Monday, November 24, 2008

Shopping and First Snow

First, a spot of good news: I saw the first copy of Driving Sideways that included my AUTHOR PHOTO in the back! And here I thought they forgot. Aw, gee. Now I'm all warm and fuzzy. (Or is it the booze?)

This weekend I spent some time shopping, which reminded me that sometimes, despite the crowds and germs and lines and other irritating hindrances, in-person shopping can be preferable to online. How else would I have seen the woman--despite the 25 degree temperature--in short shorts and high heels at Fleet Farm? And how else would I have seen the woman in fur, crimped hair, heeled clogs and baggy gray sweatpants at Target? And finally, I would have missed such a delightful exchange between a forty-something woman and her eighty-something male companion (her father perhaps?) in line to check-out at Festival Foods. As they loaded their purchases onto the conveyor belt, she turned to him and said, "How are you at sacking?"

He was wearing a hearing aid, and the store was quite loud, so you can't blame him for saying, "What?"

"How are you at sacking?" she repeated.

He looked puzzled. "What?"

"SACKING," she said again, patiently but loudly. "How are you at SACKING?" This time, she accompanied her question with some awkward hand gestures.

He appeared to get it. "Oh. BAGGING."

Now here's what I'm wondering. Who refers to this process as sacking? The guy at the end of the line is not called the "Sack Boy." (Although don't you kind of wish he was?) The guy at the end of the line, the one carelessly tossing pineapples and gallons of milk on top of your eggs, is called a "Bag Boy." Because you BAG your groceries. You do not SACK them. You can sack a quarterback, but you can't sack a can of Spam.

This is the rule.

Also, look what we woke up to this morning:


It's all very lovely, but my back muscles are already bracing for the shoveling. Also, my potted sage and thyme had been eking out the final days of their lives near the garage, but now it looks like curtains for my herbs for the season. So I'll have to return to Festival for a sack of sage before Wednesday.

13 comments:

  1. Oh, that snow is GORGEOUS!!! I'm really hoping we'll get some snow this winter. It's colder than usual already, so maybe that will work out.

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  2. Jess, what great photos!
    I'm bracing for snow here, but we've yet to have a delicious dump that leaves everything that white and wonderful :)

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  3. I found none of the pretty in that snow due to A-norovirus ::shudder:: and B-neighbors who decided that driving on my half of the shared driveway beat shoveling theirs.

    Also, for some reason "a sack of sage" made me giggle uncontrollably. I have no idea why. :)

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  4. Anonymous9:34 AM

    I see the strangest outfits on people too--I sat next to well-coiffed in sweatpants at a reading last spring during the Fox Cities book festival.
    Sacking? It must be said: He wasn't deaf, she was dumb.

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  5. How are you at florgnarting groceries? Why aren't you answering me???

    Seriously. People need to think before they start shouting in grocery stores. And now I think I'm going to be using the word "sack" all day.

    I am still a very newbie gardener, so I guess I didn't know that at some point you have to give up on your plants and let them all go. I mean, I must be a genius, I did that MONTHS ago!

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  6. 'How are you at sacking?'
    OMG, that's hilarious!

    Cheers,
    JB

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  7. "You can sack a quarterback"

    You can also bag a quarterback... if you're cute enough.

    Hey, you mentioned a Wisconsin-based post on my blog today. Here's one you may appreciate as well!

    http://www.blogography.com/archives/2008/11/wisconsin.html

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  8. Gorgeous pics. Makes me want snow. You know, except for the slippery roads and the cold and everything. Brrr.

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  9. Ah, the joys of grocery shopping. :)

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  10. Anonymous5:47 PM

    The snow is so beautiful. I hope you have a great thanksgiving. I enjoyed your blog and I will be back!

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  11. I wish and wish for a white Christmas, but would take a white Thanksgiving, but alas, in Vegas, the odds are pretty much against that.

    Happy Thanksgiving!

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  12. Anonymous4:07 PM

    What beautiful photos! And please tell me Sacking Man is going to be in a future book. Please!

    Happy Thankgiving!!!

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  13. Unless the guy wasn't her father (think Hugh Hefner) and she really was asking how he was at sacking.

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