"GINGY-MINGY"

My Aunt is amazing at age 85. She and I drove downtown and walked arm-in-arm across the River on a pedestrian bridge. She was recounting a trip many years ago to Greece, Italy, France, Istanbul, Switzerland and how seven-dollars would get you a nice hotel. I felt like I was on a Travelogue! She's going to Europe with relatives at the end of the month. She keeps up with the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and loves outdoor concerts, opera, ballet, The Beatles, even Reggae music. Several weeks ago, she was attending a free outdoor concert with a Beatles cover band doing the "Revolver" album. She was with another nephew and later told me she couldn't walk back to the car after the show, so a police officer on a motorcycle said "Hop on!" and she was given a Harley ride to her car! She's just a remarkable person. If only I owned a movie camera and could have filmed that! We sauntered into a bookstore and rode the escalator to the second floor. I picked up J.D. Salinger's "Franny and Zooey" to flip through while she went after Homer's "The Odyssey". We only stayed a few minutes and left with her telling me how gory "The Davinci Code" was--not my kind of book. She has this term she uses called "Gingy-Mingy"--which basically means "junk". So I asked her if it was all "Gingy-Mingy"? She said "Well, some of it was "Gingy-Mingy" but other parts sort of weird really. I don't know". Her "leftover" meals are really gourmet to me: pizza, two types of Goulashes (sorry, I couldn't think of a better description because I'm nursing a migraine as I post this). But it was a terrific night. Very few boats on the water and when a barge passed, my Aunt was like a kid stopping at the bridge rail to take in the passing vessel. She wanted to know where the boat captain sat and so forth, so I pointed this all out. We nearly reached my car when a guy pushing a shopping cart past us said, "Hey! I found an aluminum car rim. That should bring me seven dollars easily!" "Good for you", said my Aunt. "What else have you collected there?" "Mostly aluminum cans", he replied. "A lot of people call me a bum but, hey, it's honest, man", he said. "Any honest work is honorable, good for you!", said my Aunt. A great end to a blah day. I know I'll miss her while she's overseas.