Clothing, Talbots, Chico's

For someone who doesn't look any better than I do, it is surprising how much time I spend trying to find something to wear. Of course, I want to look, if not thin (too much to ask), then at least trim and somewhat classic.

Today I looked for some dress shoes - you know, the kind that you wear with a short cocktail dress or a pant suit not made of cotton. No deal. I talked to one shoe salesman and asked for an evening shoe with a 2 inch heel, file or microfiber, black, closed toe and not pointy-toe. How hard is that - a regular shoe! "Nothing like that this year," he said. As if that were something out of Harry Potter's Muggle catalog!

Looking for a jacket to wear in Florida in October is also fruitless. Lots of print jersey (ugh! and lots of pseudo-maternity tops (those 100% cotton (have to be ironed) blouses with a band under the boobs) (double ugh!)

For a nation with millions of boomers, who is going to clothe women of a certain age? Even Talbots, my former fave, hasn't tempted me to spend my two $25 coupons. And Chico's has gone mad with stuff I wouldn't wear at any price.

Creepy

Two weeks ago I visited a friend's church. I had the bad luck to sit behind a couple - seemed to be married to each other and have children on the same pew - and the man, while seeming to pay attention to the service, continually stroked his wife's hair, shoulders, neck and up and down her arm.

Then today, at my regular church, a man, woman and presumably their teenage son (big and almost as tall as the man) were three or four pews in front of me. The man kept his hand on his son's shoulder and patted, scratched, smoothed and rubbed - all while seeming to be enthralled in the sermon.

What's the deal? Is the stroker proclaiming "possession" of the strokee? Ewwww.

Pecos Cantaloupes, FEMA

I got a crate of Pecos Cantaloupes yesterday and they are just as good as promised. Although you can get cantaloupes grown in California, Arizona, Mexico or even Presidio, TX - the Pecos ones are the sweetest and best. I can usually find the Pecos ones (marked PecosSweet) in the Dallas stores, but not this year. I had to order them from the Pecos Cantaloupe Shed (no website - call (432) 447-2123 to order).
(432) 447-2123(432) 447-2123

The growing season for these West Texas specialties is usually just the month of July, but this year has been strange. One - not many acres were planted because a shortage of workers. Apparently there are plenty of migrant workers, but no place to house them. The oil and gas boom has taken up all the available housing - and they are even building an apartment building and a new suites hotel. It's slow, though, because the workers they truck in to work in construction are soon lured away to the better paying oil patch jobs.
Two - unusual rain. The average rainfall in far West Texas is about 8 inches per year - this year they've already had over 8. The desert is blooming, but it was hard on the melons which thrive in the sun.

In any case, the melons are always the best.

When I was growing up in Pecos, my dad and his cousin had a cantaloupe operation - the M.L. Todd Company. They shipped cantaloupes all over the country via Railway Express, which had refrigerated cars. As I recall, you could ship 9 or 12 melons to New Jersey for $4.95. They had a shed where trailers with hinges on the side (not the back) could drive up unload onto a conveyor belt, be sorted, graded and packed into wooden crates in a very smooth, efficient operation.

The melons too ripe for shipping would be sold as "culls" for $1 a grocery sack full. My younger brother David was in charge of the shed's cull selling operation and my friend Sallie and I had a stand closer to town. Daddy had a fellow build a frame and covered it with an orange and white parachute for shade. I think we made about $100 all summer.

That open air shed, on Highway 80 next to the train tracks, has since burned down. I think the new one is enclosed and air conditioned.

Bluebell Ice Cream has had a flavor called PecosSweet Cantaloupes and Cream, but I haven't found any this year.

The Pecos Economic Development office is trying to get FEMA to send some of those infamous trailers for workers in Pecos, but I think some enterprising trailer seller from Dallas or Fort Worth could take a bunch out there and sell them to people who are now driving 90 - 100 miles each way daily for housing.

Surveys, Rocky LaPorte, Augusten Burroughs, opinion

Well, they got me again. I do know enough not to be sucked in by Cambodians promising millions, but somehow, when I'm asked my opinion, I can't help myself.

This group - Audience Studies - said they were testing a new TV sit com and since I fit into their demographic, would I watch the show and give my opinion? I would receive the CD on Monday, must watch on Monday and would be called Tuesday.

I didn't get the CD until Tuesday, but faithfully followed instructions - including filling out a form regarding product preferences - smooth or crunchy? Which of 12 kinds of seasoning salt? I should have known.

Then I watched the CD - The Rocky LaPorte Show. Let's just say it probably wouldn't harm the kids to watch. I had never heard of Rocky LaPorte, who apparently is a stand up comic. If he wrote this, he wouldn't make the first cut for Last Comic Standing.

I followed the instructions to fill out another, almost identical, form regarding product preferences.

Then they called and wanted to know when I'd watched and wanted to call back tomorrow since it was important to survey a day after watching. "Now or never," I said, so he deigned to continue. Did I watch the CD? Did I fast forward through the commercials? (aha!) Now, before discussing the show, a few questions about detergent preferences.

"Hold on," I said. "I'll tell you what I think of the show, but I'm not answering all these questions about products. I'm not interested in doing a marketing survey. "

After some argument from the caller, who said that the questions must be answered, I wished him a good day and hung up.

Do companies really pay for the results of this "survey"? Do they think they are getting good information about their products?

After listening to Augusten Burrough's books A Year of Magical Thinking and Possible Side Effects hearing about his experiences in the advertising world, I'd say companies who fall for this sort of "market research" should have their collective heads examined.

They won't get me again!

Baby Emma

We have a darling new granddaughter, Emma.

She is darling and precious, with dark hair and blue eyes. Her big sister Megan is crazy about her at the moment, but Emma's only been home a day or two, so we are expecting more sibling rivalry in the future. A wonderful sort of cousin, Katherine, has come to help Emma, Megan and their parents by entertaining whoever needs entertaining (including Grandmother Dearest) and she is delightful and a huge help.

Katherine is one of those volunteer relatives (her late father was married to my first cousin) that we treasure more than the relatives we are related to by blood - because we choose to be family.

In other news, we are anxiously awaiting Book 7 of the Harry Potter saga. We have tickets to the movie (#5) and everyone will get a new book at midnight on the 20th. Of course, I've preordered the book and the audio book.

In still other news, I'm working on a project to target one zip code in Dallas for intense spay/neuter promotion plus loose dog round up. An article in the current DMagazine profiles the terrible overpopulation of unspayed/unneutered dogs running loose in some areas of Dallas. The Metroplex Animal Coalition offers free spay/neuter in 14 different zip codes and the City of Dallas provides free spay/neuter if a person is already on public assistance - but many of the targeted population isn't getting the message. And the application (in English only) is long and has to be mailed before an appointment is set. Surely we can do better!

I propose to do a direct mailing to each address in a targeted zip code telling them in English and Spanish how to take advantage of these programs.