There's Something In The Air!

   Have you ever stopped to notice what kinds
of things stimulate your memory? Maybe a song?
Maybe a place? Or,maybe,something in the air!
   I've been "stimulated: for the past three days.
   Every time I get into my car I can detect an
odor that takes me back to both the past week
end and, in reality, months and years before
that!
   My wife and I were chauffeuring two of the
grand kids on Saturday when someone suggested
they were hungry. I rattled off a couple of
dining options including the possibility of
stopping by a popular Hot Dog eatery in my old
home town. My grand daughter seconded that
proposal and off we went.....to "Jimmy's Quick
Lunch" in Hazleton!
   Just about every community has it's own
version of "Jimmy's."  In Scranton it's "Coney
Island." (And there are two of them!) In Wilkes-
Barre it's "Abe's." In Sunbury it's the "Squeeze In."
   You may have your own somewhere.
   And, chances are, your favorite Hot Dog joint
is, or was, in your old home town.
   I don't know how long Jimmy's has been in
Hazleton, I don't ever remember it not being there!
  The grill on which hot dogs are prepared was
originally located in Hazle Park, an amusement
park once located at the end of a trolley car line
in West Hazleton. I suspect, if you could taste
the metal it would have a hot dog flavor!
   I often think about Jimmy's on Tuesdays. That
is rather ironic since it's the only day of the week
the place is closed. It stems back to World War
Two when  people were encouraged to give up
meat one day a week ("Meatless Tuesdays") so
more of it would be available for our fighting
men overseas!
   Each of these Hot Dog places claims to have
its own special receipt for chili plus a mixture of
other condiments that make its hot dogs unique.
   And they must be pretty good. For the longest
time my wife ordered everything EXCEPT the
hot dog! At Jimmy's that's called a "Phantom!"
   I don't know about that. I can only tell you the
mixture creates an aroma that can linger for days
inside a vehicle and make you hungry for more!
   In my case it conjures up memories of lunches
in a small booth with good friends or family, of
a day when the downtown was the only place to
shop and eat, and thoughts of a long gone amusement
park.
   It's a pleasant aroma in so many ways!
   I'll have mine with everything!
   Hope this "memory" hangs in the air a little longer
and that all your NEWS is good!