We decide instead to walk all around her neighborhood, and
we follow the two-and-a-half mile trek with some Cat TV. Those familiar with the blog know that Cat TV
refers to my friend's backyard where she has a bird feeder set up. The birds appreciate the feeders, and my
friend's cats appreciate the birds, but, since they are indoor cats, they must
appreciate the birds from behind the slider (hence the name Cat TV).
The patio of Cat TV is full of potted plants that complement
my friend's small garden. This also
means that there are bees near any plants that are blossoming. We drag our chairs back from the bricks to
the grass. After all, bees and blossoms
go together, and we aren't going to fight for dominance.
As soon as we move to the grass, a small, delicate butterfly
lands on my foot. Soon, other
butterflies come by, and by "come by" I really mean "dive-bomb
us while we sit there helplessly."
It must be the day for dive-bombing nature because the birds start doing
the same thing. They aren't coming at us
ala Alfred Hitchcock, but they are flying ridiculously close to us on their way
to the bird feeders.
The only problem with the feeders is that they are empty
except for the thistle. Several small
birds flit around it, coming and going and coming and going, as if they are
saying, "What's this? Oh,
thistle. So, then… what's this? Oh yes, thistle. Hmmm, I think I'll check this out. Surprise, it's thistle…" Feeling guilty, we fill the two empty feeders
with bird seed and throw suet into the small cage. Shortly, Cat TV is in full swing, complete
with woodpeckers and finches and more.
We are dive-bombed a few more times as word gets out amongst the birds
that lunch is served.
After sitting outside for a while following our long walk,
we eat some lunch and decide to go store-exploring. As everyone across the country probably
knows, we are embroiled in the Market Basket saga. Millions of us are now store-less, drifting
from one store to another in attempts to complete our grocery shopping that was
once strangely easy at our MB stores. My
friend and I have checked Hannafords (the best deal yet), Shaws (disorganized;
some items incredibly over-priced), Stop and Shop (might as well hand over your
first born), and Whole Foods (it's not nicknamed "Whole Paycheck" for
nothing).
Today we get a brainstorm and check out Wal-Mart. Predictably, we are both disappointed. I honestly don't know how anyone can grocery
shop at Wal-Mart. Sure, they have food
there, but the selection struck me as too narrow. It probably is more variety than I give it
credit for, but it's not Market Basket. Besides,
Wal-Mart has blenders and toys and bike tires and pool chlorine. Is this really where I will put my trust in
food? My mind simply will not reckon
with this concept.
We leave Wal-Mart very nearly empty-handed (I buy bottled
water and a roll of toilet paper, pretty much) and then drive by the Tewksbury
Market Basket. Workers line the sidewalk
in front of the store, so we honk, roll down the windows, and get cheers and
high-fives for our show of support. We
see the television remote truck there, and we miss being on the news by about
five minutes, arriving back at my friend's house and turning on the TV to see
Jorge Quiroga giving a live report from that store location.
This whole mess makes me sad. Again, as I've said before, this fight is
about the middle class and a decent wage and rewarding employees vs. corporate
raiders and their insatiable greed. This
is about integrity amongst workers and customers who would rather see the doors
close than help greedy executives line their pockets on the backs of life-long
employees. It's a disgusting, dirty
fight, Big Business Bullies trying to break the dedicated workers.
It's also pissing me off because I have to run to Shaws and
Hannafords and Stop and Shop and Wal-Mart and CVS to get my shopping done. I haven't bought meat in a week, but, when I
do, I'm going to a local butcher. And
you know what? Maybe that's a good
thing. Maybe I've been paying into the
corporate greed without even realizing it.
Maybe I'll never shop at Market Basket ever again.
Then I take a deep breath.
It has been such a good day, a positive day, a day of bees and
butterflies and birds. I can't let
bullies bring me down now. My friend and
I make another plan -- Beach. Tomorrow. We're going to try and get there. The best part about the beach is that the
large breakwall prevents us from getting cell phone reception, so whatever
news, if any, comes down tomorrow about the bullshit (another "b"
word) in the grocery war, we won't have to hear about it. We can take the beach day we missed and we
can be oblivious. We earned it.
