We were very fortunate in this area as I recall our thrift stores were only closed for a few weeks last spring, so I’ve always shopped and didn’t notice too much of the pandemic.  Imagine my surprise to find I’ve now discovered on-line shopping, am doing it, and now enjoy looking out and seeing yet another naughty Amazon box on my doorstep.  Hence someone who was part of shopping for only recycled stuff has now begun to order from God Knows Where.

Two defences come to mind: lack of supply and laziness.  All we hear is how container ships can’t get unloaded, and no one can get anything they want, so I keep testing this theory and nope, not the case with old Mr. Bezos as anything I’ve ordered so far comes within a couple of days.  No supply issues here.

Imagine slogging into Wal Mart or Toys R Us and trying to find that one particular toy, then getting home, oops wrong toy, returning there and asking for the one you want, which they’ll tell you they don’t have.  You see how one falls into Amazon’s deadly trap?

And then the laziness excuse is because if I want a certain item, as today when I wanted a pair of binoculars, I know I won’t find them in short order at thrift.  So instead of going a dozen times over a few weeks I cave and hit Send Order feeling slightly guilty. The punishment is always that for the next several visits, whatever I’ve purchased will be there by the dozen.

Margaret and I went to Grand Forks last weekend and it was a sunny fall day so the drive was really lovely.  It’s two and a half hours on winding highway so not really something I can see myself doing once the bad weather sets in.  I’d made lasagne and a banana cream pie, so upon arrival I saw a good bit of the pie had decided to shift over almost in danger of leaving the pan entirely.

Two days prior I was in Osoyoos and had made chicken Marbella which is always received with cries of joy from Luke and Jan, and followed that with Lulu Hulton’s apple cake.  It’s actually a loaf, and made with two cups of unpeeled, grated apples so quite moist.  However as usual, mom didn’t find it to her liking because only Apfel Kuchen is apple cake, and that wasn’t it.

I made salted caramel sauce to put onto the warm cake and then we had maple walnut ice cream on top of that so that was quite a luscious sugar hit.  Jan doesn’t eat desserts however the three of us ate it, and I thought it was good as did Luke.  But then what do we know?

I seem to have gained eight pounds since starting to watch both The Great Chocolate Showdown as well as the Great Canadian Baking Show.  And God knows I haven’t been making any of those desserts however it stokes the appetite for any chocolate or carbohydrate in the house.

I’m off to Hawaii in February so cannot go with this excess fat, so back to keto.  In any case I can’t face Christmas with this carcass.  Meanwhile I noticed my reef shoes are a mess so may browse on-line for a new pair.  Sure, I could toss the dice at thrift, or even at a sporting goods store, but instead choose to wantonly order.  Tsk!