People Who Sell Rocks�

2003-12-16

Was not one of my more productive days. Spent more time on the phone that I have in a year. I don�t get a lot of phone calls. Twice a week maybe. One from a parent or sibling and one from the spouse while he�s shopping to make sure there wasn�t anything I forgot.

Sister called me to ask what I thought about us going to go over to my folks house because of his shingles. I hadn�t been aware that he had shingles. Another wonderful facet of disease and treatment. They were worried about me and my �depressed immune system.� We�re supposed to get together and cook Christmas treats next weekend. I don�t actually think my immune system is all that compromised anymore.

Mom called me to give me the news all over again. Sister called me to go over the news.

I did go to a local non-chain and rather high-end nursery. But my choices when shopping at major chains has been limited. The nursery had a much wider variety of stuff available. The two below are my favorite finds of the day.

I like the intense color of the one and the subtle shading of the other.

I also bought some rocks. Flagstones for paths in the new beds so I have someplace to stand while caring for the plants. There are a couple of places that sell that kind of construction material locally and I have always been too intimidated to go to them. They have construction workers and trucks and forklifts going everywhere all at once. But I really needed stones for a path, so I gathered my courage and went. This was one of those situations where I felt stupid for being intimidated at all.

I walked into the office and told them I was looking for some rocks. Three heads swiveled in my direction. Three mouths fell open. �I have come to right place haven�t I?� Three smiles and an instant offer of assistance.

They were incredibly nice. And polite. And helpful. I did get the feeling that they didn�t see too many women in the course of their workday, but they still all managed to come up with conversation appropriate to a middle-aged woman. Christmas shopping was the subject of the day. They loaded the 100 pounds plus of rock directly into the trunk of my car. And I drove home with car full of plants, rocks, a few Christmas presents and some warm fuzzy feelings about people who sell rocks.

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