Shopping Mecca

"Mom, could you take me to the mall?" Little Girl asked while i was preparing supper.

Sure, i said.

"Thanks.  My favorite teacher's birthday is next week and we both love the show Game of Thrones, so I want to get her something."

That's why i found myself, at 6pm, heading to the Jalopy to go to that shopping mecca called a mall.

It's not something i find myself doing often.  In fact, i hadn't been to the mall since my last flower delivery stint -- i almost always have at least one delivery in the mall.

The mall is just up the highway, and for once in my life i actually found a close place to park in the area Little Girl pointed to when i asked where she wanted to go in.

Is it okay if i come in with you, or do you not want to be seen with the mothership? i asked, laughing.

"You can come in -- I wouldn't expect you to wait outside.  And I don't mind being seen with you," she answered.

She knew just what she wanted and where it was, and headed in the door and straight to the escalator, then into the Hot Topic.  Right before she went in she said, "I know you don't like this store, so you don't have to come in with me."

She's right, i really don't like a lot that's in that store.  This gave me the chance to walk through the mall for a short time.  In the immediate vicinity there were 4 jewelry stores, a couple of places selling lotions and potions and bath paraphernalia, shoe stores galore, and even a Game Stop and Best Buy Mobile.

As i walked up and down, watching people and gazing in windows, i wondered what the fascination was.  The only time i really go to a mall is for our once a year trip in Florida when i get any new clothes i might need at an outlet place.  Spending hours and hours wandering a place like this isn't my idea of a good time, but i didn't mind getting a bit of exercise and people watching in.

One family that struck me was a mom and dad who had their two youngest kids wearing surgical masks.  They were decorated with a kid theme, too.  It makes me wonder if the children have some kind of immune problem and they have to be protected from the rest of us, not that we have to be protected from them.

The  place wasn't too crowded as it was a Monday night, and a few teens were there in spite of the threat of having to go to school the next day.  One mom pushed a stroller that had a toddler obviously past his limit because he was crying as loudly as he could with the pacifier held tightly in place by his clamped teeth.  Another young dad walked his toddler son, blond curls bouncing on both of their heads, they were obviously the best of comrades and having a good time.

She thought she took a long time, but really it wasn't more than a quarter hour before Little Girl came out with her purchase clutched tight in her hand.  We went past the food court and i saw that they have choices i'd have never thought to see years ago -- some of them healthy.  Hummus, wraps with lots of veggies, and even smoothies.  It balances out the pretzels and cookies and junk that is still there, and i was glad to see that.

We were back home just before 7pm, as she really didn't take anywhere near as long as she thought she did.  It was a nice outing.

And yes, the A/C is fixed.  Not that we need it much these days, the evenings are so cool that even the warm days don't heat the house up enough to make it uncomfortable.



Today is:

Bring Your Jack-O-Lantern to Work Day -- just check the fire code before you light that candle

Celtic Tree Month Negetal (Reed) begins

Dia do Servidor Publico -- Brazil (Civil Servants' Day)

Flying Baby Day -- celebrating the first baby born on an airplane on this day in 1929

Fyribod (or Forebode) -- Ancient Norse Calendar (announces the beginning of winter; date approximate)

Hari Sumpah Pemuda -- Indonesia (Youth Pledge Day)

Independence Day -- Czechoslovakia (from Austria-Hungary in 1918; still celebrated in the Czech Republic and Slovakia)

International Animation Day -- ASIFA (to honor the day Emile Reynaud presented the first animation to the public)

Isia -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (dates approximate; first day of the 6 day Isis festival)

Milvian Bridge Day -- Christain (day to reflect on the interrelationship of religion and government)

National Chocolate Day

Okunchi Matsuri -- Karatsu, Japan (with floats that date back to the 1800s; through the 30th)

Oxi Day -- Greece (Sometimes "Ochi" or "Ohi", literally "No Day", celebrating resistance to Mussolini.)

Part Your Hair Crooked Just To See If Anyone Will Say Anything About It Day -- internet generated, celebrate at your own risk

Plush Animal Lovers' Day -- internet generated; celebrate your love of stuffed animals today

Runic Half-month Hagal (hailstone) begin

St. Jude Thaddeus' Day (Patron of desperate or hopeless cases -- the reason Danny Thomas chose this saint to invoke as patron of the hospital he helped found.)

St. Paraskevi of Iconium's Day (Patron of fairs and traders; in Russia, patron of marriage; associated in Ukrain with Mokosh, the ancient women's divinity, and celebrated on the final Friday of the month)

*St. Simon the Zealot's Day (Patron of curriers, sawmen, tanners)

Wild Foods Day -- as in, grown or caught in the wild (please be careful if you like mushrooms and want to gather your own!)



Anniversaries Today:

Statue of Liberty dedicated, 1886
Maimonides College is founded, 1867 (first Jewish college in the US)
R.H. Macy & Co. in NYC opens, 1858
Founding of Harvard University, 1636
Universidad Santo Tomas Aquino is established, 1538 (first university in the New World)


Birthdays Today:

Matt Smith, 1982
Joaquin Phoenix, 1974
Brad Paisley, 1972
Jeremy Davies, 1969
Julia Roberts, 1967
Andy Richter, 1966
Jami Gertz, 1965
Daphne Zuniga, 1962
Lauren Holly, 1963
Bill Gates, 1955
Annie Potts, 1952
Bruce Jenner, 1949
Telma Hopkins, 1948
Dennis Franz, 1944
Jane Alexander, 1939
Charlie Daniels, 1936
Cleo Laine, 1927
Jonas Salk, 1914
Francis Bacon, 1909
Edith Head, 1907
Howard Hanson, 1896
Georges Auguste Escoffier, 1846
Desiderius Erasmus, 1467


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"The Jack Benny Program"(TV), 1950
"Dead End"(Play), 1935
Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Pathetique(Tchaikovsky Op. 74), 1893


Today in History:

Constantine the Great defeats Maxentius, 312
Battle of Yaunis Khan in which Turkish forces under the Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha defeat the Mameluks near Gaza, 1516
Battle of Amba Sel, in which Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi again defeats the army of Lebna Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia; the southern part of Ethiopia falls under Imam Ahmad's control, 1531
Peruvian cities of Lima & Callao are demolished by an earthquake, 18,000 die, 1746
Eli Whitney applies for a patent on the cotton gin, 1793
The first railroad in Spain, between Barcelona and Mataro, is opened, 1848
The Statue of Liberty is dedicated by President Grover Cleveland, and celebrated by the first ticker tape/confetti parade in NYC, 1886
An earthquake strikes Mino-Owari, Japan, kills 7,300, 1891
Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Pathétique, receives its première performance in St. Petersburg, only nine days before the composer's death, 1893
The St. Louis police try a new investigation method -- fingerprints, 1904
Czechoslovakia gains its independence in the break up of Austria-Hungary, 1918
The Volstead Act, passed by Congress over Wilson's veto, starts Prohibition, 1919
The first coast to coast radio broadcast of a football game, 1922
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicates the Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary, 1936
The Alaska Highway (Alcan Highway) is completed through Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska, 1942
Swiss chemist Paul Müller is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT, 1948
The modern Kingdom of the Netherlands is re-founded as a federal monarchy, 1954
Nikita Khrushchev announces that he had ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba, 1962
Nostra Aetate, the "Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions" of the Second Vatican Council, is promulgated by Pope Paul VI; it absolves the Jews of responsibility for the death of Jesus, 1965*
Britain launches its first satellite, Prospero, into low Earth orbit atop a Black Arrow carrier rocket, 1971
The centenary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty is celebrated in New York Harbor, 1986
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner becomes the first woman elected President of Argentina, 2007
The US celebrates the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty, 2011