Take A Load Off Your Brain: Visit My Grocery Store And Get A Music Lesson

 

Sometimes, you just need a Diversion--a Respite from all the strenuous gasping and concern and metaphorical hand-wringing brought to us by the agents of chaos that we, The Sane Ones, did NOT elect. I'm hoping this brief post provides a bit of that.

~*~My Grocery Store, Soon To Have Its Own Special On HBO:

These are actual photos taken by Me of actual signs in my funny grocery store's Closeouts Section. I hope it never, ever changes.

If you cannot see it, the sign says SEQUENCE DRESSES $2.99

You can see what a HOT DEAL these Fabric Lanters are. Or are they Fabric Lantens? 

Do you have five bucks lying around? You can score a set of Blue tooth Earbubs made by Sentry. Or maybe they're a Blue tooth Earbubs Sentry (although I'm not sure what that would be). Either way, a Hot Deal! And NEW!

Listen, I'm still wearing the cute denim sneakers I got there three years ago for $3.99. Their signs may be awful, but the Closeouts department has great stuff, usually Target merch.

~*~Mom Goes To Music School

 Last week, Maya wrote about talking music with her teen. Well, my two sons are way past being teens, but I had my own conversation over text with them about music last week, too. Rick and I were in the car, and Lose Yourself by Eminem came up on my playlist. (I love this song.) I got curious about its genre, so I texted Jared and Sam:

                                                   

*Fetter is Jared's nickname for Sam, after the hip hop artist Fetty Wap. Not sure how it came about.

Let me tell you, I listen to a LOT of hip hop on the boat when the boys come to the lake. A. LOT. Theo dances to all of it. And just a heads up, if you haven't already, don't watch the video to the song Knife Talk. It's...really disturbing in a crazy, avant garde sort of way. 

~*~

"These are the times that try men's souls," Thomas Paine wrote in 1776. "Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." Resistance is not futile. What we say and what we do matters. Every act of Kindness is a defiance. Paine also reminds us that, "'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death." 

Resist.

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Night Rides

 When I was a little girl and the summertime nights were very hot, I sometimes slept downstairs in the living room. My bedroom, shared with both of my sisters, was a converted attic with sloping walls. It got very warm in the summer months and could get downright frosty in wintertime. A big box fan could help circulate the air, but on some hot, humid nights, nothing helped. On those nights, my mother would lay some quilts and a sheet on the living room floor, and I'd bed down there, usually with the front door open a bit and all the windows open, hoping for a breeze.

Every now and then, it would be so warm that my father would take his pillow out onto the front steps. He'd lie down with his feet on the second step, knees bent. I often took my pillow out, too, and lay next to him, loving the whole idea of being out at night, resting there, looking up into our maple tree, the leaves patterned against the dark sky with here and there a star winking, or the moon floating in a haze.

Even better were the times when my father would get out the bicycle for a nighttime ride. It didn't matter that I was in my pajamas. I'd run down to the curb, and he'd help me hop up sidesaddle onto the crossbar; off we'd go, making a cool breeze as he rode. We glided into the night air down the streets of his old neighbourhood, and he'd point out the houses of where he lived as a child, where aunts and uncles lived, where friends lived and what they did or what they cooked or said. He talked about what their yards used to look like, how they used to go fishing or the nicknames they had. Sometimes he'd lapse into a silence for awhile, just thinking. Then he'd point out a tree or shrub or flower to me and tell me what it was or how to take care of it. All the while the wind was cool and I felt not the least bit tired.

When we'd get home, I would almost fall getting off the bike because my leg would have fallen asleep from sitting on that crossbar for so long. I never stumbled in front of him, and I never told him, either. I never wanted those bike rides to end.

PSA--No More Posts Via Email

 

image from LinkedIn

This is simply a quick PSA for those of you who had been getting my posts via email through Mailchimp. That service has ended. Well, it's ended for me, anyway; they're done offering it for free. Since I only have 200+ subscribers and I'm not really a b2b entity, they're breaking up with me.

I'm not aware of any other service that offers a freebie plan, so I guess you'll just have to stop by here and check in once in a while. I'm truly sorry for the inconvenience, especially since I don't publish on any sort of schedule. 

Updated:  I was finally able to reformat my layout and remove the signup for email delivery as well as my defunct Feedburner subscription. Everything should be shipshape now. (Except for the part where you still can't get me via email anymore like before.)

I'll be back soon.