Tank and I were off this morning to one of the nearby cities. For Christmas we received a Costco membership. When Attila and I did our first foray to purchase items at Costco, I chose some cashews. They were coated with preservatives, which I did not expect. I hadn’t checked the label until we got home. They had to be returned. Today was the day the cashews went back to Costco.
Costco is the nemesis of the pocketbook. I bought practical items, like peanut butter and canned tuna. I also bought some outrageously price macaroni, made with rice flour and quinoa. I wanted to try it. I hope I like it!
Then Tank and I headed over to one of the discount stores run by a church. I had items to donate, so I rang the doorbell at the back of the building, and handed my donations to the friendly gentleman who answered the door. Then I walked around to the front of the building and entered the store area to shop. I purchased an item that Attila had requested for the little house in the city, a casserole dish with a lid. It was like new, and cost $5.00. I could not resist an oval tablecloth, because I was drawn to the design and colour of the fabric. And of course, scarves were on sale for $1.00, so I purchased an extra. It was plain and brown and felt warm to the touch. You cannot have too many warm scarves!
It was bitterly cold and windy today. Not a good day for a walk, as there is a lot of ice about. Costco solved that issue for me, after walking up and down every aisle at Costco I had my exercise for the day.
And so this quiet day draws to a close. I can hear the wind pushing against the windows, and whistling into unguarded cracks here and there around the house. Perhaps the mice enter where the wind whistles.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
-12°C
Date: 9:00 AM EST Monday 5 January 2015
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 102.2 kPa
Tendency: rising
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: -11.6°C
Dewpoint: -19.2°C
Humidity: 54%
Wind: NW 23 km/h
Wind Chill: -21
Quote
“It is pleasant to have been to a place the way a river went.”
Henry David Thoreau
1817 – 1862
Love the tablecloth material. That is “our” favorite color! In fact I’ve been searching for some curtain fabric to make Paul new bedroom curtains.
“…unguarded cracks here and there around the house…” – love this line. We have those too! And yes, mice will get thru a very small crack indeed. They don’t need much space, unfortunately.
We are having very very cold weather here also, they say with wind chill, it’s going to “feel like” 30-below-zero on Thursday. Farenheit of course. Why is Farenheit underlined? Isn’t that spelling correct?
Tomorrow would have been my dad’s 113th birthday. If he’d lived past 1978, that is.
Bex, it’s fahrenheit. The only way I remember that is because it’s totally abnormal. 🙂
Things are cold and snowy here but at least we’re not having constant snow squalls.
DH and I have never been able to talk ourselves into paying the price for a Costco membership. I really don’t think we’d by from there very often. Instead, we’re very happy with our shopping at Freshco. They’ve got really good prices on most things and can have great sales. We can usually get out of there paying almost half of what we would at one of the other chain stores.
Buy, of course. Not by. *sigh*
There are sounds my reminiscent heart remember with fondness. The sound of a screen door slamming shut is pure music for my ears. During the warm months I’ll sometimes invent reasons to go through my screened porch then through the screen door to the deck. Sometimes I have no invented reason, so I just go to the door and open it and let it slam a couple of times. This odd action satisfies a yearning I can’t properly describe. The slam of a screen door is so mid-century to my skewed sensibilities. TV’s *Lassie* always had Timmy running into the house and letting the screen door slam. The *Waltons* show also always featured a slammed screen door or two or three or eight.
You’re probably wondering why I’m writing about screen doors.
The whistling of a winter wind has the same affect on me. My 15 year old home is hermetically sealed, so it seems. But the older homes we lived in while in Kansas had creaking floors and whistling cricks in the structure and old windows that were laced with ice in the morning.
All these events transport me to a comforting place, which is uncanny because none of them is truly comfortable in the way I think we ordinarily define comfort.
Thanks. xo
Bex,I love that you remember your Dad’s birth date, his arrival into this world. Funny thing, he was born the same years as my Granny! She passed away in 1976, still missing her. Lucky to have had these people in our lives!
Cold is right! I missed my walk yesterday because it was so cold, and with the brisk winds I feared frostbite. Wow, -30F is the same as -34C… that is cold! Last winter we had many, many nights at the country house that dipped below -30C, with a wind it was a battle to keep the plumbing from freezing. This year the cold weather has been at bay, until now! Keep warm Bex!
Teri, there are constant snow squalls at our country house, last week and again this week. Attila is busy until after 8:00 in the evening with wood chopping and firings, he doesn’t get to eat until he gets his heating chores done. I am so very grateful I am not there right now. I miss Attila, but that weather drives me to distraction. Attila is holding on to his cheerful disposition so far, thank goodness.
Costco is a supersize store. Most of what is sold is in large quantities, which suits us very well. We have some rather large purchases coming up, tires for two vehicles, and Costco has quality at a reasonable price in that department. Also, some of the things they sell, like the storage rack we bought, are almost impossible to find at reasonable prices elsewhere. They are good for electronics, socks and underwear, with rotating stock. We buy in bulk because we have to travel at least an hour one way to get to a store with reasonable prices. We can’t shop sales, so Costco works for us.
“All these events transport me to a comforting place, which is uncanny because none of them is truly comfortable in the way I think we ordinarily define comfort.”
I too feel comfort from the slammed screen door, the wind whistling, the frost on the window… and as you point out, it is not the way we ordinarily define comfort.
I have been feeling that way about a few things lately, and I came to the conclusion that I am longing for my childhood. It was a time and place in my life when the world seemed definable, where someone was in charge (my Mom), and where anything seemed possible. With some notable exceptions, I was shielded from the hatred and pettiness of the world. I associate those small sounds now with that time in my life when I was cared for, and the world seemed predictable yet unknowable, and stable.
It is interesting Reenie, this morning I walked into the bathroom, where we installed a painted pine floor last summer. It creaks!
I thought to myself, “How can we get rid of that creak.”
Instantly I realized that I liked the creak. I like a house that talks to me, that interacts with the humans who live in it, that has a personality all its own.
Reenie has gotten me to think about favorite sounds. I love the sound of rain dropping from the eaves. Also love the sound of the heat coming on. Now that’s a favorite that didn’t start until we moved to this house, and I have no idea how it began.
Those are wonderful sounds Teri! We had a big old oil furnace in the house where I grew up, it clanged and roared as it started up, so I am with you in loving the sound of the heat coming on! Rain on a metal roof is another great sound from childhood, my Grandparents always had a metal roof, and the porch where we played when it was raining had a metal roof. Sound is so evocative!