“Remoted” – Day 474 (Saturday)

It was chilly and gray and wet, and for whatever reasons, I, who generally dislike shopping, had a mysterious urge to do exactly that. After seeing cherries advertised at Aldi for $1.59 a pound, a trip was planned to the Nashua location. The Jeep’s fussy navigation would list only the Salem store and locations in Connecticut, as if Nashua and Leominster, both stores I have shopped, didn’t exist. But sure, a road trip to Connecticut seems reasonable. I just hadn’t been to the Nashua store since about 2019 and wasn’t sure about the directions, so it was Waze for the win, sorry dumb Jeep Nav system.

While at Aldi, strawberries, green grapes, grape tomatoes, Havarti cheese, dog biscuits and a few other things were rounded up. On the way home, it was realized there were no cherries in the purchase, the primary reason for venturing out.

The Jeep’s navigation system was given a chance to redeem itself for the ride home, thanks to the “go home” option. More chicken was needed for dog meals for the week, and the navigation route took me past Market Basket. The stop was made despite the full parking lot and Saturday crowd. Immediately inside the entrance was a display of cherries for $2.99 a pound. Even though they cost more than the ones I forgot to look for in Aldi,  cherries had now become an obsession and one of the pricier bags was grabbed.

Near the chicken display, people queued up at the grill counter, the line snaking through the racks as they waited for who knows what, but based on the length, I can only assume it was some mighty good stuff. My cart and I circled wide around the line en route to check the bakery discount rack (that’s how I roll). On the way, I recognized Arthur T, the head of the entire grocery empire. He was dressed in a jacket and shirt with tie, and was standing near the bakery counter smiling and talking to some jacketed MB team members. Later, after a loop of the ice cream coolers and successful search for frozen lemonade concentrate, Arthur T was spotted again, this time cornered by a couple cotton-topped elderly ladies who appeared to be fawning like teens encountering a music celebrity. It was kind of cute.

Once home, there were a lot of things to unpack after two stores, and an unfortunate number of frozen items to cram into an already full freezer. A frozen lemonade pie was made for dessert at Mom’s on Sunday. Last year I brought over lemon squares which I dropped in the driveway as we scurried from the screen house after it began raining. Let’s hope the lemonade pie fares better this year.

Life is good.

The mail was checked to see if my new book arrived from Amazon. It’s Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl, which I’ve been meaning to get since it came out in July of 2019. Shame on me for the delay, and shame on the delivery doofus for the way it was left at the house. It was an Amazon delivery by the Postal Service, and instead of leaving the cardboard box inside the enclosed porch, it was set in the mailbox with the lid open in the rain. Half the cardboard box was soggy, and the envelopes in the mailbox were wet from the lid being open. Errrrr. 

The pages of my new hardcover book are warped from dampness and I, the reader who can read a book multiple times and have it still look untouched, am less than pleased by its early mistreatment, while at the same time, excited to have a new book. Tonight, life is a bowl of cherries and a good book, perfect for the less than spectacular weather.