Branching Out

Max woke me up at 6:00 am, which is actually late for him. He loves his routine, and has become so used to my 5 am alarm during the week, that he's usually got his nose in my face asking for his morning walk and breakfast about that time every day.

My early rising allowed me to get to the grocery store before 9 am. No lines! Who knew? I was in and out in less than 30 minutes! Usually, I shop on Sunday afternoons, and it takes twice as long, as I have to battle a hundred million other shoppers, trying to manuever my way to an open checkout counter.

While shopping I thought about Liz's post regarding the "August Eat Local Challenge." Actually, I felt a little disappointed in myself as I put the zuchinni, yellow squash, tomotoes, and cucumbers, grown who knows where and touch by who knows how many hands, into my cart. I really like the idea of buying and eating locally grown food, and supporting local farmers, however, my only option is one little farmstand up the street, which is not much of an option, since it is only open during the week, when I am an hour away at work.

So feeling a little like a cog in a giant corporate machine, I made my way to the wide open checkout counter. The cashier greeted me with a big smile and chatted a bit about the recent renovations at the store and how much she likes working Sunday mornings. Her pleasant attitude was such a nice surprise, it lifted my mood, and made me feel good about shopping at this giant corporation. My supermarket may sell more than just locally grown food, but it does employ and support local people, who make up the fabric of my town. And that is a good thing too.

Thanks Liz, for making me think about these things.

Now to the knitting....After shopping, my day was free, and I spent a lot of it working on Branching Out using yarn from my secret pal. I just love this yarn. It's the first time I've worked with alpaca. It is soft and luxurious. I am seeing lots more alpaca in my future. Thanks secret pal!