Tale of Two

My early Saturday morning ritual of completing my grocery shopping before the break of dawn has wobbled of late. My primary shopping happens at a fairly large grocery store (Big A). It has a cheese and deli section, a bakery, a coffee shop, a restaurant, a meat department, a pharmacy, a wine and spirits department and aisles and aisles of everything from avocados to zwieback. Now there is the new kid in town (Little B). Due to a number of reasons, not the least of which is my mushy brain of forgetfulness, I am darting over to Little B after my first grocery run so I can pick up a few more items.

Little B muscled its way into the neighborhoods of some pretty big players in our city's grocery world. On paper, Little B should be tucking its tail between its legs and leaving town by now, beaten into submission by the Alpha dogs. Not only has that not happened, Little B is thriving. The two stores I visit are radically different in tone and philosophy.

Big A is open 24/7, humming away with hordes of worker bees. I recognize a few of the early morning bees but for the most part the ever changing crew is busy doing their thing as they rub the crudlies out of their eyes and hope the next shift arrives on time. The produce department is often just starting to clear out the overnight detritus when I arrive. I make it a point to check the temperature of the grapes. Warm means stay away, cold means purchase. The produce guy is a bit of a grumpy cat and prefers to focus on banana purging and leafy green placement. The personal shoppers scurry around with their beeper guns, loading carts with groceries for others. The ends of the aisles are stacked up with boxes, ready to be unloaded for the next big rush. The checkout counter is usually manned by one lone teenager who drew the short straw for shift assignments. Said teenager often struggles with identifying produce as I give him tutelage on pear varietals and the difference between a shallot and an onion. I feel like I hit the jackpot when there is someone to pack my groceries. If I start packing my own groceries, a manager sometimes steps up to the plate for a mercy packing.

Little B is open from 7 a.m to 9 p.m. and steadfastly closed on Sunday. When I arrive at Little B, promptly at 7:00, the front checker chirps out a cheery hello. The grapes are always ready and cool to the touch. The meat department is an open concept with butchers bantering back and forth as they prepare meat for the day. When I want a soup bone, they know what I mean and I am rewarded with a nice beef shank. Checkout is usually with the cheery one and she asks me if I am making soup when she sees the shank come through. She immediately calls for assistance if someone needs help taking groceries out to the parking lot. And then she thanks the assistant for helping out up front. I admit that I cannot help but smile when shopping at Little B.

One would think that Little B is my grocery store of choice. And it is for the small town feel it gives me and the warmth of service it provides. But, I also appreciate Big A for all the shopping options it offers. The beauty of having two grocery within a few blocks of my house is that I have choices and I am not forced to choose one or the other on a regular basis.

And the best part of all is that I don't have to face the bleary-eyed teenager at Big A again when I realize I forgot something during my first shopping go-around. I just head to Little B and they think I have my act together.

Glaze

The word glaze usually conjures up visions of cakes and cookies enshrouded with a thin blanket of sweet goodness. Those of us living in the upper Plains have another meaning for glaze and it is not quite as comforting as its culinary counterpart. Glaze can also be a meteorological term which is (and I quote) "a thin coating of ice that forms when super cooled liquid precipitation falls onto exposed objects whose temperature is below or slightly above freezing." We have another term for such a weather event  around here and that is "Yuck."

Our local TV meteorologists are in the midst of training all their viewers on the latest terminology for winter weather events.  We now have Winter Storm Watches, Winter Storm Warnings, Winter Weather Advisories, Blizzard Watches, Wind Chill Warnings, Ice Storm Warnings, Blizzard Warnings and Freezing Rain Advisories. Adding to the mix we have live Doppler, European weather models and American weather models for forecasting said events.  It is no wonder why many of us want to curl up in a ball and eat bacon for the rest of the winter.

Unfortunately, we experienced the dreaded "Glaze and Winter Storm Warning" this past weekend. There is a general rhythm to such events around here. It begins with hordes of people descending upon the grocery stores to pick up milk, bread and copious amounts of snacks in preparation for impending doom. Hardware stores are flooded with requests for Ice Melt products, shovels and snow blowers. Cell phones ping away with weather warning information. Frothing TV meteorologists share the latest radar updates. And TV reporters with the least seniority are sent outdoors to shiver and shake their way through reports on deteriorating weather conditions.

We learn to live in the moment with weather events. The ping-ping of ice crystals scratching away on our window panes is a sure sign we will have to change travel plans or experience white-knuckled driving (not advised). Whooshing winds remind us to beware, especially if snow and black ice are added to the mix. Dimply ice coatings on our windshields require sturdy ice scrapers and defrosters running full bore. Our feet send weather messages to our brain as we navigate various sidewalk coatings. Slick sidewalks require the penguin walk. Snowy terrain can be crunchy, fluffy or sticky, all demanding specific foot work for safe movement. High winds cause us to "turtle up" as we scrunch our heads down into our parkas and keep our hoods tied up snugly. Stinging nasal passages let us know the wind chill factor is dropping.

I am grateful for the advances in meteorology and weather prediction techniques. One just has to read The Children's Blizzard to be reminded of the alternative. I am also grateful for something in our lives that we cannot completely control. It reminds us of a power greater than ourselves and it is okay if we need each other to help us survive.

My weather advice for all is simple. Stay aware of your surroundings and above all, make sure your glaze recipes includes cream. And lots of butter.