Saturday, December 24, 2005
Warm Christmas
It was unseasonably warm this afternoon, so I went to look for snow boots.
The stores along 14th Street were practically deserted; at one shoe store I had four clerks ask simultaneously if they could help me. So it was a great day for individualized service. Unfortunately, this was a store where they never have the shoe I've asked them for in my size; if I ask for a nine, they give me a ten and an excuse.
"This is an eight and a half, but it runs wide." Runs wide? How does this help me? Will my foot change shape, while still maintaining the same amount of mass?
Finally, I decided on a fresh pair of New Balance trail shoes. While not snow boots per se, the pair I've had has seen me through all but the worst blizzards, in which they just get a little wet.
There was a vendor at a table on the street selling socks with Christmas motifs. One pair was inscribed, "Dear Santa...Define 'Good'".
On the way back, I stopped off at the pet store to get the cats a replacement for their scratching post. I chose Cosmic Catnip's Alpine Scratcher, which is a little cardboard ramp with a picture on the side of a cartoon Chico in lederhosen. I brought it upstairs and the actual Chico jumped on it before I could remove the shrink wrap, and set right in digging his claws, front and back, like a man with a job to do. Ashley is just twanging on the catnip mouse on a cord that's dangling inside the ramp. Her scratching post of choice remains my mattress.
Then Jim and I took some stuff to donate at Housing Works, who had already figured there would be no further business and had closed their doors early. They opened them again for our stuff. They had some attractive mid-century modern-looking chairs, which I'm sure Ashley would choose as her new scratching post.
Tomorrow will be a quiet day at home, with visiting stretched out over subsequent days. No big deadlines; everybody seems to be scattered this year around work, traveling, etc. I longed for years like that when I was a kid instead of the same old things all the time. So, tomorrow will be a new thing, and it'll have whatever it has.
The stores along 14th Street were practically deserted; at one shoe store I had four clerks ask simultaneously if they could help me. So it was a great day for individualized service. Unfortunately, this was a store where they never have the shoe I've asked them for in my size; if I ask for a nine, they give me a ten and an excuse.
"This is an eight and a half, but it runs wide." Runs wide? How does this help me? Will my foot change shape, while still maintaining the same amount of mass?
Finally, I decided on a fresh pair of New Balance trail shoes. While not snow boots per se, the pair I've had has seen me through all but the worst blizzards, in which they just get a little wet.
There was a vendor at a table on the street selling socks with Christmas motifs. One pair was inscribed, "Dear Santa...Define 'Good'".
On the way back, I stopped off at the pet store to get the cats a replacement for their scratching post. I chose Cosmic Catnip's Alpine Scratcher, which is a little cardboard ramp with a picture on the side of a cartoon Chico in lederhosen. I brought it upstairs and the actual Chico jumped on it before I could remove the shrink wrap, and set right in digging his claws, front and back, like a man with a job to do. Ashley is just twanging on the catnip mouse on a cord that's dangling inside the ramp. Her scratching post of choice remains my mattress.
Then Jim and I took some stuff to donate at Housing Works, who had already figured there would be no further business and had closed their doors early. They opened them again for our stuff. They had some attractive mid-century modern-looking chairs, which I'm sure Ashley would choose as her new scratching post.
Tomorrow will be a quiet day at home, with visiting stretched out over subsequent days. No big deadlines; everybody seems to be scattered this year around work, traveling, etc. I longed for years like that when I was a kid instead of the same old things all the time. So, tomorrow will be a new thing, and it'll have whatever it has.
