Dead in the Water

I want to make a quick disclaimer.  It is a rough time in our world right now – with a lunatic in the White House, governmental chaos, job insecurity, pesky callers, cancer and other ickiness.  So, I’m just going to write about silly stuff which I amuse myself with on the daily to keep my spirits up.  I’ll get back to my illustrations in a bit, maybe when spring is finally here, but I just want to keep this fun project going, as I hope it is a treasure for Arthur when he’s older. Life is not always easy - but when times get tough - focus on all of the good you have, and push through.

There is just the slightest, teeniest hint of spring outside, this 26th of February.  I went outside yesterday to walk to Whole Foods about a half a mile away and stopped to admire the brave little one inch daffodil heads that are peeking up through the dirt.  How I admire those tough, little boogers.  I then sat on the bench and watched the waves ripple across the Hudson.

I was just minding my own business, watching the seagulls careen about, when suddenly – I saw them.  Four of them, to be exact.  Down in the Hudson, right by the river’s edge, were the skeletal remains of…four Whole Foods shopping carts!  Mostly submerged, certainly abandoned – those four carts went just too far.  They’re in the drink.  They’re feeding the fishies.  They’ve walked the plank.  They’ve joined Poseidon’s army.

The obvious next question is how the hell did they get in there?  There is a big parking lot, a big fence, and a bunch of huge boulders between the store and the river.  We have not had a hurricane lately – nor a serious wind.  Have we had a bunch of hooligans and ruffians hucking shopping carts into the estuary?  Why?

I’ve thought about yucky jobs before, like being a garbage man in New York.  Or being an Amazon delivery guy during the holidays.  Or being a traffic-control cop during rush hour.  But I’ve never considered being the savior of submerged shopping carts.  What would you do?  It’s about 6 feet down a rocky, unfriendly shore where they are topsy turvy.  Does Whole Foods just write them off?  Maybe, but they still can’t just leave them there!  If nothing else – water pollution!  I’ll keep watch and let everyone know as the saga continues.

Speaking of my cozy mystery world – I’m truly enjoying my latest favorite author – Caroline Graham.  Her narrator, John Hopkins (not Johns Hopkins), is just priceless.  Sometimes I have to rewind just to hear him say a word over and over.  The one that got me earlier today is the word ‘sixth’.  He pronounces is ‘sick th’, not sickth like we do in America.  Sick th.  I also had to ask my Welsh friend what it means when they say ‘half three’ as a time of day – do they mean 2:30 or 3:30?  (Answer is 3:30.) And now everyone knows that I love discussing a rasher of bacon.  I don’t know what a rasher is, but I like to say it.

In Arthur news, we went to the Long Island Children’s Museum this weekend.  It is the most perfect place for two-year-olds.  Two-year-olds, both individually and as a group, are incredibly funny.  They are each in their own world, not yet playing with one another, more just playing around each other.   Arthur still believes that the way to greet another child is to pat them on the head.  Everyone touches him on the head so they can feel his curls, so that’s what he’s figured out is the appropriate greeting.  He is so magnetic, everyone who sees him smiles at him, and smiles at us.  It is just the best feeling ever!  We played with the bubbles, the sand and the make-believe marketplace.  His favorite – the bubbles, for sure!