Friday on the Mall

Yesterday tired me out, but I had a wonderful time.  After walking Rosie, and having an unexpected chat with Alexy, I came home and called Beatrice.  She wanted to know where I was - and I said I had just returned home from walking Rosie. She was already at Turley's, having coffee, and trying to figure out why I hadn't been at home when she called earlier...  Oh, well...  We laughed, I called a cab, and we met at Turley's for a wonderful filling brunch - and they had freshly baked raspberry muffins, so I purchased two to take home with me.  I had actually planned on returning home, but Bea asked, "So, what shall we do for the rest of the afternoon?"  Since neither of us had shopped on the Pearl Street Mall in several years, we decided to "walk the Mall", and started out at 20th Street, headed west....  We wandered through book stores, jewelry stores, art stores, antique stores, second-hand and surplus stores, candy stores and bakeries, and a Fair Trade store.  There were several stores that completely entranced us.  I had a wonderful time in an old-fashioned candy and soda shop, but they were blasting Tennessee blue-grass gospel through their speakers, and Bea didn't like it.  (I was singing the chorus....)   We purchased drinks from a street vendor when we turned around at 6th Street and started heading  back east, up the other side of the Mall.  Most of the clothing shops didn't carry anything larger than a size 10, so Beatrice and I didn't even bother going inside, but we certainly critiqued the display windows.  We decided to take a seat on the benches in the sunshine close to the Peppercorn store - but once we were comfortable, a "street performer" decided to target us with her "singing."  I put those words in quotation marks for a reason - the woman could not carry a tune, her only accompaniment was a battered and odoriferous tambourine, and she knew only two verses and part of a refrain of one song.  She needed a bath, and her clothes needed washing.  It was a stomach-turning experience.  We spent almost an hour inside Peppercorn's and saw less than half of their merchandise...  and we both saw things that we wanted to purchase.
  When we arrived back at the apartments, the service dog and his owner were playing in the back yard, so I drew my curtains and the kits and I went to bed.  I read until I fell asleep - and I had odd dreams last night. I dreamed that my Dad was teaching me how to tickle fish in a stream; and that I was riding Mauda LuAnn in a Pony Penning Round-up; and that I was a sailor on a fully-rigged tall ship - with three large masts, plus the forecastle....  Definitely strange all the way around.  Today is grey and cloudy, and the weather folks are saying we'll have rain and/or snow again this evening...  We'll see.  Lovey and Nedi have been able to run in and out since 6:30 this morning; Lovey has spent half of that time inside with me, while Nedi has just wandered back inside. Bob has wandered over, come inside, and helped himself to kitty kibble; he's left, now.
   And I will be rooting for my Gators during the Final Four NCAA basketball games tonight.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!