Colors and Localities
One of the things we joke about, AdventureMan and I, when we come back to the Seattle area, is that all the houses are grey. Some might look brown, but it is a very grey brown. Some might look green, but it is a very grey kind of green. Some houses are purely grey – maybe they have white trim, but they are very very grey. An occasional truly brown house sticks out, anything not toned down by grey sticks out. And oh! now and then someone with a Mediterranean soul will build a pink or terra cotta house with a red tile roof and people will say “Oh! Look at that! They must not be from around here!”
Yesterday, I was in one of my most favorite places, Home Depot, wandering around looking at what the contracters are putting in the newest houses.
“High rise toilets!” I exclaimed to AdventureMan, who was on the phone with me. “For people who are older, and don’t have the strength in their legs to lower themselves too far!”
I was looking to see what was available in small bathtubs, because I love a hot bath on a cold day, and I want a deeper, smaller tub in which I can lean back with a good book, not one of these huge tubs that take all day to fill. I was looking at shower apparatus; I am thinking one day I want to go the European way with those wall flash-heaters that give you hot water when you need it and don’t keep heating it all day when you don’t.
And then I saw the carpet samples. I just had to laugh. When we lived in Florida, I loved walking into the model homes, with their seafoam green carpets, or even a mellow shade of tropical pink. Everything looked so welcoming and laid back.
In the Pacific Northwest, people choose from shades of sand. I never knew there could be so much variation on beige, which is somewhere between white and brown:
To those of you who say that sand isn’t as dark as the darkest brown swatches of carpet, I can only say you have never walked along a Pacific Northwest Beach on a dark and stormy day. Believe me, sand can be very very dark.
Significant Birthday
We stopped by a Party Store to pick up some things for my Mother, and we saw this truck loading up with balloons:
Inside the store is chaos, as all the employees have the nitrous oxide tanks going, filling up balloons, which the guys then tie into groups of ten.
“Three hundred and fifty balloons!” they responded, when we asked how many they were doing. “It must be some great party!”
I guess so. You wouldn’t think you could get any more balloons into a the truck, but here come some more!
Hard Times
I noticed it right away, driving home on the Seattle freeway – a significantly reduced number of cars, and NO one is speeding. Seattle has outgrown it’s freeways – even early mornings the roads are packed. Or they were – they aren’t now.
At first, I thought I might be imagining it, but the trip down to the ocean cabin in Oregon and back up and through and into Seattle several times have only driven the point home – there are fewer cars on the road.
The Starbuck’s have fewer customers. This is mid-summer, normally a carefree, free-spending time, but not this summer.
There are also fewer shoppers in the stores – and, in downtown Seattle, many of the shoppers were foreigners, here to take advantage of the bargains provided by the weakened dollar. I have to admit, it’s humbling to be a bargain destination. I know many Kuwaitis headed for the USA this summer, enjoying an improved exchange rate.
Sitting in Barnes and Noble with a friend, we heard a very plummy voice giving directions to friends who were to meet them there.
“We drove through the most amazing rural area,” she trilled, “SO picturesque, you must try to find it, it is called Bothell.”
Bothell picturesque? Bothell rural? Bothell is a bedroom community to Seattle, full of sub-divisions where there used to be farms. I wanted to give her a dirty look, but I remember saying the same things – glowing about the desert and camels or sweet little French villages, and I just figure what goes around comes around and I am just getting a little payback.
It’s also scary seeing how much prices have gone up – eggs! The same problem Kuwait is having – eggs are more expensive. Rice is more expensive. My Mother thinks some merchants are just marking things up because they can, and they can blame it on oil and it’s all just GREED.
I think all this has a lot to do with perception. Right now, people are feeling insecure and are trying not to spend too much money, not knowing what is around the corner. Americans have an irrepressible sends of optimism, and I suspect that a more positive approach will take hold in the next few months. Once it does, markets will rise, people will be spending again . . . and I wonder if the prices will go down, or just keep going up?
Combination of Events
Yesterday I visited our house. We have been seriously blessed with good renters, people who are good hearted, and take care of the house. We have a good property manager; when something needs to be done – a new roof, a new furnace, a new fence – he has people who can handle the job, and the job gets done well.
The house still has it’s original refrigerator from when it was built. I think it needs a new one – before an emergency happens and our renters lose their food. I measure, take stock of how the house is doing, and then . . . I have to go buy a refrigerator.
For me, this is stressful. A refrigerator is something that is supposed to last for a while. I go to Consumer Reports and I read about all the refrigerators. Here is what is interesting – the top rated model, in terms of keeping things cold or frozen, in terms of energy use, etc. has thirteen consumer reviews, and most of them are negative! Most needed repairs, and most of the repairs had to do with the ice maker and the cold water on the door thingie (to use the technical term)
So I visited three stores, looked at refrigerators. At two of the stores, you had three choices – white, stainless steel or black. I am not a black-appliance person, I am not a person who wants black in my kitchen. Neither, I discovered, am I a white-appliance person. And the stainless steel just makes me tired; it is a fad that is already passing. So what to do?
I went to the third store and there is more choice. I find the top rated model, which is on sale, and then ask the salesman if he has the same model WITHOUT the cold water and ice dispenser on the door, and he does! And it is on sale! And WITHOUT the fancy extras – it is exactly the same price as the ones WITH the fancy extras!
How funny is that?
I went ahead and ordered the one without all the water dispensers. It does have an ice cube maker, that is fine with me. Then, it took me longer to pay for it and arrange for delivery than it took me to research and decide which model to buy.
The salesman was very good, he knew his stuff. This wasn’t his fault. The problem is that I am an anomaly. My billing address is not the same as the address to which the refrigerator will be delivered. I have several different phone numbers, one of which is only active when I am in the USA, one of which rings in Kuwait, and I don’t want people calling in the middle of the night, oh, what to do?
I don’t exactly know what time is a good time for delivery for the renter; that is always handled by the property manager. I don’t have his phone number with me. GROAN!
When I finally get back to my Mother’s place, I am exhausted. A soft rain starts falling around 4 pm and from then on, I keep falling asleep. I am probably still jet lagging, yes, I know, it’s been a week but my body still has a time zone all its own.
I know it is too early to go to sleep so I make myself stay awake, I try to read, but at 9 pm, I totally give up. It’s the exhaustion, and it is the soothing sound of the steadily falling light rain. I keep my window open; I love the fresh air, and I love to hear the birds, and oh, the sound of rain! This morning, yes, 4 a.m. and I am wide awake. It is a GORGEOUS, sunny day, the clouds and rain have gone, and I had better start packing for the next leg of this journey while I have all this energy.
Seattle OKs Bag Fee
From the Seattle Post Intelligencer:
City OKs 20-cent fee on plastic, paper bags
Council also outlaws foam food and drink containers
By KATHY MULADY
P-I REPORTER
Move over, baseball caps and T-shirts.
Logo-emblazoned cloth grocery bags could soon become the most popular company freebie in the Puget Sound region.
Seattle became on Monday one of the first major American cities to discourage the use of paper and plastic shopping bags by requiring grocery, drug and convenience stores to charge 20 cents per bag. In a related action, the City Council also banned plastic foam food and drink containers.
Both laws will go into effect Jan. 1.
People can avoid the fees by bringing their own reusable bags when they shop. The city of Seattle will launch a 90-day education effort to help people figure out the best ways to use cloth bags, and remember to take them when they go shopping. The city also plans to provide residents with a couple of free bags.
One of my favorite stores, Trader Joe’s, has been selling reusable bags forever. They now have a display with many sizes and designs to choose from:
I’m really trying hard. I have a friend who is so conscientious about recycling, she always carries her own bags, and her actions have influenced me greatly. She believes even one person makes a difference, and I believe her – I can see that her behavior has already changed mine! I am trying to carry my own reusable bags now, too.
Especially for my Kuwait/Gulf/Middle East readers, I got a big grin when I saw this in the prepared food section:
A ready-to-go lunch, with felafel, hummous, tabouli and a little bit of flat bread.
Down the Drain
As I was wandering through the Co-op (Jamiya) the other day, picking up a few basics, I came across something not-so-basic – a bottle of alcohol-free Merlot.
I was making spaghetti sauce – and here is the truth as I see it – almost any sauce is improved by the addition of a little wine. And this is alcohol-free! I can serve it to my Islamic dinner guests.
The sauce was superb, even if it is me saying it about myself. Just a basic meat sauce, but with the fresh basil from our friend’s prolific garden, and the cup of Merlot – sublime.
That was a week ago. Today, I went to use the Merlot in another sauce and HORRORS! Look at that!
Can you see that? That great big spot of MOLD growing on the Merlot-drink-that-does-not-contain-alcohol???
I had to throw it all out. I don’t take chances on making people sick from food bourn illnesses, not even myself. And while AdventureMan and I are generous in our nature, we are frugal in our private lives, and throwing nearly $16 literally down the drain horrifies me! Maybe it was the humidity – my bread also went green very quickly – or maybe it is the non-alcohol that allowed it to mold so quickly. I don’t know. I don’t think I will be buying another bottle of Merlot here in Kuwait any time soon.
If You Have the Eyes to See
I have a dinner party coming up, and I always have to keep my menus flexible – I am never entirely sure what I will find in the stores. The most unlikely things will show up, and then, just when you really need them, disappear.
I usually keep a little corn syrup on hand, but I also use it a lot – remember that Pecan-Date Pie?
First step, check the cupboards. Nope, no corn syrup. I can make something else, but one of my guests has a real sweet tooth, and this pie disappears in a heartbeat where people love sweets.
Second step – scour the stores. Nope, no corn syrup. They sometimes have it. Not today when I need it.
Third step – pray. Actually, I started this step while I was still in the store. I didn’t used to believe in prayers for selfish things, but I discovered that sometimes God delights in answering small prayers. I was in a bible study, where they told us to keep a prayer journal, and when we prayed for a person or something, to write it down, that a lot of times when prayers are answered, we don’t even say thank-you, we just move on.
I was astonished. They were right. When you write down what you’ve prayed for, especially for long, complicated situations, and then you go back and see the prayers that have been answered, prayers you forgot you even prayed, it is astonishing. God is so Good! And imagine answering prayers and the person praying doesn’t even say “thank you!”
When I got home, I put the cold things in the refrigerator or freezer, washed off all the vegetables, put away the other groceries, and then got the stepping stool, still praying that somewhere in my kitchen was a bottle of corn syrup that was misplaced.
I checked the baking cupboard – again. Moved everything so I could see even in the darkest corners. No corn syrup. Checked my “spares” cupboard. Nope, not there. Checked my back-up spares cupboard, sigh, no not there. Checked the breakfast / snack cupboard, can’t see anything, but I’ll check Little Diamond’s shelf, where the breakfast cereal and Canderelle are kept – and oh my! It’s a genuine miracle! When did I put the corn syrup on that shelf?
This is what a miracle looks like in my life this morning:
Thanks be to God! He takes care of our smallest needs!
“You are Looking A Little Different, Madame”
On a recent visit to Doha, I dropped in to say hello to my old tailor, who works in a tiny little shop in an obscure little area and does great work – in his own good time.
After exchanging greetings and asking about family members, etc. he looked at me and said “You are looking a little different, madame.”
I can see where this is going, and I try to head him off . .
“Yes, yes” I hurriedly reply, heading toward the door, “I am a couple years older, ha ha ha, it’s so nice seeing you!”
“Yes madame,” he says beaming at me, “You are a little bit FAT!”
“Bye!” I holler over my shoulder, as I grab AdventureMan and push him out the door; I can’t get out the door fast enough. NO! I am not fat! But who has a better eye than a tailor?
AdventureMan isn’t easy to push, especially when he is weak from laughing too hard. He is very kind to me for the rest of the day, knowing my feelings are fragile, and damaged.
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