Popcorn, Gin, and Dr. Who

I love fresh, lightly buttered popcorn, with just a little salt, and a tall glass of ice water on the side.  Even though popcorn doesn't have much nutritional value, it's a perfect snack, really--low in calories and high in fiber.  Microwaved popcorn will do in a pinch, but there's nothing like the popcorn made in our Stir Crazy corn popper, or even popped, the old-fashioned way, on top of the stove.

Bill has been fixing me a lot of popcorn lately, since I've been sick, because it helps get the gunk out of my throat.

In fact, I haven't eaten so much popcorn since we lived in Michigan.  Back then, thirty-some years ago, Bill fixed popcorn almost every winter evening, after supper.  It was cheap, easy to make, filling, and delicious.  Then, more often than not, he would lie down on our furry brown couch, propped on a couple of pillows, with his bowl of popcorn balanced securely in the crook of his arm, while I sat cross-legged on the floor beside him.  I would pull the footstool close enough to hold the discard pile for our usual evening game of Gin Rummy. 

Our living room was cozy, with just enough room for the couch and one chair, and some rustic barn-wood shelves that a previous homeowner had installed in the corner to hold a miniscule T.V. and a few books.  Since we lived seven miles outside of Traverse City, there was no cable television, and no satellite T.V. available at that time, either, even if we could have afforded it.  So, we were left with only three very grainy, black and white channels--two main networks and PBS.

That's when Bill first got hooked on Dr. Who.  It must have been a good filler program for PBS, because it seems like Dr. Who was always on in the evenings, while we played Gin.  The program quality would have been poor even if our T.V. had been decent.  I usually sat with my back to the T.V., but I could still hear it in the background, and every once in a while, our Gin Rummy game had to be delayed while Bill followed the action on the T.V. screen.

In recent months, I've noticed a lot of chatter on Facebook about the new Dr. Who series that has recently become popular.  Then, when Erin was here for Christmas vacation,  I noticed that she was watching it on the i-pad while she revised job applications on her laptop.  I guess it's true--"the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree."  Multi-tasking to the sound of Dr. Who must be hereditary!

Now that Bill has learned that he can pull up some episodes of Dr. Who on the i-pad whenever he wants, I expect that he will be taking advantage of that new technology and improved quality to view the reincarnated version of the show he once enjoyed so much.  Now, I wonder, could I interest him in a bowl of popcorn and a game of Gin Rummy?