Charlie Brown's Pepper Plant or Three Reasons for Things

Why my husband is a saint:


Those are the sample paints. Whoever invented sample paints---I want to kiss you and slap you. You have made life easier and yet more challenging too. I've sampled the paints, thank you. And then we had to choose colors--but not the ones I'd first chosen as samples. So, I went back for more. And then more. And suddenly, I have a sample paint collection. (on the kitchen floor, in front of my dishwasher.) But. Rest is come for the weary painter. Almost. I still have one wall left.

Why I am not employed as a gardener: (and YES I KNOW the picture is not vertical. and that it should be. But I'm not able to change it. So you'll have to tilt your head a little, if you please.)
The once verdent pepper plant...is now a frostbit pepper plant. Or a frostbit stick stuck in a pot. Sad sad day. And there were two peppers growing on it, but they have both changed their minds. One is brown and squunchy. The other fell off.


Why I'm starting to like Town:

Remember how I used to shop at the Ghetto Fry's (Kroger grocery store) in Tucson. Sigh. Ghetto Fry's has a very very special place in my heart (even though the renovations do not. I liked it better more ghettoy, but it's too late to register that complaint now).

When I left Tucson I thought I was leaving all fun times at Fry's behind.

But I was wrong.

It turns out that Town has a not so very ghetto fry's. It was deceptive at first. On my third trip to Town Fry's, I don't know if I was just more perceptive, or if something special was happening in the store that day--or in Town that day, that led all of the crazies to be at Fry's at the same time. But there they all were.

Actually, that's not true. Some of the crazies were at JC Penny's hassling a very sweet looking cashier. It was such good fun at the stores yesterday that I left Town in a spirited mood. Seeing bizarre things in the store does that to me, I guess.

There was the woman who couldn't pronounce "schedule" the correct way (and she wasn't doing it the "German" way either). And who insisted the cashier look up loads of information, only to tell her that she was on a tight schedule so she didn't need that coupon after all and to please take it off. There was the tall, white tufty haired man, lanky, in a sweater who had outdated glasses. And the person hacking up a lung every 2 minutes or so (each time in a different part of the store). There was the woman asking the cashier if a men's small would do as well as a children's large, right?! And the man being escorted back into the store with a store employee angrily telling him, "But I saw you pick it up!" And the woman who stood in line behind me. I hadn't realized she was there so I didn't put a divider on the food conveyor belt (what is that called????) and I told her, "I'm sorry, I would have done that, I didn't realize you were there." Her response: "I just love these new carts." (can you see me looking confused? I was.) She continued, "They're so quiet." She smiled. Understanding hit me, so I said, "Makes 'em so you can sneak right up on me." She nods her head and chuckles.

And while two of those people weren't at Fry's--it's hard for me to convey the general air of pandamonium that pervaded Town Fry's yesterday. How do I describe the people I saw--their mannerisms all evoking interest, all calling out that the people were worth watching (and writing about)? I feel a bit like Mr. Bennett (the father in Pride and Prejudice) must feel when he finds that he has a ridiculous nephew (Mr. Collins). Does he bemoan his fate? No. In fact, he rejoices a little because he knows he has found a source of endless entertainment.

Yes. Ghetto Fry's will always have a special place in my heart. But Town Fry's has caught my eye. I'm going to be watching you Town Fry's because I think you have more to offer than just food.