I just couldn't stand it for one more moment - yesterday, really early, I had to go to my favorite Chinese grocery store for fruit, green veggies & BBQ pork. I've been really staying away because it's almost impossible to maintain the current social distancing in a Chinese market. People use elbows to get through the crowds, they don't talk. The aisles are narrow & everyone wants the best produce so everything is squeezed, poked & carefully looked at.
The right portion of pork is very important to every buyer too - especially me - since I like the lean portions while my fellow shoppers mostly go for the fatty ones. They like bone in, I like boneless!! We all like the grapes, mangos & bananas it seems although most of them fry theirs while I don't.
One thing about a Chinese market though - everything is sparkling fresh & crisp. So I took the chance & went.
When I exited the elevator, a security guard tried to take my buggy & chase me outside until he saw my O2 bottle in the buggy. I wasn't aware of the line-up outside since I park in the handicap spots under ground - oops - but he waived me in. It appeared I was the only person in the store without a mask & gloves too. Oh Oh. All money presented went onto a plate so nothing passed hand to hand. I washed before leaving & gelled before going into the store so I decided not to worry too much. I have a couple of masks but I can't breathe deeply enough to walk, talk & use them even with the 02 so I'm saving them for the hospital clinic if I have to go. That's just how it is . . . .
Shopping trip was short & sweet!! All the usual people said HI & wished me safety. And then, on the way home, I stopped & picked up my favorite lunch to go . . . . before heading home to carry in all those groceries. Did I make it?? Just barely!! Got the meat in the fridge, dumped the bags by the cold back door & sat down in my big chair to promptly fall asleep.
Grocery shopping does me in every time. But it was so great to have BBQ pork turnovers for dinner with a fresh orange - after I woke up in the chair that is.
I was too tired to go anywhere today other than my local lunch spot. I could've stayed home since I have groceries but I woke up thinking about a grilled cheese on rye. I haven't made it to the bread, cheese & milk store yet!! They made my favorite Broccoli Cheese soup - woo hoo - as well. My Car Hop came out with a bag & a sour creme bucket with my soup in it. They were closing in 15 minutes & gave me a half bucket instead of a bowl of soup to go! Wow.
Not an exciting week by any means but I supported my local small businesses and did a good deed as well for some hard working fellas with a travel pot of coffee & 8 apple turnovers . . . .
Thursday I turned 69. There was a time when 60 was old but that was when I was young. Remember those days??? "Never trust anyone over 30!" And now I'm more than twice that untrustworthy age. hahahahah If it wasn't for this damned pandemic, it'd be a great time to be old!!
So what did I do on my birthday??? Well, I gave the fluffy feral cat a whole can of shredded chicken in gravy & hopped back into my bed to listen to a short Audiobook called The Runner of Pern. It's one of Anne McCaffrey's short stories about another facet of her PERN Series - I am very fond of all of them except for the ones her son pretends to write . . . . I will go for my take-out lunch because I know they expect me on my birthday & then to Mcdonald's for a good coffee. Supper is already cooked so I will soak up some sun in the park. And then I'll pay that Hydro bill. I've really been wanting Sushi lately but I don't know what's still open so maybe I'll have to explore that for tomorrow, haha!
Most of you know I love my Kobo reader. I use it constantly & it's been the greatest thing I ever bought!! I actually use it more than my phone. Originally, I bought it so I could download text books from UBC. Kobo had all the copyrights to their texts where the OTHER readers did not! Then I found USED texts to be half or less the price of ebook texts & I could write in them. So Kobo became my personal reader instead. I've taken it everywhere & read it daily for over 9 years now it's been doing bad stuff like skipping pages & trying to change chapters on me. Maybe it's time to upgrade the poor thing. I really don't need or want anything else at the moment.
Knitting or Spinning - no knitting going on but I got my indian spinner outside on the porch & have been winding off all that white yarn I spun up out of the Sheep Shed Grab Bag I bought with Gail about 20 years ago . . . . I actually spun up the very last of all the egg shaped knots in the bottom of the bag.
It's extremely quiet out there since the world changed - I'm missing my old basement apartment very much these days. Why? Because I could sit on the covered patio in my comfy chair & watch as life was lived in the alley. It has a life of it's own in ethnic communities in the burbs. Not only that but the cats visit & so do the birds. Here in the house, the neighbors are starting to cut grass & weed-whack the fence lines. Periodically, they talk across the road or they meet & walk. I'm cut off because my air hose doesn't go that far but I may dig the portable machine out of my car & start walking a little myself. I'm not able to go too far but I can go down the road for a house or two & back. I'm sure the exercise would do me good. LOL
Somewhere I lost a day again. I thought it was Monday today & it turned out to be Tuesday. Missed my favorite chicken wrap & Cesar salad in a bag!! But I'll be up & at it tomorrow for sure! Gotta do my best to keep the joint operating until the plague is over. While sitting outside in the car in the sunshine, the radio said we might have to stay home until MAY to weather this wave & then prepare for the second wave in November! I bloody hope NOT. The whole country will be bankrupt in another month or two. I know some of my friends are only two paychecks away from losing everything now . . . . .
My bank account is still looking quite healthy even though I paid all the bills today. Why? I haven't been out anywhere doing anything other than coffee & lunch through the drive-thru, groceries at Safeway twice & twice to the drugstore to renew my prescriptions. Didn't spend much & haven't ordered anything on-line except a few ebooks that didn't cost more than 3 bucks each.
Life is getting pretty damned dull with all this staying at home so I signed up for Osteoarcaeology at Coursera. It's all about the information that can be extracted from old bones! And I have a Marine Reptile course to finish as well - hey, why not learn something new while being locked up.
Knitting - not much knitting going on although I've been winding skeins into balls this week. It's pretty dark in this house so it's hard to knit until I get my new LED lights installed. So, I thought a garter project would be best for now - too bad about the kimono style sweater - plain garter will have to do until I have more light to work with smaller needles.
