The Slice: Some of them will even root for you

Maybe this happens everywhere.

But a lot of Inland Northwesterners talk to their indoor plants, especially at this time of year.

Makes sense, really. They’re good listeners.

Songs that hit home: “My hometown of San Bernardino, Calif., is mentioned in the ‘Route 66’ song,” wrote Elaine Pachman. “I love the way they say it in the song and it brings back memories of orange blossoms, mountains and blue skies, before a word called ‘smog’ was ever invented.”

Pam Piro also grew up in California, Pasadena to be exact. “ ‘The Little Old Lady From Pasadena’ gets me with a sigh of nostalgia every time it’s played on an oldies but goodies station,” she wrote.

Anne Sweetman spent most of her school years in Liverpool, England. And the Gerry and the Pacemakers song “Ferry Cross the Mersey” – referring the local river – puzzled her.

“To me, it was dismal and a dirty brown,” she wrote. “I just couldn’t believe anyone would compose a song about it.”

She acknowledged, however, that the waterway has been significantly cleaned up since her days there.

Reading at bedtime: Several respondents said it can take months to finish a book that way. Not a surprise, I suppose.

Vicky Kienholz has a rule about reading before turning in. If she nods off and drops the book three times, she calls it a night.

Speaking of bed: Based on responses, The Slice estimates that 33 percent of the population almost always sleeps with a pillow or clumped-up covers between the knees.

Which brings us to today’s Slice quiz: Your challenge once again is to identify a certain movie. Here are the clues: 1. Knees. 2. Partially set in the state of Washington. 3. Piano. 4. Before “All in the Family.”

Good luck. Someone will win a coveted reporter’s notebook.

Slice answer: One reader said that, in her family, meal planning can focus on whatever falls out of the freezer when the door is opened.

Today’s Slice question: Do you consider yourself a good judge of what your kid’s friends are really like?