My World Tuesday: Winter Made Me Do It

Record levels of snowfall have caused level records of cabin fever have caused record levels of out-of-the-ordinary behavior.

In our wee humble abode, that has meant that I have not been out for a walk in more than a week. Usually, I'm good for five miles a day and then some. I have put those miles on my dad's old elliptical trainer, so I've gotten the exercise for the body.

But the mind. That has not wandered far. To remedy that my daughter and I did what we never do. We went to the mall. The big and lovely one in West Hartford called Westfarms. The one that does not look like a factory or a warehouse or somebody's turned-over box room. No. We put on some decent clothes, polished our shoes, and went to the mall. For five hours. We toured ever store but Lord & Taylor.  (I had suggested a few museums as options for a day out, but she chose the mall.  I am not a shopper, so malls generally hold no appeal for me. But we weren't there for the shopping. Not really.)

We tried on silly shoes and crazy gowns and unusual sweater. We stumbled our way past the young man with no shirt on standing guard outside the very dimly lit Hollister shop to find out what Down Undies are at $2.50 a pop only to find out they are ordinary undies. We were a littled bummed (pardon the pun) because down underwear would be just the ticket about now. We stumbled out of there and into the Apple store where Della went nuts over the latest pocket iThing and we both marveled at how few wires and how very thin and stylish the products are.

We ate pizza where pizza is always very reliably the same, bought chocolate bars and licorice at the best chocolate store in this corner of the Free World, tried on everything in Forever 21, scouted the entire place for saddle shoes (Again, we find ourselves on the cutting edge of fashion and forced to shop online. Even the lovely man at Nordstrom's couldn't help us after calling around in our behalf.) She found a sweater, belt, T-shirt, and gloves she liked, and she bought them. Her shirt said:

My World Tuesday

She had caramel gelato after we bought a greeting card and I treated myself to lavender water and body lotion because I love that fragrance more than any other--and a dose of summer in this form is a fair trade for down undies that don't actually exist.

Finally, we made wishes as we tossed coins in the fountain outside the Rainforest Cafe. Della stood for her mother who never puts the camera down and put up with being photographed with a toucan growing out of her head. What we do for our mothers.

It was a great day. After we had put a few miles on our shoes, climbed into the car, and found ourselves alongside a dumptruck taking winter (no doubt wearing cement shoes) to the end of a pier somewhere.

My World Tuesday