Yesterday Was a Catch-up Day - People Near and Far

Yesterday was a day of catching up with people, dashing here and there. Add in some cooking and it was a delightful day. The sun was shining, the roads were perfectly clear, (there's no snow to be found except small remnants on the outskirts of larger parking lots where the plow scree is slowly melting down). I needed some tea, and the brand that I prefer isn't available (except for four flavors) from my local grocer. So, I started out by driving North to the next suburb and a different grocery store for tea. Which I found and purchased from a woman who looked familiar. 

I love the herbal teas from Republic of Tea. Since I 
don't do caffeine, I check my teas quite carefully, and 
they have several that are favorites, so it was time 
to go to a different grocery store with a larger selection. 

Apparently she also thought I was familiar. It took a moment or two, but we recognized each other at the same time. "Gwen!" I said, smiling broadly. "Hey, S, it's really good to see you again," she said at almost the same time. She used to cashier at my local grocery store, and was my standard fall-back cashier if Polly wasn't on her station. She left because my store wanted to cut her hours and she needed them, so she left to find a different employer. It was really good to see her, and I carried her "Miss You!" wishes back to my local grocery store a bit later in the morning. 

IBS can be caused by many things, but in the case of Ruthie's 
son (and my own older cousin), it's genetic. It results in some 
serious pain, lots of food restrictions, many surgeries, a plethora 
of different medications, and often ostomy surgeries. But it kills. 
It's what killed my cousin, and Ruthie's son has spent most 
of this year in the hospital so far. It's NOT good. 

After getting my tea, I dropped by the office supply company which shares a shopping center with my grocery store. I had ordered a cartridge for the store printer, but had forgotten to pick it up the previous night on my way home. My favorite cashier, Ruth, was on duty here too (she's an old customer who adores our stuff - mostly our jewelry. A real sweetheart, whose son has been extremely ill). I quickly gave her a hug and asked about how her son was doing - which isn't good, unfortunately. Any kind thoughts you could spare for Ruthie's son would be appreciated. He has a chronic health condition, and just spent more than two weeks in the hospital. Unfortunately, although he recovered enough to go home (for a while), he lost his job while hospitalized, so he's quite depressed on top of feeling like crap. He has IBS, which is what killed my cousin several years ago, and his prognosis isn't good. 

I originally was going to get my usual pears and apples 
for baking, but I'm actually in good shape for baked 
fruit right now, and a pineapple and two star fruits 
were calling my name. Living on the "wild side", I 
bought those instead. I'll be having some star fruit 
with my toast for breakfast today. The photo is one of 
the two new heavy-duty baking pans that I just got in 
from Amazon. No more warping sheet pans in my 
oven! Huzzah! LOL

Finally getting to my grocery store, I quickly got what I needed for my "Ogre Juice", but was tempted by a few fruits. The pineapples looked lovely, so I indulged in one, and I also bought two Star Fruits. I've never eaten star fruit before, but looking it up on my phone quite quickly, it seems easy enough. Wash well, cut the top and bottom off and throw away, then slice thinly to eat.  I'll have some with my toast this morning and see how they taste. They've always interested me. I cut the pineapple into small pieces and put them into my dehydrator. After 13 hours, the smaller pieces are perfectly dried, but I need a bit longer on the larger pieces, so I've reset the dehydrator for another six hours. That'll be done before I get home from the shop today and I can add the bigger pieces into the container where I've put the smaller ones. 

In the All Star Game later that night, Connor McDavid of the 
Edmonton Oilers absolutely destroyed everyone else in the 
skills competition, ending up winning the check for One 
Million Dollars! Huzzah! It was a beautiful thing to watch, and 
hotly contested. 

Although the weather is fabulous, it's still cool, and being bald, I wear a hat. I was wearing my "Canada" hat yesterday (it's time for the All Star break for hockey and we were going to watch the skate and shoot later that night). When my favorite produce guy saw me he immediately started singing the Canadian national anthem, and I, of course, joined in with him. What hockey fan doesn't know both the US and the Canadian anthems, after all - LOL? A bright note to my morning, to be sure. So it was an excellent day, all things considered, and I'm ready to dive in to the new one. Have a wonderful Saturday and weekend, and I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.