Cart!!

Remember the old game you could play in the car? If you spotted a VW Beetle, you'd say "Slug Bug!" and punch the person next to you. The person who saw it first got to do the punching. A sure fire hit with siblings in the back seat.
Of course, in Portland, one could get a broken arm if playing this too long. This city appears to be the mecca of VWs. We see--literally--at least a dozen types a day.
So, somehow, we have started a new tradition in our family.
Whenever we started spotting the occasional shopping cart sitting on the sidewalk, hiding in the bushes, toppled over in a driveway or filled with trash in an alley, one of us would shout, "CART!" It started off silly but it has grown over the last year. We have actually gotten quite creative. We have pondered, at length, mind you, about starting a business where we gathered all the carts we found in our trailer and then charged companies to return the missing carts to them. We figured we could make a pretty penny that way.
We have also gotten rather original in how we see the carts.
One perched half on the sidewalk and half on the street is a " cart living on the edge".
A cart pushed together with several others? A "cart orgy" of course.
A cart hidden back in the bushes? "Shy cart"
A cart toppled over on its side? "Downed cart!"
A cart of any color that isn't silver? "Minority cart!"
A row of carts? "Cart train"
Is it ridiculous? Yup.
Is it fun? You bet.
It's one of those strange things that we have developed as part of our family's traditions.
Someday, when our great-grandchildren ask why they play the "Cart Game", I hope someone is around who remembers--it started here.