This morning I called my daughter in California, since it is her birthday. She tells me they had birthday cake at breakfast! Partly because Isaac was begging for it. Mostly because she and Mike are busy, busy, and there are other things to do when he gets home tonight. They haven't even had time to celebrate their anniversary yet. That was earlier this month. They have decided to have anniversary month instead, and manage to celebrate later. If not before, they have reservations for a couple of nights in a lighthouse hostel, the last week of the month.
We were bemoaning the fact that stores have grown so BIG. Way too big, so far as I'm concerned. I have to plan which items I'm going to buy in a supermarket - those at this end of the store, or those at the other end. I just can't walk all the way to the back. It's too far for me any more, even though I use the shopping cart sort of like a walker. That helps. Department stores are too big too. Some have motorized scooters for old fogies like me, but I don't like them. There are always things piled in aisles that obstruct them, or crowds get in the way. And sometimes people don't plug in the scooters when they're finished with them, and the power will run out when you're halfway through the store.
Then there are super big stores that swoop into a neighborhood and drive out all the nice little shops that I love. This also applies to craft shops and book stores. I wanted to cry when our small bookstore went out of business. Also, a huge craft chain moved in nearby, and all those little guys left too. I can't shop in the big new one. That is just waaay too big, and the sales people don't know the stock well enough to direct you to anything. I had hoped they would carry the Artful Blogging Magazine that has an article about Caroline's Crayons in the new issue, but no such luck. I know that Border's carries it, but that isn't within my driving range. One of my daughters will find it for me.
Anyway, it's Kitty's theory that sooner or later, all of this will turn itself around, and we will start to move back to the smaller businesses again. It seems to be happening in California, where just about every small town now has a market night, when you can stroll through the town's main street, buying fresh produce, and just about anything else you can imagine. Of course, in California the produce is fresh all year 'round. We don't have that advantage here.
Kitty writes a column for her County paper about whatever cultural events are going on each week. This week there was much about the Steinbeck Museum in Salinas. She was unhappy with it because it concerns a big Mexican Festival - free (with admission to the musem). We wonder just who this is aimed at. Certainly not the poor Mexican families with whom Steinbeck himself was so concerned. There are so many of them in Salinas who work the farms. But they will not be able to afford the admission to bring their children to the festival.
Also big doings down on Cannery Row, where they opened Doc Rickett's lab for a day. He was a famed marine biologist and Steinbeck's friend. (co-author Sea of Cortez) My daughter is educating me in these matters.
So anyway -
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KITTY.
I love you.
