It's 9/11. For my generation and our daughter's generation, it's like saying December 7th. I just got an email from a friend I was teaching with that day telling me in retrospect she is so grateful to have been with friends that day. We all remember where we were, and what we were doing. The first time I saw the video of the plane flying into the tower, my initial, irrational, interior mental response was, "That can't be real. That's got to be a special effect." A fleet second later, my stunned mind comprehended it WAS real, and my second thought was, "The world just changed - forever."
Like Christine, I'm grateful I was with friends that horrible day. I'm also grateful our principal banned the use of all TV's and radios at my school that day. The idiot principal at LD Bell High School, Sarah's school, let the TV's in every room blare non-stop 'news' and pictures all day long.
The instant school was over for me that day, I burned up the freeway driving at breakneck speed getting to Sarah's high school to pick her up. I never picked her up - not cool, you know for a teen's MOM to pick her up like she's some little kid. Not that day. Sarah Lynn was just a few weeks short of being sixteen years old, and she was never so glad to see her mother in her entire short life. For you see, today I am so damn grateful my daughter is alive. Sarah had been standing on the top of the World Trade Center in July, just two months prior to the attacks. Today, I say a prayer for all the mothers who aren't as lucky as I was.
It's 9/11. Thirteen years later it's still as senseless and enraging as it was on the day the towers fell.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Gratitude Challenge: Day Three
I'm telling you...nothing sets up your day like a little cartoon viewing. I'm grateful to be able to laugh at stupid stuff. It definitely improves your coffee. I have favorite cartoons - it used to be Scooby Doo, and don't get me wrong, I'm still a big Scooby fan. In my 20's I would drink coffee, smoke cigarettes, and watch Scooby on Saturday mornings. I moved onto the Power Puff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, and Jimmy Neutron, and now I like The Penguins and Planet Sheen. The Sheen show is a spin-off of Jimmy Neutron - even cartoons have spin-offs, and the Sheen character just cracks me up. Even better are the commercials! Today I saw one for Glowjamas! You can write on them, and they glow in the dark. Plus, they are washable, dryable and you can start over with new messages. ($19.95 + $7.95 shipping and handling) I mean you just don't see these types of products on grown-up TV.
Another thing that I like to do is read in the bathroom. OK, not glamorous, but when I was a kid, it was the only place I could read uninterrupted until I perfected selective hearing. I am so grateful for junk mail catalogs. They are perfect bathroom reading. Not too involved, and can be put down on a moment's notice without losing the gist. I love moving into a place where the prior occupant was a big shopper who always checked the catalog box when she ordered something. Berkeley was great; the girl who lived there loved to catalog shop, and we always had an eclectic assortment. Every mail day was a possible surprise.
My final gratitude of the day is having my own personal news source. Drake always gets up much, much, much earlier than I do, and he likes to peruse news sites. He filters and edits out the stuff I don't need to know, and gives me not only the weather report for the day, but also a capsule of important breaking news. It's so efficient, and I don't have to wallow in all the bad news every media outlet is so delighted to shower me with as well as the endless repetition. He also does follow up sleuthing. (Example: Why DID Ron Washington resign?) FYI for non-Texans, he's the former skipper of the Texas Rangers who resigned for mysterious reasons this past week. Believe me when I tell you having your own personal news source is heaven in this media overloaded world.
Another thing that I like to do is read in the bathroom. OK, not glamorous, but when I was a kid, it was the only place I could read uninterrupted until I perfected selective hearing. I am so grateful for junk mail catalogs. They are perfect bathroom reading. Not too involved, and can be put down on a moment's notice without losing the gist. I love moving into a place where the prior occupant was a big shopper who always checked the catalog box when she ordered something. Berkeley was great; the girl who lived there loved to catalog shop, and we always had an eclectic assortment. Every mail day was a possible surprise.
My final gratitude of the day is having my own personal news source. Drake always gets up much, much, much earlier than I do, and he likes to peruse news sites. He filters and edits out the stuff I don't need to know, and gives me not only the weather report for the day, but also a capsule of important breaking news. It's so efficient, and I don't have to wallow in all the bad news every media outlet is so delighted to shower me with as well as the endless repetition. He also does follow up sleuthing. (Example: Why DID Ron Washington resign?) FYI for non-Texans, he's the former skipper of the Texas Rangers who resigned for mysterious reasons this past week. Believe me when I tell you having your own personal news source is heaven in this media overloaded world.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Gratitude Challenge: Day Two
Today I went to the United States Post Office, South Lake Tahoe Branch (one of two). As I was standing in the three minute lines, I realized I'm grateful for the USPS. People love to make fun of the post office, but I discovered after a little research that the good old US post office is ranked #1 in the world. It's economical and accounts for 40% of the mail sent in the entire world. (#2 Postal service? Japan)
I bought bird stamps. These are terrific; they are colorful and educational.
Another bird I've also seen is a Mountain Chickadee, and a Red Tailed Hawk
I bought bird stamps. These are terrific; they are colorful and educational.
I realized I'm grateful Lake Tahoe area has different song birds than what I'm used to. No cardinals, blue jays or mocking jays here, no siree. The most common bird here is
the Stellar Jay. Really pretty, but NOISY.
the Stellar Jay. Really pretty, but NOISY. Another bird I've also seen is a Mountain Chickadee, and a Red Tailed Hawk
Finally, today I'm grateful this house has a hot tub. I'm having lots of pain due to using an elliptical for cardio followed by weight lifting. Maybe I can possibly hike without dying. That hot water helps me not to limp. I would show you a picture, but I hot tub in the nude, and nobody wants to see a lumpy 64 year old body. SWAK! (Who isn't grateful for a kiss?)
Monday, September 8, 2014
Gratitude Challenge: Day One
I have this friend... Ok, Ok, I have lots of friends, but this one challenged me to post three things I'm grateful about for five consecutive days on FACEBOOK. This friend, let's call her JG doesn't realize I only use Facebook as a stalker or perhaps more accurately as a swooper. I've never posted anything on FB for five consecutive days. I like to swoop into FB about once every two weeks. I can see all the pix, ignore what everybody had for lunch 8 days ago, skate past the inspirational messages, and slide past the kitten/puppy/kid/ Youtube postings. Occasionally, I post my status when I'm bored - like when I'm driving across the Mojave. (Yes, you can actually get internet electrons in the middle of the desert - but only on the main highway.)
My gratefuls are going to be easy because I'm always working to put myself in a positive frame of mind. The real challenge is to make them fun and interesting. In that vein, I will not post being grateful for my husband, my daughter, my health.....blah, blah, blah. Let's just accept those as givens.
That caveat issued, here's Day One:
(1) Very grateful I only have to post for five days. FB is truly the EVIL EMPIRE.
(2) Seriously grateful I can still walk......there was a time...
(3) Frivolously grateful OU Football has started - BOOMER, SOONER! (Jacki's magic sox are working, people!)
My gratefuls are going to be easy because I'm always working to put myself in a positive frame of mind. The real challenge is to make them fun and interesting. In that vein, I will not post being grateful for my husband, my daughter, my health.....blah, blah, blah. Let's just accept those as givens.
That caveat issued, here's Day One:
(1) Very grateful I only have to post for five days. FB is truly the EVIL EMPIRE.
(2) Seriously grateful I can still walk......there was a time...
(3) Frivolously grateful OU Football has started - BOOMER, SOONER! (Jacki's magic sox are working, people!)
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Fame Can be Fleeting
We just returned from Carson City. This is the quintessential 'western' town. First, they call it a city, but it's only about 6 block wide by 10 miles long. This town is named for a man most Americans couldn't even name. While there, I toured the Nevada State Museum which has an interesting exhibition about another American whose accomplishments are also lost to history beyond his name being attached to various towns, counties, schools, streets and natural objects such as rivers, creeks, valleys and mountains. I'm talking about Kit Carson and John Charles Fremont. Both were household names during their lifetimes, and their lives were intertwined at the height of their fame.
Kit Carson, who was only 5'4", was born in 1809 and raised on the very edge of the West in Missouri. As many in his day, he never learned to read or write. Known for his personal courage, integrity, and fastidious ways, he became a trapper, guide, an Indian fighter, a California revolutionary, a soldier, a federal Indian agent, the most hated white man to the Navajo Tribe, and a rancher. As a 'mountain man' he trapped and scouted throughout the West from the mid 1820's until the 1840's. During this time he was well known to the Plains Indians and his first two wives were Cheyenne and Arapaho respectively.
In 1842 while visiting his family in Missouri, he met John C. Fremont, a United States Army Topographical Engineer, who was preparing an expedition into the West. Fremont promptly hired Carson as his guide, and due to Fremont's mention of Carson in his written dispatches, Carson's numerous exploits became known in the East. Carson guided three of Fremont's western expeditions, and the two men were fast friends until Carson's death in 1868. He never visited the city Fremont named for him.
Just prior to the Mexican American war in 1846, heading a company of soldiers, Fremont and Carson rode from New Mexico to California in aid of Americans who were in rebellion against the Mexican rule of California. Fremont, a United States soldier at the time, was tried in court-martial and found guilty of mutiny. President Polk pardoned Fremont who resigned his commission and headed back to California. Carson, not a soldier at the time, was not prosecuted.
Carson did become a soldier in the Union Army and fought in one Civil War battle at Valverdes, New Mexico. He spent most of his time during that war fighting with the Navajo who refused to be confined to the United States reservation, Carson hounded the Navajo practicing a scorched earth policy until, starving, they surrendered. Carson then forced marched the Navajo on a 300 mile "Long Walk" from Arizona to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. 8,000 Navajo died during the migration. After the Civil War, Carson returned to ranching in Taos dying in 1868.
John Charles Fremont's contributions were highlighted in a current exhibit at the Nevada State
Museum. Fremont opened the far American West in a series of expeditions one of which laid the path for the Oregon Trail. Eastern emigrants followed the path blazed by Fremont and Carson via wagon train beginning in the 1840's. John Fremont and Kit Carson were the Lewis and Clark of their generation. Carson's contributions were immediate as guide on the ground, but Fremont popularized the Western frontier with his words. He wrote extensively, collected specimens of plants, animals, minerals and just about everything else he came across during his expeditions.
During Fremont's lifetime he was married to Jesse Benton, daughter of the most influential 'western' man, Thomas Hart Benton. John Fremont was born in 1813, and college educated in Charleston, South Carolina. He was a mathematical instructor in the United States Navy, and a topographical engineer for the United States Army. He was an officer in the Bear Republic of the California Republic - simultaneous with his United States military office - leading to the above difficulties.
After California was admitted as a state, he was a Senator from California. An early opponent of slavery, amazing considering his place of birth and upbringing, Fremont was the first presidential candidate of the newly formed Republican Party in 1856. The Nevada State Museum is currently exhibiting both the sword presented to him by Charleston, South Carolina in the 1840's and his campaign flag as a Republican presidential candidate. In the late 1870's he was the Territorial Governor of Arizona. By the end of the 1880's he was virtually destitute. In recognition of his service to the United States, and to alleviate his poverty, the Congress voted him a military pension. Fremont died in obscurity, his great exploits of so little interest in 1890, the books he wrote at the time barely sold. In a little over 100 years both his and Carson's names beyond their association with places in the West have been forgotten.
At least their names still abound on maps and in history books. An entire race of people and their names and the names of the places they lived have been completely forgotten. The Washoe, the Paiute, and the Northern Paiute are the native American tribes of Nevada and Northern California. Not only was their stone age culture eradicated, but these people were almost exterminated. (For example, 80% of the Washoe Tribe died within 50 years of contact with the Caucasian industrialized culture.) The Nevada State Museum had an amazing exhibition of these people. First, there was a video presentation of several tribal members telling their stories accompanied by film of the places named in the stories and musically enhanced with traditional tribal songs. I learned, thanks to Wolf and Coyote, why there are no pine nuts in California and no juniper trees in Nevada. The Paiute also tell a Loch Ness monster type story about Lake Tahoe. You rarely see historically accurate presentation of the Native American oral tradition.
What really startled me was the 11,000 year old burial site with accouterments found in a cave in the 1940's in Nevada. This site has been carbon dated, and the bodies have been named as the tribal ancestors of the Washoe/Paiute Tribes. These people were living in Nevada and hunting mammoths and other large predators of this geological era. What was puzzling in the land of every mineral and ore you can name, these people never worked with metal. Perhaps, the plentiful food supply of protein stunted development of agriculture and thus the abandonment of the nomadic life. Their story is tragic and brutal, but inevitable. The same world wide migration and extermination pattern is as old as civilization.
I spent a fascinating two hours in the museum while Drake perfected his blackjack skills. The highlights beyond what I've discussed above: Mammoth skeleton and an even more ancient horse ancestor skeleton. There are marvelous mineral samples. An entire mining ghost town has been disassembled and re-assembled inside the museum. Then, there's the walk through replica of an underground mine. Finally, this museum is gun nut heaven. This museum has an awesome personal firearms collection. Even the building is interesting. The 'old part' is the original Carson City Mint where coinage was stamped out close to the silver and gold mined in Nevada, and the 'new part' is a thoughtfully designed new facility joined to the old mint building. Finally, the short lived Pony Express (the nascent Carson City locale was a stopover for horse exchange prior to crossing over the 7000 - 9000 foot mountain range into Sacramento) is commemorated in front of the museum.
As always, there are pictures:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/115478608971584948192/albums/6056066771158866465?authkey=CLGzg_rwt8H6dw
Kit Carson, who was only 5'4", was born in 1809 and raised on the very edge of the West in Missouri. As many in his day, he never learned to read or write. Known for his personal courage, integrity, and fastidious ways, he became a trapper, guide, an Indian fighter, a California revolutionary, a soldier, a federal Indian agent, the most hated white man to the Navajo Tribe, and a rancher. As a 'mountain man' he trapped and scouted throughout the West from the mid 1820's until the 1840's. During this time he was well known to the Plains Indians and his first two wives were Cheyenne and Arapaho respectively. In 1842 while visiting his family in Missouri, he met John C. Fremont, a United States Army Topographical Engineer, who was preparing an expedition into the West. Fremont promptly hired Carson as his guide, and due to Fremont's mention of Carson in his written dispatches, Carson's numerous exploits became known in the East. Carson guided three of Fremont's western expeditions, and the two men were fast friends until Carson's death in 1868. He never visited the city Fremont named for him.
Just prior to the Mexican American war in 1846, heading a company of soldiers, Fremont and Carson rode from New Mexico to California in aid of Americans who were in rebellion against the Mexican rule of California. Fremont, a United States soldier at the time, was tried in court-martial and found guilty of mutiny. President Polk pardoned Fremont who resigned his commission and headed back to California. Carson, not a soldier at the time, was not prosecuted.
Carson did become a soldier in the Union Army and fought in one Civil War battle at Valverdes, New Mexico. He spent most of his time during that war fighting with the Navajo who refused to be confined to the United States reservation, Carson hounded the Navajo practicing a scorched earth policy until, starving, they surrendered. Carson then forced marched the Navajo on a 300 mile "Long Walk" from Arizona to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. 8,000 Navajo died during the migration. After the Civil War, Carson returned to ranching in Taos dying in 1868.
John Charles Fremont's contributions were highlighted in a current exhibit at the Nevada State
During Fremont's lifetime he was married to Jesse Benton, daughter of the most influential 'western' man, Thomas Hart Benton. John Fremont was born in 1813, and college educated in Charleston, South Carolina. He was a mathematical instructor in the United States Navy, and a topographical engineer for the United States Army. He was an officer in the Bear Republic of the California Republic - simultaneous with his United States military office - leading to the above difficulties.
After California was admitted as a state, he was a Senator from California. An early opponent of slavery, amazing considering his place of birth and upbringing, Fremont was the first presidential candidate of the newly formed Republican Party in 1856. The Nevada State Museum is currently exhibiting both the sword presented to him by Charleston, South Carolina in the 1840's and his campaign flag as a Republican presidential candidate. In the late 1870's he was the Territorial Governor of Arizona. By the end of the 1880's he was virtually destitute. In recognition of his service to the United States, and to alleviate his poverty, the Congress voted him a military pension. Fremont died in obscurity, his great exploits of so little interest in 1890, the books he wrote at the time barely sold. In a little over 100 years both his and Carson's names beyond their association with places in the West have been forgotten.
At least their names still abound on maps and in history books. An entire race of people and their names and the names of the places they lived have been completely forgotten. The Washoe, the Paiute, and the Northern Paiute are the native American tribes of Nevada and Northern California. Not only was their stone age culture eradicated, but these people were almost exterminated. (For example, 80% of the Washoe Tribe died within 50 years of contact with the Caucasian industrialized culture.) The Nevada State Museum had an amazing exhibition of these people. First, there was a video presentation of several tribal members telling their stories accompanied by film of the places named in the stories and musically enhanced with traditional tribal songs. I learned, thanks to Wolf and Coyote, why there are no pine nuts in California and no juniper trees in Nevada. The Paiute also tell a Loch Ness monster type story about Lake Tahoe. You rarely see historically accurate presentation of the Native American oral tradition.
What really startled me was the 11,000 year old burial site with accouterments found in a cave in the 1940's in Nevada. This site has been carbon dated, and the bodies have been named as the tribal ancestors of the Washoe/Paiute Tribes. These people were living in Nevada and hunting mammoths and other large predators of this geological era. What was puzzling in the land of every mineral and ore you can name, these people never worked with metal. Perhaps, the plentiful food supply of protein stunted development of agriculture and thus the abandonment of the nomadic life. Their story is tragic and brutal, but inevitable. The same world wide migration and extermination pattern is as old as civilization.
I spent a fascinating two hours in the museum while Drake perfected his blackjack skills. The highlights beyond what I've discussed above: Mammoth skeleton and an even more ancient horse ancestor skeleton. There are marvelous mineral samples. An entire mining ghost town has been disassembled and re-assembled inside the museum. Then, there's the walk through replica of an underground mine. Finally, this museum is gun nut heaven. This museum has an awesome personal firearms collection. Even the building is interesting. The 'old part' is the original Carson City Mint where coinage was stamped out close to the silver and gold mined in Nevada, and the 'new part' is a thoughtfully designed new facility joined to the old mint building. Finally, the short lived Pony Express (the nascent Carson City locale was a stopover for horse exchange prior to crossing over the 7000 - 9000 foot mountain range into Sacramento) is commemorated in front of the museum.
As always, there are pictures:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/115478608971584948192/albums/6056066771158866465?authkey=CLGzg_rwt8H6dw
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
First Lake Tahoe Hike
If you asked Drake, today was our first 'real' day in Lake Tahoe. We came here for the peace and quiet and to HIKE. Lake Tahoe has been buzzing with vacationers making most of the hikes overcrowded and difficult to access. We've been waiting for after the Labor Day weekend to start hiking since when the kiddos go back to school, the numbers of people accessing the attractions drops like the proverbial stone.
When Sarah was about 13, the FWISD had this super calendar in which we had a "fall break". It was a week in October, and we went to Lake Tahoe on an adult vacation. The HEB school wasn't out, so we needed someone to care for Sarah in our home, so she could go to school each day. We left Sarah with Stephanie, a family friend, who was a college student at the time since Sarah informed us she was 'too old to be babysat by a grandma'. Stephanie was great, and she allowed just enough 'fun' stuff - including hanging out with college girls for Sarah to be really happy.
Lake Tahoe is when I learned I really like hiking, day hiking anyway. This is where I bought my first pair of hiking boots. Today we went re-hiking one of my favorite trails: The Rubicon Trail. It runs along a bluff at the edge of Lake Tahoe. With some hikes, you trudge along a pretty ho-hum trail to get to the prize at the end - waterfall hikes are like that. However, the Rubicon has beautiful views of what most people
consider to be the most scenic part of Lake Tahoe along three-quarters of the hike. It's also fairly level with a slight downhill going and a slight uphill returning. Just enough to let you know you've had a workout.
Now hiking for me is a real challenge. First, I have to get into cardio shape which is difficult since in a fitness center it's mostly done on a treadmill or a cross trainer or a stair master. All of those pieces of equipment make my feet hurt worse than usual. However, I've been using the cross-trainer at the fitness center we joined and lumping it. Next, it helps if you lift weights with your legs to develop those thigh and calf muscles. That's no problem - I actually like weight machines. Finally, I have to 'prepare' my feet. Today, it took me 15 minutes to get my feet ready for this 3 mile hike. I won't bore you with the details.
It was worth all the effort, and my feet aren't too bad after the hike - just normal pain. A big plus of this house we're living in is there's a hot tub on the back deck. I took a million pictures, of course. This is the first trail of many over the next six weeks. Here are the pictures of the Rubicon Trail
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/115478608971584948192/albums/6054647278151115361?authkey=CNG55I_wk4WUKw
When Sarah was about 13, the FWISD had this super calendar in which we had a "fall break". It was a week in October, and we went to Lake Tahoe on an adult vacation. The HEB school wasn't out, so we needed someone to care for Sarah in our home, so she could go to school each day. We left Sarah with Stephanie, a family friend, who was a college student at the time since Sarah informed us she was 'too old to be babysat by a grandma'. Stephanie was great, and she allowed just enough 'fun' stuff - including hanging out with college girls for Sarah to be really happy.
Lake Tahoe is when I learned I really like hiking, day hiking anyway. This is where I bought my first pair of hiking boots. Today we went re-hiking one of my favorite trails: The Rubicon Trail. It runs along a bluff at the edge of Lake Tahoe. With some hikes, you trudge along a pretty ho-hum trail to get to the prize at the end - waterfall hikes are like that. However, the Rubicon has beautiful views of what most people
Now hiking for me is a real challenge. First, I have to get into cardio shape which is difficult since in a fitness center it's mostly done on a treadmill or a cross trainer or a stair master. All of those pieces of equipment make my feet hurt worse than usual. However, I've been using the cross-trainer at the fitness center we joined and lumping it. Next, it helps if you lift weights with your legs to develop those thigh and calf muscles. That's no problem - I actually like weight machines. Finally, I have to 'prepare' my feet. Today, it took me 15 minutes to get my feet ready for this 3 mile hike. I won't bore you with the details.
It was worth all the effort, and my feet aren't too bad after the hike - just normal pain. A big plus of this house we're living in is there's a hot tub on the back deck. I took a million pictures, of course. This is the first trail of many over the next six weeks. Here are the pictures of the Rubicon Trail
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/115478608971584948192/albums/6054647278151115361?authkey=CNG55I_wk4WUKw
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Much Ado about Grocery Stores
When we move to a new location, there's a learning curve. The internet and a smart phone are indispensable. These electronic tools make 'finding' exciting instead of frustrating. So, what do we find? Well, first and foremost, a grocery store. Berkeley was the easiest since the grocery store was on the ground floor of our apartment building. This arrangement has spoiled me completely.
We just took the elevator down five floors with shopping bags over our arms. I actually felt like I was in France or one of those other countries where people carry string bags and shop daily for food. I didn't bother in New York City because I never cooked anything. I've lived in at least three towns where there were no 'real' grocery stores. In Franconia, New Hampshire or Seal Rock, Oregon, it was ten miles to the grocery store. Burlington, Washington had a 'sister town' (Mount Vernon). The two Washington towns were like the Texas towns of Hurst and Bedford so blended together they are really one town with two names. In Austin it was either HEB, Whole Foods, or Sprouts. Burlington, Washington really got me shopping organic, coop, and local since it's a farm valley. Richmond shopping was convenient - they had a local store that sold only produce, meat, cheeses, and baked goods. It was located next to a Walmart Super Center. (Yes, I shop with the evil empire for certain things.) Logan, Utah was also a Walmart grocery town. In Sun City I shop at three separate stores on 'grocery day'.
South Lake Tahoe is a tourist town. There's 'tourism' here 10 months of the year, with October and May being the 'dead' months. Most of the store fronts are pitching something to the tourist trade. For instance: boat rental, paddle board rental, bike rental, ski rental, ski/beach apparel, bars, tourist restaurants, souvenir shops, art galleries, and surprisingly two competing 'real' grocery stores plus something called the Grocery Outlet. A real grocery store has actual aisles, produce, meat, and a bakery. This town is also loaded with drug stores, but the only discount 'box' store is an atrocious K-Mart. It's probably the only K-Mart store in that company making money because they have a complete monopoly in South Lake Tahoe. It's a terrible store filled with shoddy merchandise, complicated check-out procedures, and management who've apparently never seen a Walmart or Target. What isn't here is a 'dollar' store - no Dollar Tree, no Family Dollar, no Dollar General. You have to drive to Carson City - basically an hour over a 9000 foot mountain to find those or a Walmart or a Target.
I think about grocery stores. They are and aren't all the same. In America, we take for granted that every grocery store will have wire push carts, baskets for the light shopper, and well organized head high shelving with multiple choices in the staples. It will be well lit, with refrigerator cases keeping the cold food cold. During the holiday season, you can expect Christmas carols over the store speakers. There will always be beer, both cold and room temp, and sometimes wine, and a little more rarely, hard liquor. If it's a major store, there will be a bakery and delicatessen. There will be a checkout with a scanner of those black lines helpfully found on each and every product, a cashier to move the items across it, and usually a bag person. You can find a combination of a sea food market, a cafe, a coffee shop, a salad/soup bar, a florist, a pharmacy, a bank, a nail technician, a massage therapist, an optometrist, a post office, or a hair dresser depending on the individual store and the location. I've yet to see a funeral home inside a grocery store, but I figure it's just a matter of time since cremation is gaining popularity. Just for fun, here's a list of the grocery stores I've shopped. It's pretty comprehensive: Walmart, Albertson's, Safeway, Fred Meyer, Kroger, Fry's, Whole Foods, HEB, Smith's, Sprouts, Trader Joe's, Shoprite, Shop Easy, Winn Dixie, Bashas, Aldi, A&P, Brookshire, Food Giant, Fiesta, Market Street, Piggly Wiggly, Price Chopper, Reasor's, Sunflower Markets, and a new one in South Lake Tahoe called Raley's.
All grocery stores are not the same. The products are slanted toward regional taste buds, and you can find interesting surpluses and deficits. For that reason, there's no 'best' store. In New England you can buy three kinds of salsa; in Texas thirty kinds. By contrast, New England overflows with clam chowder - fresh, frozen and canned. The South is the land of Dr. Pepper (all the flavors in every size) and pimento cheese. You can't buy ANY kind of pimento cheese on either the East or the West Coast. I made my own in Berkeley! You have to blow the dust off the cans of Dr. Pepper in certain parts of the country. Some regions swell the soft drink aisle with Coke while other regions are top-heavy with Pepsi. Tea bag selection is at its zenith on the Northwest coast. Any grocery store in the Northeast has an entire aisle devoted to food aiding the preparation of Italian food and a whole section of Kosher food. Every Southwest grocery store has an extensive Mexican aisle. The West coast stores have an entire Asian aisle with both canned, processed and fresh food items. The grocery store in Logan, Utah had an aisle devoted to gigantic quantities - such as a 2 gallon jar of pickles or 25 pound bags of cereal. A Southern grocery store is chock full of junk food. (Yes, EVERY American store is loaded with non-nutritious, sugar laden, fried in palm oil, and dregded in salt food, but Southern grocery stores seem to revel in how much revolting, really, really bad for your long-term health food can be packed onto their shelves.
The last fun thing about finding the local grocery store is the scenery getting there. Some places have the lock on the scenery, and South Lake Tahoe is one of the best scenic drives 'to the store'. So, I'll end this Seinfeld blog (all about nothing), with a snapshot taken along the route to the grocery stores.
We just took the elevator down five floors with shopping bags over our arms. I actually felt like I was in France or one of those other countries where people carry string bags and shop daily for food. I didn't bother in New York City because I never cooked anything. I've lived in at least three towns where there were no 'real' grocery stores. In Franconia, New Hampshire or Seal Rock, Oregon, it was ten miles to the grocery store. Burlington, Washington had a 'sister town' (Mount Vernon). The two Washington towns were like the Texas towns of Hurst and Bedford so blended together they are really one town with two names. In Austin it was either HEB, Whole Foods, or Sprouts. Burlington, Washington really got me shopping organic, coop, and local since it's a farm valley. Richmond shopping was convenient - they had a local store that sold only produce, meat, cheeses, and baked goods. It was located next to a Walmart Super Center. (Yes, I shop with the evil empire for certain things.) Logan, Utah was also a Walmart grocery town. In Sun City I shop at three separate stores on 'grocery day'.
South Lake Tahoe is a tourist town. There's 'tourism' here 10 months of the year, with October and May being the 'dead' months. Most of the store fronts are pitching something to the tourist trade. For instance: boat rental, paddle board rental, bike rental, ski rental, ski/beach apparel, bars, tourist restaurants, souvenir shops, art galleries, and surprisingly two competing 'real' grocery stores plus something called the Grocery Outlet. A real grocery store has actual aisles, produce, meat, and a bakery. This town is also loaded with drug stores, but the only discount 'box' store is an atrocious K-Mart. It's probably the only K-Mart store in that company making money because they have a complete monopoly in South Lake Tahoe. It's a terrible store filled with shoddy merchandise, complicated check-out procedures, and management who've apparently never seen a Walmart or Target. What isn't here is a 'dollar' store - no Dollar Tree, no Family Dollar, no Dollar General. You have to drive to Carson City - basically an hour over a 9000 foot mountain to find those or a Walmart or a Target.
I think about grocery stores. They are and aren't all the same. In America, we take for granted that every grocery store will have wire push carts, baskets for the light shopper, and well organized head high shelving with multiple choices in the staples. It will be well lit, with refrigerator cases keeping the cold food cold. During the holiday season, you can expect Christmas carols over the store speakers. There will always be beer, both cold and room temp, and sometimes wine, and a little more rarely, hard liquor. If it's a major store, there will be a bakery and delicatessen. There will be a checkout with a scanner of those black lines helpfully found on each and every product, a cashier to move the items across it, and usually a bag person. You can find a combination of a sea food market, a cafe, a coffee shop, a salad/soup bar, a florist, a pharmacy, a bank, a nail technician, a massage therapist, an optometrist, a post office, or a hair dresser depending on the individual store and the location. I've yet to see a funeral home inside a grocery store, but I figure it's just a matter of time since cremation is gaining popularity. Just for fun, here's a list of the grocery stores I've shopped. It's pretty comprehensive: Walmart, Albertson's, Safeway, Fred Meyer, Kroger, Fry's, Whole Foods, HEB, Smith's, Sprouts, Trader Joe's, Shoprite, Shop Easy, Winn Dixie, Bashas, Aldi, A&P, Brookshire, Food Giant, Fiesta, Market Street, Piggly Wiggly, Price Chopper, Reasor's, Sunflower Markets, and a new one in South Lake Tahoe called Raley's.
All grocery stores are not the same. The products are slanted toward regional taste buds, and you can find interesting surpluses and deficits. For that reason, there's no 'best' store. In New England you can buy three kinds of salsa; in Texas thirty kinds. By contrast, New England overflows with clam chowder - fresh, frozen and canned. The South is the land of Dr. Pepper (all the flavors in every size) and pimento cheese. You can't buy ANY kind of pimento cheese on either the East or the West Coast. I made my own in Berkeley! You have to blow the dust off the cans of Dr. Pepper in certain parts of the country. Some regions swell the soft drink aisle with Coke while other regions are top-heavy with Pepsi. Tea bag selection is at its zenith on the Northwest coast. Any grocery store in the Northeast has an entire aisle devoted to food aiding the preparation of Italian food and a whole section of Kosher food. Every Southwest grocery store has an extensive Mexican aisle. The West coast stores have an entire Asian aisle with both canned, processed and fresh food items. The grocery store in Logan, Utah had an aisle devoted to gigantic quantities - such as a 2 gallon jar of pickles or 25 pound bags of cereal. A Southern grocery store is chock full of junk food. (Yes, EVERY American store is loaded with non-nutritious, sugar laden, fried in palm oil, and dregded in salt food, but Southern grocery stores seem to revel in how much revolting, really, really bad for your long-term health food can be packed onto their shelves.
The last fun thing about finding the local grocery store is the scenery getting there. Some places have the lock on the scenery, and South Lake Tahoe is one of the best scenic drives 'to the store'. So, I'll end this Seinfeld blog (all about nothing), with a snapshot taken along the route to the grocery stores.
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| The Sierras on the road to Safeway |
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