It's become quite unclear to me, and it is in no doubt that I need new glasses. I actually don't mind wearing glasses, it buying them that I find a very specific type of torture.
The selection of frames is practically endless, and I know that whatever I choose is going to look weird just because I'm not used to them After comparing three or four pair, I feel truly ridiculous.
At this point the sales girl appears. "Did you find something you like?"
"Not really," I admit, "I'm looking for a good suggestion." She picks up the abandoned frames from the counter and begins to put them back.
"None of this suit your face, or your color. Why don't you come with me." She turns the corner and there are five hundred more pairs of glasses. My mind goes instantly into overload....you could say that I don't like shopping for them at all. She looks at me like I am being dramatic just because my hands flew over my eyes. Some people are so judgemental.
"I think you'll find something that suits you over here." She flourishes to her left and there are three walls of frames in a sort of office cubicle. The woman in the glasses ads looks a lot like me. Hmm, there could be something to this. I have been in the glasses place now for twenty five minutes and I am still somewhat short of the target here.
Need I go on? Is it obvious to you yet that I need guidance here? I mean glasses say a lot about a person, what do I want my glasses to say about me? What can I say? "I need a nap." I say to the sales girl as I pull myself to my feet and begin assembling myself for departure.
"Just try this one pair." She hands me glasses, I put them on, I buy them because I just want to get out of the freaking store and I did come here to get new glasses. It's how I got my last three pair, can't say I'm crazy about it...you could say that I don't like it at all.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
The First Chill Of Winter
It was sunny this morning, but that didn't lift the chill from the air. Kanga, the newest addition to my little family, looked at me with that expression of betrayal-believing as all little ones do, that the adult controls the weather. That is little better than believing that the weather person controls the weather...a personal pet peeve.
This week saw the re-election of the American President, and a sigh of relief was heard throughout the country as political ads left the airways. There was little sigh of relieve at the president's re-election since his non-supporters believe him to be 1) the anti-Christ 2) a secret Muslim controlling the demise of our beloved country, or 3) not capable of breaking the gridlock in the current Congress (which includes both the House of Representatives and the Senate). This is the aspect of Mr. Obama's administration that was most tempting for me to cross parties this election had the opposing candidate not been 1) a mercenary capitalist 2) a detail free planner and 3) seemingly unable to understand what the American populace has been through and what remedies need to be in place for us to thrive again.
I am somewhat of a simpleton when it comes to politics, for I truly believe that once the election is over, and the winner declared-it is time to rally behind the winner for the good of the country. This concept use to be known as patriotism. Now, I am not sure what is meant by that word currently in our culture, for I remain convinced (against current experience) that we will come together as a nation to solve the problems facing us today.
The only way that this can NOT happen is if Americans allow it. It is infuriating to me that so many people accepted the Republican strategy of "Just say no" and their conviction that if they tied up our government in knots it would guarantee that Mr. Obama would not be re-elected. Secretly, I think this is why many people stayed home, the couldn't bring themselves to vote for him but they couldn't support governance by blackmail either. So, things remain largely as they were-except for one little thing. President Obama doesn't have to be re-elected again, ever and is actually free to hold their feet to the fire, wrangle them into submission or start the political arm twisting that brings about cooperation. Who knows what he might do now that he has been told quite clearly that we want what he promised us and gridlock is not acceptable?
I will end my rant there because my hands are cold and I doubt that anyone is still reading anyway. Besides, I need to take the little dog out and she is not aware of the drastic temperature change she is about to experience before I can sleep with the confidence that I won't wake up by a puddle or other unwelcome deposits.
This week saw the re-election of the American President, and a sigh of relief was heard throughout the country as political ads left the airways. There was little sigh of relieve at the president's re-election since his non-supporters believe him to be 1) the anti-Christ 2) a secret Muslim controlling the demise of our beloved country, or 3) not capable of breaking the gridlock in the current Congress (which includes both the House of Representatives and the Senate). This is the aspect of Mr. Obama's administration that was most tempting for me to cross parties this election had the opposing candidate not been 1) a mercenary capitalist 2) a detail free planner and 3) seemingly unable to understand what the American populace has been through and what remedies need to be in place for us to thrive again.
I am somewhat of a simpleton when it comes to politics, for I truly believe that once the election is over, and the winner declared-it is time to rally behind the winner for the good of the country. This concept use to be known as patriotism. Now, I am not sure what is meant by that word currently in our culture, for I remain convinced (against current experience) that we will come together as a nation to solve the problems facing us today.
The only way that this can NOT happen is if Americans allow it. It is infuriating to me that so many people accepted the Republican strategy of "Just say no" and their conviction that if they tied up our government in knots it would guarantee that Mr. Obama would not be re-elected. Secretly, I think this is why many people stayed home, the couldn't bring themselves to vote for him but they couldn't support governance by blackmail either. So, things remain largely as they were-except for one little thing. President Obama doesn't have to be re-elected again, ever and is actually free to hold their feet to the fire, wrangle them into submission or start the political arm twisting that brings about cooperation. Who knows what he might do now that he has been told quite clearly that we want what he promised us and gridlock is not acceptable?
I will end my rant there because my hands are cold and I doubt that anyone is still reading anyway. Besides, I need to take the little dog out and she is not aware of the drastic temperature change she is about to experience before I can sleep with the confidence that I won't wake up by a puddle or other unwelcome deposits.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Untethered With Too Many Cookies
I apologize for my absence, and I hope you weren't worried or bored but much of the past couple of weeks were no fun at all so...I took a pass but more recently, some things worth commenting on have occurred...
To start with, Colorado has early elections so I voted and feel quite free to stop paying attention to the final mud sling that accompanies these last few weeks of the electoral cycle. Big sigh of relief.
Of much more import, my dear friend, Jack Warford, turned eighty and I was fortunate enough to attend the celebration. They now live in Santa Fe which is a straight drive down Interstate 25 from here. I took the risk with my 1997 Ford Areostar van even though I have given up my cell phone -untethered in a certain way -and successfully arrived on Friday just passed dinner time. The van sounded like a squeaky wheel and since I actually know an honest mechanic there I scheduled it for a a look see and carried on.
Jack's party was all that it should have been and a good time was had by all. I only knew a couple of people there so I resorted to taking pictures and making party talk about looking for a dog. In Colorado Springs a rescued dog costs $350...a bit more than a little out of my league and morally objectionable as well. In New Mexico, throwing dogs out your car window seems to be a local pastime, so they are a little more realistic about allowing adoptions for $125, much more my speed so, I figured I'd make it a twofer.
One thing led to another and by Wednesday Susie, Jack and I kept an appointment at the Heart and Soul Sanctuary (a tax deductible not-for-profit, by the way) while the van kept its appointment at the mechanic. This woman, Natalie, bought something like 300 acres (for those of you unfamiliar with acreage, that would be HUGE), fenced it off and takes all comers. She has like forty dogs, sixty cats, horses, llamas, goats, and every small animal you can imagine. For all of the animals at her sanctuary, there is NO smell - seriously, none. No horse smell, no dog smell, none. As the owner of one cat and one dog for the past ten years or so (except since Coco has passed, that is) I have been challenged to be so successful.
The original house, which I think she lives in, was not carpeted in the usual wall to wall. Cotton bath mats, practically a hundred of them were laid just overlapping as far as my eye could see. This allows them to pick up any soiled piece and replace it with a clean one. Ingenious, really! Dog bowls, huge ones, were placed strategically up the walkway to the building and throughout the house, all of them more or less full of wet food, side by side with dry. The dogs, all smaller than mid-size, were free to roam throughout the house and the grounds. I understand that the large dogs as well as the cats were in separate buildings with accompanying yard, but since I was looking for a smaller dog and my feet don't volunteer for extraneous walking, I parked myself on the floor of the main room and let a dog choose me.
The first dog to catch my eye was her personal dog, so I guess you could say that I have pretty good instincts. A white mid-sized female, probably four or five years old kept coming back to me with a spring in her step, so just as I was making a commitment of the heart, Natalie said, "That's not a good match for you." I looked at her questionably, I prefer an animal to choose me rather than the reverse. "That dog's been adopted twice and came back both times. She's really energetic and that's not a good match for you." She added looking at my feet.
"Okay," I said to her, and "sorry, sweetheart." I said to the dog.
"Look at this one, Marian." Susie says handing me a cute little puppy. This violates two of my dog adoption rules. 1) It was a puppy, not a dog and 2) she picked it, it didn't pick me and I didn't pick it either...so even though it was cute as a button, I continued to interact with the changing field of dogs milling about.
"That is a good match for you." says Natalie. This is a six week old pup, cute as a button- which you can see for yourself, from my photo. To make a long story short, even though I went to find a dog, a 2 pound puppy is what I got. I named her Kanga, straight from my favorite children's book, Winnie the Pooh- both because she hops about and because she likes to sleep inside my jacket like a joey.
I had to stop a Trader Joe's, a store that I miss oh, so much and somehow ended up with about a dozen different packages of cookies. Evidently, that is what I really missed, though I wouldn't have said so. Okay, so I got a lot of other food as well but I am really shocked at the amount of cookies that followed me home. So, I survived my first cell free trip even if my wallet is a whole lot lighter from the dog/puppy, cookies and vehicle repairs, but hey, it's only money right? As for the election, I'll be watching from the comfort of my sofa, petting a puppy and eating some cookies. {Go VOTE ya'll}
To start with, Colorado has early elections so I voted and feel quite free to stop paying attention to the final mud sling that accompanies these last few weeks of the electoral cycle. Big sigh of relief.
Of much more import, my dear friend, Jack Warford, turned eighty and I was fortunate enough to attend the celebration. They now live in Santa Fe which is a straight drive down Interstate 25 from here. I took the risk with my 1997 Ford Areostar van even though I have given up my cell phone -untethered in a certain way -and successfully arrived on Friday just passed dinner time. The van sounded like a squeaky wheel and since I actually know an honest mechanic there I scheduled it for a a look see and carried on.
Jack's party was all that it should have been and a good time was had by all. I only knew a couple of people there so I resorted to taking pictures and making party talk about looking for a dog. In Colorado Springs a rescued dog costs $350...a bit more than a little out of my league and morally objectionable as well. In New Mexico, throwing dogs out your car window seems to be a local pastime, so they are a little more realistic about allowing adoptions for $125, much more my speed so, I figured I'd make it a twofer.
One thing led to another and by Wednesday Susie, Jack and I kept an appointment at the Heart and Soul Sanctuary (a tax deductible not-for-profit, by the way) while the van kept its appointment at the mechanic. This woman, Natalie, bought something like 300 acres (for those of you unfamiliar with acreage, that would be HUGE), fenced it off and takes all comers. She has like forty dogs, sixty cats, horses, llamas, goats, and every small animal you can imagine. For all of the animals at her sanctuary, there is NO smell - seriously, none. No horse smell, no dog smell, none. As the owner of one cat and one dog for the past ten years or so (except since Coco has passed, that is) I have been challenged to be so successful.
The original house, which I think she lives in, was not carpeted in the usual wall to wall. Cotton bath mats, practically a hundred of them were laid just overlapping as far as my eye could see. This allows them to pick up any soiled piece and replace it with a clean one. Ingenious, really! Dog bowls, huge ones, were placed strategically up the walkway to the building and throughout the house, all of them more or less full of wet food, side by side with dry. The dogs, all smaller than mid-size, were free to roam throughout the house and the grounds. I understand that the large dogs as well as the cats were in separate buildings with accompanying yard, but since I was looking for a smaller dog and my feet don't volunteer for extraneous walking, I parked myself on the floor of the main room and let a dog choose me.
The first dog to catch my eye was her personal dog, so I guess you could say that I have pretty good instincts. A white mid-sized female, probably four or five years old kept coming back to me with a spring in her step, so just as I was making a commitment of the heart, Natalie said, "That's not a good match for you." I looked at her questionably, I prefer an animal to choose me rather than the reverse. "That dog's been adopted twice and came back both times. She's really energetic and that's not a good match for you." She added looking at my feet.
"Okay," I said to her, and "sorry, sweetheart." I said to the dog.
"Look at this one, Marian." Susie says handing me a cute little puppy. This violates two of my dog adoption rules. 1) It was a puppy, not a dog and 2) she picked it, it didn't pick me and I didn't pick it either...so even though it was cute as a button, I continued to interact with the changing field of dogs milling about.
"That is a good match for you." says Natalie. This is a six week old pup, cute as a button- which you can see for yourself, from my photo. To make a long story short, even though I went to find a dog, a 2 pound puppy is what I got. I named her Kanga, straight from my favorite children's book, Winnie the Pooh- both because she hops about and because she likes to sleep inside my jacket like a joey.
I had to stop a Trader Joe's, a store that I miss oh, so much and somehow ended up with about a dozen different packages of cookies. Evidently, that is what I really missed, though I wouldn't have said so. Okay, so I got a lot of other food as well but I am really shocked at the amount of cookies that followed me home. So, I survived my first cell free trip even if my wallet is a whole lot lighter from the dog/puppy, cookies and vehicle repairs, but hey, it's only money right? As for the election, I'll be watching from the comfort of my sofa, petting a puppy and eating some cookies. {Go VOTE ya'll}
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