A trip to HyVee

Okay, a trip to a grocery store is not usually a big deal--and certainly nothing to blog about. However, I am fond of food stores. Wherever I travel, I make it a point to visit a local grocery store and it's always interesting.

On Saturday, my suburban daughter Brenda called and wanted to go to a movie. Since I was dying to see The Martian, we agreed to meet at a theater midway between our locations. Afterward, she insisted on going over to the newly-opened HyVee store in a nearby suburb. She had been there several days earlier and wanted me to see it.

There was a sit down restaurant inside the door and since we were hungry, we decided to give that a try. She ordered a salad and I ordered a side of garlic mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables. The two sides arrived in french fry cups to my surprise. The potatoes were nothing special but the veggies were so good! There were standing strips of carrots, squash, green pepper, onion, etc grilled with herbs. They were so good that I would go back for just that.

Then we went into the very crowded grocery store which is an experience of its own. All around the outer edges were individual areas for different foods. There was one for everything you could be looking for. I was impressed by the wonderful bakery with artisan breads and baked goodies to die for. There was an old-fashioned meat store that wrapped your purchase in brown paper. There was a cheese shop and an endless array of other areas to browse. I was especially impressed by the large section of British foods (with English candy bars), the natural foods and gluten-free offerings.

It was like a food court in a mall only with more variety and quality. It's a wonderful place to visit but I'm actually glad that there isn't a HyVee near me so I won't be wanting to go there again very soon. I wouldn't be able to control myself!

More on turtles

Knatolee whose charming blog is over at knatolee.blogspot.com forwarded this posting to me about a place that rescues injured turtles. It's wonderful to know there are places and people like this! Check it out at:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/story/2013/05/17/wdr-turtle-airlifted-pilots-paws.html

Keeping up with Downton Abbey

I've had an especially busy week with several volunteer projects. What really consumed my spare time, however, was the obligation to Season 1 of Downton Abbey.

For some reason, I missed the first season when it was broadcast on Public TV last year. When they began promoting the second season, I realized that it was a series that I really wanted to see. I had been a fan of the Upstairs Downstairs series years ago and Downton Abbey follows the same premise.

So, I put my name on a waiting list at the local library for the DVD of the series. I was the thirty ninth person in line. As time went by, I checked occasionally to see how I was working my way up the list. The DVD could  only be checked out for seven days at a time so the process was still very slow.

The day finally arrived when I got the automated call from the library that I could check it out. The seven-day countdown began and I was pressed for time to watch it. On the fifth day, I sat down and started the first of the seven episodes. It was worth the wait! It didn't take long before I was totally entranced by the entire experience.

I love Maggie Smith in the role of the Dowager! She's an absolute treasure with a wonderfully expressive face that puts many younger actors to shame. It's worth watching the series just to see her performance.

Now, I just have to catch up with Season 2!

Hoping for a little lace, a bit of magnificence

This is a poem by the brilliant poet Wendy Brown-Baez. I've had the good fortune to take several classes from her. I wish I had a fraction of her talent. Here is a poem she posted on Facebook.

Wendy Brown-BaezMississippi Crow Magazine

Arthritis

Truly I am worn about the edges
but maybe you see lace.
My bones ache but I hope you see the graceful
mudras made by my hands,
signs in the air.
The wrinkles are deepening.
The song is strengthening. I cradle myself.
Everything is fine. Everything.

I don’t know how to give up the freedom
I had to go wherever I wanted.
Once when I was a waitress
I was asked if I was a dancer.
Little did they know:

Nights I hit the floor
with the opening bars of flamenco music and the
crowd breaking into applause
or leaping at the wedding, two people
I didn’t know, friends of my friend
and an excuse to fly.

The disco’s vast smoothness
before anyone else showed,
spins and spirals in cut-offs and
t-shirt, going home so I could
reappear in slinky slacks and
silver platforms.

My ego wants to win this battle.
I can’t get stranded,
dependent on my own feet
to steer me home,
the delicious adventure
is postponed forever.

Illusions prevent me from expressing the
Magnificence I know I am, precious
vehicle for spirit’s work.
But I am determined to throttle
them to death.

--Wendy Brown-Baez

(Wendy and I have both had hip surgeries in the past and walk with a limp.)

The deer abides

I had seen the doe in the wooded lot several times since Memorial Day weekend, but had not seen the fawn. I worried that the fawn might have died or been abandoned. Then, yesterday morning, I sat on my patio watching my herd of three kitties when the lady whose lot backs up on the wooded lot jumped up the retaining wall. She advanced toward me holding her camera and smiling. She came to show me pictures she had taken the previous evening of the doe and her healthy fawn browsing in her garden.

This pretty young neighbor is an Hispanic immigrant but speaks pretty good English. She's an avid gardener and has lots of flower beds, a strawberry patch and various vegetables planted all over.  She laughed as she told me that she had counted 14 roses ready to bloom on her bushes only to find them all eaten the following morning. A tomato plant was denuded and other plants were picked over. Yet, the joy of having these animals so close was so much fun that she didn't mind. She was posting the pictures on her Facebook page for all her friends and relatives. (However, she did talk about buying some fox urine concentrate to spray around the veggies.)

This sweet gal throws stale bread into the woods for the birds and squirrels (as I do) and laughs off the garbage pail raids of racoons, squirrels and crows. She was amazed at the big hole gnawed in the lid of the garbage pail, but didn't complain.

She is my kind of neighbor and I treasure her dearly.

Resurfacing after an ice cream bender

I'm back after an unusually busy several weeks. This included a lot of family activities and houseguests. Anyway, things are back to normal and I have some peace and quiet.

It has been cloudy or raining every day. All the petunias my little great-granddaughters potted on the patio are constantly soaked and haven't grown an inch. It's like they're holding back waiting for some sun. I don't really mind this weather (which I understand is much like England's) and really prefer it to the usual hot, muggy summer weather we have this time of year.

There have been a lot of ice cream specials at local grocery stores lately. I've been keeping stocked with treats for all my company and (of course) sampled all of them.

Here's my review:
Blue Bunny has sugar-free, low fat ice cream that is waaay better than Edys! I tried both the chocolate and vanilla and will stick to Blue Bunny from now on. Blue Bunny also has a bigger variety of flavors that the kids really like--Birthday Party flavor and Chocolate Fudge Brownie went over big.
Edys has a new flavor of slow-churned ice cream called Lemonade Swirl that was also a hit.
Somebody brought over some Kemps vanilla ice cream and it was really inferior to both Blue Bunny and Edys. I never buy Kemps.

So what are you favorite ice creams?

The wonderful world of Peeps

I went on Google Images to pick up a few casual Peeps photos to use. I was bowled over by the amazing variety of stuff and the degree to which Peeps have permeated our society. They aren't just for eating anymore!

They are the subject of games, art and decor in dozens of ways. Among the posted photos are dioramas, posters, cakes and even a car covered in Peeps.

I really, really love Peeps. A dear friend who knew about my weakness once gave me a string of lighted plastic Peeps chicks for Easter. This past weekend, she took me to the Candyland shop in downtown St. Paul. To a candy lover like me, Candyland is Shangri la! The tiny shop (located right around the corner from the Children's Museum) is wall to wall old-fashioned glass display cases filled with candies of every kind. They even have the "burnt peanuts" and "Boston baked beans" my Dad always loved, plus one of those nostalgic lighted fresh nut displays like department stores used to have.

As I entered the always crowded little shop, I headed straight for the chocolates but my friend called me over to the corner production area. There, sitting behind the glass partition was a tray of chocolate-covered Peeps! Nirvana! She quickly asked an employee to bring some out. The multi-colored Peeps had been hand-dipped in milk chocolate up to their little necks, then individually wrapped in plastic bags. We each bought a bag of them. I also got two of the caramel-dipped marshmallows covered in chocolate and topped with a sour ball...they are to die for!

It's good that I don't get downtown very often because I would be drawn like a magnet to Candyland and indulge myself to death!

Awards Sunday

Here it is Oscars Sunday and I have won my own special award! BLissed-Out Grandma has given me the GLOB award. (Although the BLOB award might actually be more appropriate.) She credits me with seeing the beauty in others, which is a really nice thing for her to say.

Blissed is a fellow Minnesotan and grandma who not only blogs about how her grandkids brighten her life. She also has a solid position in Twin Cities history--check out her blog from last Saturday for her "MN-street creds".

I was looking forward to the Oscars tonight but it turns out I won't be home. I'm not overly sad although it will be the first Academy Awards show I've ever missed.
From all the press, it seems that tonight's awards are just a foregone conclusion. There won't be much suspense or excitement. Since I'm not into who-wears-what or who's hanging on whose arm, I guess I won't miss much.

My computer seems to be working better after some self-help fixes. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Me too!

Everybody is going crazy over Susan Boyle. Having only heard short bits of her songs on TV, I wasn't terribly impressed. Then I rode with a friend to a meeting as she played the new album on the way. I was blown away! I literally got goosebumps listening to her. So I took a gift card that I got for Christmas and bought an album of my own. I am one of 8 million people who have bought I Dreamed a Dream so far.

I think part of Boyle's enormous appeal may be that she is "living the dream" for so many of us. I am even more dowdy and far less talented than she is, but it gives me a personal thrill to see every success she attains.

So, for me and every other supporter of the amazing Susan Boyle, I say,

YOU GO GIRL!!