us left our pencils behind, traded for the ubiquitous ballpoint pen, also a wonderful tool. Recently I have rediscovered the pencil. And in doing so, I think I’ve found the perfect one.
With some trepidation, I can say that I am a writer. When working on a column, I always write my first draft using my typewriter, a treasured Royal portable (a 1946 Arrow model). But before going to my typewriter, often in the wee hours of the morning when I first fall out of bed, I will write out by hand what I call skeleton notes. Sometimes this is just an outline, so I have a word map of sorts to guide me as I type. Sometimes it is more. Often words will just flow, like turning on a faucet. And as I sit up in bed in my boxer shorts, I need to capture them. Ordinarily, I keep a notepad and pen handy. But now, instead of a pen, I have switched to a pencil. I find that a pencil better captures words before they get away. I can write faster with a pencil. This small change occurred after I read about and bought a box of the famous Blackwing pencils.
The Blackwing 602 pencil, with its flat ferrule, clamp eraser, and trademark slogan “Half the Pressure, Twice the Speed” stamped on the side, was created in 1934 by the Eberhard Faber Company. It was the first commercial pencil made with wax in its core and was noted for its incredibly smooth writing. The Blackwing pencil caught on with creative folks, most notably writers, animators, and musicians. John Steinbeck wrote the Grapes of Wrath using a Blackwing 602. He didn’t type, so would hand write his manuscripts and then have his secretary type them. Many other writers, including Truman Capote and Thomas Wolfe were fans of the Blackwing pencil.
The Blackwing 602 was especially popular with artists and animators. Chuck Jones, whose work included Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Wile E. Coyote, was a big fan, along with Tim Hodge who was known for his work on the classic Tom & Jerry cartoons. Walt Disney’s core animators – known as the “Nine Old Men” – were huge fans of the Blackwing 602. Ollie Johnston, creator of Bambi and Thumper, kept the first one he ever owned as a prized possession. Brothers Robert and Richard Sherman used Blackwing pencils for their contributions to Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, and The Jungle Book. Shamus Culhane, known for his work on Snow White, was such a fan that he was buried with a Blackwing 602 pencil in his hand.
Many notable musicians loved their Blackwing pencils as well, including composer Stephen Sondheim, band leader Nelson Riddle, pianist and composer Duke Ellington, trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis, songwriter Johnny Mercer, composer Leonard Bernstein, composer Aaron Copland, and Texas music legend Guy Clark.
Blackwing pencils have also been used at times on TV and in cinema. In the movie Jaws (1975), Richard Dreyfuss in one scene is pictured with a Blackwing 602 clenched between his teeth. In Revenge of the Nerds (1984), Anthony Edwards and Robert Carradine, as nerds Gilbert and Lewis, carry Blackwing pencils tucked into their pocket protectors.
Despite their cult status with the artistic crowd, for a number of reasons, including low sales volume, broken machinery, and company acquisitions, in 1998 the Blackwing 602 pencil was discontinued. With Blackwings no longer in production, the resale market went crazy. Pencils were selling on eBay for as much as $40 each.
A few years later, a company in Stockton, California – Cal Cedar – acquired the Blackwing name and trademark. In 2010 they brought the Blackwing 602 back. Because the exact secret formula of graphite, clay, and wax had been lost, the company had to re-engineer the pencil in order to bring it back to life. They mastered the top-secret graphite formula. Some say the new Blackwing is better than the original. And fortunately, we can now buy them again.
They have several models, but the classic Blackwing 602, usually recommended for writers, is what I use. I find them smooth and easy. It’s like writing with butter. The pencil skims across the page easily and quickly. And using my Blackwing appeals to my senses. The 602 has a tactile quality that is missing with a drugstore pencil or plastic pen. The smooth finished wood feels good in my hand. The smell of graphite and cedar is soothing. There is a satisfying scratch on paper as dark lines emerge. All stirs the senses and makes writing a pleasure. And I can quickly capture my thoughts and whip out my skeleton notes before running my words through my typewriter.
If you find the need to pull words from your head and put them on paper, consider the lowly pencil, and maybe try a Blackwing (blackwing602.com). They are a bit expensive. You’ll pay a little more than a few dollars per pencil (much more than a twenty-five cent Walmart pencil), but I think they are worth every penny. Happy writing…
© 2025 Jody Dyer
typewriterweekly.com

 Recently we absorbed the tragic news of Rob Reiner’s passing, along with his wife Michele.  I find myself grieving.  Circumstances surrounding their deaths are beyond horrific, and I am so, so very sorry.  Though Reiner’s political leanings were far from mine, I’ve always admired his work.  Creative genius, even in its roughest forms, I believe reflects the glory of our Creator.  Rob Reiner was a creative genius, and arguably one of the greatest movie makers of our time. 

 The son of famed comedy legend Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner came to prominence on the classic TV sitcom All in the Family.  Reiner played Mike “Meathead” Stivic, the perfect foil to his Nixon-loving father-in-law Archie Bunker.  For five seasons, All in the Family was the number one TV show in America.  

 Reiner came into his own, however, as a director, making movies.  Known as an actor’s director, his string of hits in the 1980s and early 1990s cemented his standing in Hollywood.  These included This is Spinal Tap (1984), The Sure Thing (1985), The Princess Bride (1987), When Harry Met Sally… (1989), Misery (1990), and A Few Good Men (1992).  

 But, in my humble, if twisted opinion, Reiner’s greatest work was his epic boyhood story, Stand by Me (1986).  The movie is poetry on film.  And yes, before the movie world was digitized, in 1986 Stand by Me was shot on 35mm film (Kodak’s Eastman 100T Color Negative Film 5247) using Panavision cameras.  

 The movie is based on Stephen King’s 1982 novella The Body.  Set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Oregon, the movie has an amazing soundtrack, featuring songs from the 1950s and early 1960s from groups like The Coasters, The Bobettes, The Del-Vikings and more.  Included is the iconic song that gives the film its title, Stand by Me, by Ben E. King.

 Reiner’s unforgettable movie stars Wil Wheaton (as Gordie Lachance), the late River Phoenix (as Gordie’s best friend Chris Chambers), with Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell (as friends Teddy Duchamp and Vern Tessio).  The story centers around a journey to find the dead body of a missing boy, undertaken by the four friends over Labor Day weekend in 1959, as remembered through the eyes and words of Gordie.

 An underlying theme in the movie is death.  One of the most difficult things we are forced to do in life is process grief.  As a boy, Gordie faces the trauma of losing his older brother Denny (played by John Cusack) in a Jeep accident.  As an adult, the story begins with Gordie reading a newspaper article about the death of his childhood friend, Chris Chambers.  Much of the movie is an extended flashback, with Gordie remembering and writing and grieving.  It is interesting to note that Richard Dreyfuss, who portrays adult Gordie as a writer, was in real life a childhood friend of Rob Reiner.   

 This movie takes me back to my boyhood.  I was Gordie, the same skinny, sensitive kid in a ballcap, destined to become a writer.  My best friend at age twelve was Mike O’Rafferty, the spitting image of Chris Chambers.  Mike and his brother Billy were my best boyhood companions.  My first year in junior high, I met the best friend I’ve ever had in life, Danny Reed.  I miss those guys.

 In my youth, we were just like Gordie, Chris, Teddy, and Vern.  We swore like sailors.  It was a bad thing.  Stand by Me is rated R, primarily because of the swearing.  But that’s how we really were as boys (sorry Mom).  In the movie the boys play cards in their tree house.  For me and my slew-foot friends, most of our card playing was done on the dusty floor of cabin #13 at 4-H camp every summer.  We played poker, five card draw, for pennies and peanuts.  Like Gordie, I was a reader, spending my money on magazines (True West, Sports Afield, Guns & Ammo, and Fur, Fish & Game).     In our dirt road neighborhood, we even had a junk yard dog, just like in the movie.  Our menace was a giant, coal black German Shepherd named “Ace.”  His back was as high as the seat on my bike.  Ace would chase us boys.  I could outrun him for short distances on my bike, but it was always close, and breathtaking.  Along with playing baseball, shooting marbles, and prowling the hills with a .22 rifle, as boys we savored adventure.  In a time when even protective parents didn’t worry so much about our safety, boys could be boys.  Our biggest danger was being caught by Old Man Christianson who patrolled the backroads of his property in a Cadillac, with a .38 revolver on the front seat beside him.  We were always on the lookout and afraid of being shot when sneaking over to Foxy’s Lake, hiding our bikes in the nearby eucalyptus grove before we explored.  The danger made it all the more fun.  So much of this movie speaks to my childhood.  My Dad even drove an old 1957 Chevy truck (long bed in faded orange), just like you see in the movie.

Boyhood friends leave a mark. You never have any friends later on like those you had when you were twelve. Thank you, Rob Reiner, for helping us remember…

© 2025 Jody Dyer
typewriterweekly.com

The life’s work of some is more visible than others.  You might build a solid business, grow a strong family, or cultivate a beautiful garden, and no one ever notices.  But make a good movie and all the world knows your name.  So it was with Rob Reiner.  

 Recently we absorbed the tragic news of Rob Reiner’s passing, along with his wife Michele.  I find myself grieving.  Circumstances surrounding their deaths are beyond horrific, and I am so, so very sorry.  Though Reiner’s political leanings were far from mine, I’ve always admired his work.  Creative genius, even in its roughest forms, I believe reflects the glory of our Creator.  Rob Reiner was a creative genius, and arguably one of the greatest movie makers of our time. 

 The son of famed comedy legend Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner came to prominence on the classic TV sitcom All in the Family.  Reiner played Mike “Meathead” Stivic, the perfect foil to his Nixon-loving father-in-law Archie Bunker.  For five seasons, All in the Family was the number one TV show in America.  

 Reiner came into his own, however, as a director, making movies.  Known as an actor’s director, his string of hits in the 1980s and early 1990s cemented his standing in Hollywood.  These included This is Spinal Tap (1984), The Sure Thing (1985), The Princess Bride (1987), When Harry Met Sally… (1989), Misery (1990), and A Few Good Men (1992).  

 But, in my humble, if twisted opinion, Reiner’s greatest work was his epic boyhood story, Stand by Me (1986).  The movie is poetry on film.  And yes, before the movie world was digitized, in 1986 Stand by Me was shot on 35mm film (Kodak’s Eastman 100T Color Negative Film 5247) using Panavision cameras.  

 The movie is based on Stephen King’s 1982 novella The Body.  Set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Oregon, the movie has an amazing soundtrack, featuring songs from the 1950s and early 1960s from groups like The Coasters, The Bobettes, The Del-Vikings and more.  Included is the iconic song that gives the film its title, Stand by Me, by Ben E. King.

 Reiner’s unforgettable movie stars Wil Wheaton (as Gordie Lachance), the late River Phoenix (as Gordie’s best friend Chris Chambers), with Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell (as friends Teddy Duchamp and Vern Tessio).  The story centers around a journey to find the dead body of a missing boy, undertaken by the four friends over Labor Day weekend in 1959, as remembered through the eyes and words of Gordie.

 An underlying theme in the movie is death.  One of the most difficult things we are forced to do in life is process grief.  As a boy, Gordie faces the trauma of losing his older brother Denny (played by John Cusack) in a Jeep accident.  As an adult, the story begins with Gordie reading a newspaper article about the death of his childhood friend, Chris Chambers.  Much of the movie is an extended flashback, with Gordie remembering and writing and grieving.  It is interesting to note that Richard Dreyfuss, who portrays adult Gordie as a writer, was in real life a childhood friend of Rob Reiner.   

 This movie takes me back to my boyhood.  I was Gordie, the same skinny, sensitive kid in a ballcap, destined to become a writer.  My best friend at age twelve was Mike O’Rafferty, the spitting image of Chris Chambers.  Mike and his brother Billy were my best boyhood companions.  My first year in junior high, I met the best friend I’ve ever had in life, Danny Reed.  I miss those guys.

 In my youth, we were just like Gordie, Chris, Teddy, and Vern.  We swore like sailors.  It was a bad thing.  Stand by Me is rated R, primarily because of the swearing.  But that’s how we really were as boys (sorry Mom).  In the movie the boys play cards in their tree house.  For me and my slew-foot friends, most of our card playing was done on the dusty floor of cabin #13 at 4-H camp every summer.  We played poker, five card draw, for pennies and peanuts.  Like Gordie, I was a reader, spending my money on magazines (True West, Sports Afield, Guns & Ammo, and Fur, Fish & Game).     In our dirt road neighborhood, we even had a junk yard dog, just like in the movie.  Our menace was a giant, coal black German Shepherd named “Ace.”  His back was as high as the seat on my bike.  Ace would chase us boys.  I could outrun him for short distances on my bike, but it was always close, and breathtaking.  Along with playing baseball, shooting marbles, and prowling the hills with a .22 rifle, as boys we savored adventure.  In a time when even protective parents didn’t worry so much about our safety, boys could be boys.  Our biggest danger was being caught by Old Man Christianson who patrolled the backroads of his property in a Cadillac, with a .38 revolver on the front seat beside him.  We were always on the lookout and afraid of being shot when sneaking over to Foxy’s Lake, hiding our bikes in the nearby eucalyptus grove before we explored.  The danger made it all the more fun.  So much of this movie speaks to my childhood.  My Dad even drove an old 1957 Chevy truck (long bed in faded orange), just like you see in the movie.

Boyhood friends leave a mark. You never have any friends later on like those you had when you were twelve. Thank you, Rob Reiner, for helping us remember…

© 2025 Jody Dyer
typewriterweekly.com