random thoughts – Day 1,642 – (Sunday) – panic shopping

It was another weekend of multiple competing events clamoring for attention. Saturday, in addition to the Field Day event where Troupe Salaamati performed, on my radar were the Lowell Irish Festival, the Greek Festival in Fitchburg, a belly dance workshop outside Boston with Issam Houshan, the famous Middle Eastern drummer, and Johnny Appleseed Festival in Leominster. I ended up grocery shopping and running errands.

Today’s calendar competition included a tour at Lowell Cemetery, the final StART on the Street event in Worcester, and the Finnish Market in Fitchburg. None of those were attended by me, either. I was sidetracked on a shopping excursion for vacation wear, necessary after trying on my swimwear on Friday.

Most of my swim suits are circa 2017, bought before I went to Jamaica, or, egads, even earlier. Surprise, surprise, they don’t fit. I haven’t taken a summer trip to any beaches in several years so this nugget of info was crammed into a storage bag under the bed. The one-piece suits bought from Aldi were a gamble that didn’t pay off.

Swimwear.

Panic shopping took place at Kohl’s where there are still a few swimsuits, including some on a clearance rack. It was brutal and I was in there for what felt like forever, partly due to the extra peppy disco-era music piped through the store. And I really was in there for a couple hours, trapped in the clothing department, obsessively circling racks in the hope that items I needed would magically appear. 

Some swim bottoms that fit were found, but finding tops to go with them was another story. Of course, the mission strayed and additional items including a dress and sweater were added to the cart with the justification “I could wear this to work.” 

At least Kohl’s has fitting rooms and everything actually fits, at least for the sliver of time during the try-on. There have been numerous documented cases of clothes shrinking on the drive home and suddenly not fitting me once I got home. There was none of the “Well, if I lost a couple pounds this would look great” aspirational (delusional) shopping that has frequently befallen the wallet and closet. 

Kiki!

Kiki, who seems unbothered by wardrobe issues, seems to be relaxing more. Lately, when I pass through a room, instead of snapping to attention in a state of high alert, sometimes she continues napping. This afternoon, she let me brush her silky coat for several minutes. She leaned into the brush and even let me brush her belly a bit. 

I still carry the hope that someday she will do the stereotypical cat antics like sitting in bags and boxes and laps. Her antics are limited to watching me from under a dining room chair and randomly meowing for no discernible reason. For as long as she lets me, I'll enjoy the moments of stroking her face and brushing her coat and feeding Temptations Treats to her from my hand.