Didn't Nana like to visit Mackinac Island?, I ask my father interrupting his vigorous consumption of my fettuccine. "There are two interesting things about Mackinac Island," he begins totally ignoring my question. "First of all, the island is the source of the title, 'mad hatter.'" Where does he find this stuff? "Back when they made top hats from beaver skin they treated the material with mercury and when that gets into the body it changes brain tissue and causes insanity. The hatters had mercury on their hands and they would in fact, go mad, thus the "mad hatter." And yet there's more. "The second thing about the island is that in the nineteenth century a miner was injured when part of his abdomen was blasted away in a mine explosion." Sonny goes on to explain the man lived but one could actually view food he ate traveling through his digestive system and the doctor convinced him to stay for two years so he could observe and study his intestinal tract.
This is a horrible story I tell him and I am understanding why he wins every Trivial Pursuit game he plays and I have forgotten my original question.
Men like to swagger when they talk, the show-offs They have difficulty admitting they do not know the answer to any question and my husband cannot say those three emasculating words, "I don't know." An example: Crazy Tom is planning a bike trip across Jamaica, one of our favorite haunts. I ask Big Dave, how does Tom plan to get from Ocho Ries (his hotel location) to Montego Bay (where the ride will begin.) My husband's response includes a history of the biking industry on the island, check point stops in the Jamaican Blue Mountains, why coffee is an important Jamaican export and Tom's latest argument with his father. He does not know.
Personally, "I don't know" is one of my favorite replies. It means I don't have to continue this conversation.
"And another thing, hair doesn't grow under my arm pits anymore," my father tells me. I'm considering printing up a pre-approved list of acceptable dinner topics.
This is a horrible story I tell him and I am understanding why he wins every Trivial Pursuit game he plays and I have forgotten my original question.
Men like to swagger when they talk, the show-offs They have difficulty admitting they do not know the answer to any question and my husband cannot say those three emasculating words, "I don't know." An example: Crazy Tom is planning a bike trip across Jamaica, one of our favorite haunts. I ask Big Dave, how does Tom plan to get from Ocho Ries (his hotel location) to Montego Bay (where the ride will begin.) My husband's response includes a history of the biking industry on the island, check point stops in the Jamaican Blue Mountains, why coffee is an important Jamaican export and Tom's latest argument with his father. He does not know.
Personally, "I don't know" is one of my favorite replies. It means I don't have to continue this conversation.
"And another thing, hair doesn't grow under my arm pits anymore," my father tells me. I'm considering printing up a pre-approved list of acceptable dinner topics.
5 comments:
Does Sonny know that the island was originally called Mitchimakinak by its original inhabitants, the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe)tribes. They considered the island sacred and home to the Great Spirit. Also the name is derived from the Ojibwe word, mishi-mikinaak, which translate to English as "big turtle" (shape of the island). The English stole the island from the French (who stole it originally from the native people) Brits shortened its name to Mackinac. Sorry, I am my father's daughter. And why didn't Nana like it--its famous for its fudge.
Reread, please, Nana did like the island. And I love those Native American names, like birds chirping, so close to the natural sounds.
Yes Nana really like M. Island. She talked more about that to me then about any other subject, I think Gloria went along, once with her. I remember my T-shirt she brought back for me. Oh and I am a manly man and knew about the hole in the guy's gut and the Nutty Hatters.
This is exactly the sort of quirky dinner table conversation I love. My husband's weak stomach recently meant we had to can a conversation covering: the first 'successful' heart transplant (he only lived 18 days), the subsequent use of a baboon's heart, the physiological similarities between humans and pigs and the mouse with a human ear growing off its back. Pity really.
Dear Ariza: So invite us to dinner! My father would love to sit at your table sans your husband and I myself "might" be interested in the mouse and ear story AND I've seen a couple of documentaries on pigs and those similarities you mentioned. I stumbled on your blog a couple weeks ago and have been checking in. Coincidence or not?!?
Post a Comment