...if everybody waved and said hello whenever they passed someone else. 

...if people would slow down, listen, and offer a helping hand at the slightest sign that another person needed it.

In our experience, this is exactly what happens between boaters out on the water.  I think it is wonderful and wonder why we can't all treat each other the same way on land.

I hope everyone had a happy and safe 4th of July.....here's a virtual wave to say, "Hey....how are you?"

Well, I have been spending a lot of time here:


Poolside, watching our little swimmers practice, play and compete.

For a week, we were all here:


Having lots of fun in the hot, hot, HOT sun.

Where haven't I been?  Tending to our garden.  I think this picture proves that:



Where have you been lately?

There is a local, family-owned grocery chain around here that the true locals think is the cat's meow.  For transplants such as myself, especially those of us who have had the pure joy of shopping in a Wegman's grocery store....eh, not so much.  After a few attempts when we first moved here, I stopped shopping at these stores and settled in with my trusty ol' Kroger.

About a year ago, though, I got word of something really great about the local chain.  They decided to stop using peanuts in their bakeries.  For a family with a peanut allergic child, this is huge.  Until this development, I had no choice but to make all our baked goods at home.  I enjoy baking, but there are times when it just doesn't fit into the schedule and it is so nice to have the choice to purchase this stuff now!  Not to mention how great it is to be able to offer this option to parents sending in treats for school, friend's birthday parties, etc.

This is the reason we found ourselves at this local chain last weekend -- life was way too hectic to bake, and we had something worthy of celebrating with a cake!  Anyway, as we walked in there was a huge display of strawberries.  The sign looked something like this:

The giant mountain of strawberry containers were from California.  In case you haven't been paying attention, we live in Virginia.  Last time I checked, California was not local.  There was also a sampling station set up, with a yellow sticky note with a hand printed message that said "LOCAL STRAWBERRIES."  I tasted them, and they weren't even very good. 

How can you give samples of supposed local strawberries and then put them next to the standard shipped-from-the-other-side-of-the-country corporate strawberries, labeled with a misleading sign?  I was beside myself and begged the Mr. to give me his camera phone so I could catch them in the act of being dishonest!  Alas, he had not brought his phone into the store and we were in a rush.

On the way out of the store, I did see a smaller, out of the way display of ACTUAL  local strawberries.  But STILL.  I was quite perturbed by the whole thing.  It's a good thing their cake was so delicious.

In case you care, here are some of our family's other long standing issues with this local chain:

• High Prices -- Self explanatory....they cannot compete on price.
• Limited Selection -- This store keeps jarred tomato sauce and dry pasta in the International Foods aisle.  Are you kidding me???  How about we broaden our world view a bit?
  
• Closed on Sunday -- It's owned by a religious, Southern Baptist family and so they shut the whole operation down on Sundays.  I know they made this decision based on their religious convictions, but it is an inconvenience to the shopping public.  Including me.  There, I said it.
• No Alcohol -- So the story goes that because they are owned by a religious, Southern Baptist family who does not believe in drinking, they do not sell alcohol.  Other grocery stores in this state can sell beer and wine, but liquor is sold at "ABC Stores."  Again, no alcohol in the type of store where you can usually grab a six pack is kind of an inconvenience - in this case, more so to the Mr. than to me.  However, what we take issue with the most is the hypocrisy in this policy.  The family that owns the grocery chain also owns the strip malls where each of their stores is located.  Do you know what is located in nearly every single one of those strip malls?  An "ABC Store" and sometimes a beer and wine "boutique" type store.  Ay, yay, yay.

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