Sad times for two of my blogging friends.

There have been two very recent passing's in the families of two of my blogging friends. This does not include the passing of Nancy's husband not too long ago. As I mentioned in my previous post I too have been reflecting upon the past and those in my family that have gone before. Then there was the Boston Marathon bombings a couple of years ago. Little did I know what happened as I drove home from work that day. Little did I know that one of the people killed lived around the corner from me. As I entered my neighborhood I saw television vans parked all along the street about a two minute walk to my house. 

Then as I arrived home and eventually spoke to Arlene I come to find out that Krystle Campbell was a contemporary of Arlene's twin daughters. They went to school together. They played together at each others homes. They grew up together. They were friends. It affected Arlene and her family greatly and by extension it affected me. And as the marathon approaches we all think about it again.

Krystle's funeral.

City hall that day.

What brings this all up again? Today Arlene told me that the city is planning a memorial park to Krystle. She get's all her information through her daughter who runs the city's website along with her own website with local news. She is one very capable young lady having graduated from Tufts University and is in the process of finishing up graduate school at Harvard. No too shabby.

Well you'll never guess what's happening as I write this. Or maybe you will... it's snowing. Then it will snow again in a couple of days. Then it will turn to rain and the temperature will in the 40's on Thursday. Sure some of the snow will disappear but then we will have mucho water to deal with. Still I think it will alleviate the driving and parking problems we have been all dealing with. I know this winter has affected Arlene more than it has affected me. However at this point she has good reason to feel that way. A couple of days ago she slipped on some ice in the driveway and though she manage not to hit the ground by grabbing the door of her car. However she strained muscles in her upper leg and, well, her left butt cheek. This morning she called and asked if I would take her to have it looked at. Though she knew it was not a real serious injury it's still very painful. I took her to the local hospital which has a prompt care facility. The initial incident did not brighten her spirits concerning this less than fun winter she felt better after being seen. Her prescription? Frozen peas. Yup sit on a bag of frozen peas. Still she was in a better mood afterwards and we went to the local Whole Foods because it's close and my company closed the local location a year ago. It was quite convenient, location wise for us and it was the store we met in 20 years ago. Convenience is not what my company does well. It used to 20 years ago when we were the top dog in the Boston area but a series of greedy stupid owners ruined our reputation and nearly killed the company. It likes to complicate the food buying process by using online coupons and other various schemes to complicate the food buying process while trying to sell it as "making it easier". Yeah right. Anyway I was impressed with Whole Foods. They offered a no frills shopping trip with none of the nonsense of going online to take a survey tell the company "How are we doing?" Some 20 or 30 something might be willing to do this but somebody at my age or older will tell them how they're doing by either shopping there or going someplace else. Whole food does it right. No hoops to jump through. The item costs this much you bring it to the register. No loyalty card, no asking you to take a survey. You pay, they bag your groceries and you're done. But enough of my little rant. 

Arlene being in a better mood suggested we go somewhere and maybe have some coffee. I in turn suggested we go to our favorite local restaurant and get something to eat as it was now around lunch time. I had wanted to go for the last couple of weeks but she was down in the dumps. Feeling better she agreed and we had a very simple lunch consisting of an appetizer for two with grilled asparagus, spinach and some other greens, marinated eggplant, caponata, fresh mozzarella, kalamata olives and prosciutto. Then a white pizza with again prosciutto, roasted peppers and more fresh mozzarella. Simple but delicious. Later on I called Arlene to see how she was doing and to ask if she had any peas for a dish I was preparing. She chuckled. She's feeling better. She also has the next 4 days off. Doctors orders. She has been overworked. She retired from full time work for that reason and they are taking advantage of her working for far less money. She finally stood up for herself.

Hey have you heard about the local Massachusetts guy who started a business online selling snow? 6 pounds for $89. Such a deal! He obviously has plenty of stock and he's doing well. Oh yeah a sucker IS born every minute.
 Ok it's time to play some guitar.

I'm outta here.