A Saturday in the Life of Spinster Jane

After about nine days of gloom and drizzle the sun finally emerged this morning.   While the sun made its appearance quite early, it was not until about 11:00 this morning that I finally emerged from under the covers.  It is Saturday after all and while the sun might have an important job to do, I only had to run errands and do some laundry.

What? Wait!  The first beautiful day in nearly two weeks and I have to run errands and do laundry?   The kitties were low on food, I had to make a bank deposit to cover bills, there was no way the litter box was going to get through one more day, I needed food items for dinner and eggs for breakfast, and in order to do the aforementioned laundry, I required a supply of quarters (certain items of clothing were days beyond passing any sniff test).  Yes.  Some things just have to be done.  So I brewed some coffee, ate a quick breakfast of olives and cheesy poofs, put on my pants* and headed into town.   

It was a truly gorgeous day which made the walk very enjoyable.  I picked up a cup of coffee at the coffee shop, and managed to visit both the pet food store and the bank before my tummy began to tell me that olives and cheesy poofs were simply not going to sustain me.  At this point I nearly faltered in my mission.  I had visions of me sitting on a restaurant patio, margarita  and burrito in hand counting mullets as the hours of the afternoon slowly passed… nibbling a cucumber sandwich, sipping a glass of prosecco while watching the world wander by.

I’d like to think that such visions are inspired by my inner sensualist buuut I know that deep down I was simply looking for an excuse to do nothing, so in order to ensure the day’s mission would be successfully completed, I bought a hot dog from my favorite food cart. 

A hot dog is pretty much a hot dog but the proprietor of this particular cart has never forgotten how I like my hot dog since the first time I visited his sidewalk establishment over 12 years ago.  I am always greeted with the following, “Beautiful day!  Sauerkraut, steamed onions, and spicy mustard! One or two?”  I’m not sure if it’s me and my order that are memorable, or if he just has a remarkable recall ability, but it is a big part of the reason that I keep buying hotdogs from him.  There are people I’ve known for years who couldn’t tell you my favorite pizza topping, and believe me, what I like on my pizza is far simpler than what I put on my hotdogs.

Hot dog in hand I settled onto a park bench in the shade.  Moments later I was approached by a man with a guitar who asked if he could play for me.  Now, I love to be serenaded (and in this day and age, this does not happen often outside of karaoke night) and since he was also an acquaintance of mine, I quickly consented.  He held out in front of me a list of songs and asked me to choose one promising to play it for at least a minute.   My eyes perused the list of titles, none of which were familiar to me but most of which had names like “Burn for you”, “My Love is Like the…” or “Missing You”.  Not being in the mood for a love related song I picked the one title that didn’t seem likely to cover that topic…”Seasons of Death.”

So there I sat, eating my hot dog, sipping a bit of water and listening to a man with a guitar sing about setting himself on fire or walking into a blizzard and freezing to death because he had lost touch with himself and cuddled up close to inner despair.   I couldn’t help but notice that as he made his way around the park to other folks, they all picked the more love related titles. 

The remainder of my afternoon went as planned.  I made my way to the grocery store where I purchased broccoli rab, onions, garlic, a lemon, an orange, kippered herring, salad in a bag, and a 27 lb bucket of kitty litter (yes, nothing says cat lady like a 27 lb bucket of kitty litter).  I completely forgot to buy eggs.  I did remember the quarters, though I’ve yet to do the laundry.  And, since the sun decided to hide again as soon as I arrived home, I took a nap.   The fish I was going to cook for dinner is still in the fridge, frozen solid, so I’ve finished off the bag of cheesy poofs and had a glass of wine.

The rest of my evening, who knows; though I am pretty sure that it will involve putting my pants a back on.

*yes, my spinsterism comes awfully close to dudehood at times.