Comings and Goings

Today succumbed to the Mall for a brief fried brain experience that resulted in shirts and a sweater for my son. O I could not wait to get out of there, the schlock was marked down to prices that made my thrift store sensibility cringe. Fifteen dollars for a crappy cotton shirt determined to fade and be a fuss to iron. Ha. I can pick a better brand of quality material up in good condition for four bucks, I say! Send the thrift store shirt to the laundry for a five dollar pressing and it is still cheaper than brand new. Can you smell the self-righteousness in these words?

I did get Bri a nice cotton sweater in a color that doesn't do well second hand, and two shirts that possibly have been dipped in some sort of plastic as they are stain resistant and iron free even though made of cotton. Teflon? Could he fry eggs on it? I then wandered for twenty feet deeper into the maw of shopper's psychedelic mushroom tour of sea minerals for you, Hickory farms ground up guess what this is, and the minimalism of Express for men where there were bins that you could dig through and get a pair of boxers for twenty bucks. Turning towards the sunlight, I bolted past the pomegranate mango lotion and ran.

The wheels on the car pointed back towards the city and found my favorite little gift shop, Positively Main Street. I scooped up a few mark downs, a nice little bowl, and a flyswatter that yells Ouch when you whack the bug for a friend who fights Japanese beetles. Still, the main purpose of getting correctly sized knitting needles took me out to a large shop where a seventy percent off white prelit Christmas tree came home with me also. Thirty bucks, and I am done.

The first run back into the city took me by Bubble Man, who was out today. Every city has its characters, and bless us, we have the Bubble Man. He is a middle-aged man who lives with his brother and uses a fan to blow bubbles from his third story window over the intersection of Allen Street and Elmwood Avenue. You see him with his bubble wand on the best of days when, even if you are happy, seeing him makes you happier.

The Bubble Man cleansed me of Mall Shock, purifying the space I traveled through with his bubbles. Good to be back. Good to be thought of. Thank you, Sweetie.

The spinning of the earth has passed notice of the winter solstice; now the daylight begins to extend again. I can feel it. Sleepy dark days for winter beds, enjoy them while you can...