You Call This a Wonderful Life?

Today, crankyjewishguy (CJG) feels like Ray Kinsella, the character played by Kevin Costner in the 1988 film, Field of Dreams. For those much younger than CJG, Field of Dreams is about a farmer in Iowa who hears a voice telling him to turn his valuable cornfield into a baseball diamond and when he does, Shoeless Joe Jackson and the 1919 Chicago White Sox show up to play. It's a documentary. Anyway, CJG isn't hearing more voices than usual, and none have told him to build a baseball field yet. Mostly they tell him to fold the laundry or take out the trash. So, why does CJG feel like Ray Kinsella today? Because there's a scene in the movie where Ray stares wistfully out the window at Christmastime watching the snow cover his precious baseball field. If Ray had been more imaginative or Jewish (same thing), he'd have made provisions for turning the baseball field into a hockey rink, hence CJG's major criticism of the movie. Anyway, today CJG is staring out the window of his local Starbucks (where else?) as the first snow of winter descends on his little town of Bedford Falls and that makes him cranky.

CJG's view from the window of Starbucks.

Actually, CJG doesn't really mind the first snow of the season. It harkens back to his days as a young lad in New Jersey when he used to don skates with his friend, Hans Brinker, and glide over frozen ponds until his mother called out to say his hot cocoa and latkes were ready. But, CJG knows this is just the first snowfall of a winter that will last until April. It's days like this when CJG understands the appeal of Chinese food served under palm trees in Miami Beach on Christmas.