madness and dementia
Feb. 7th, 2009 02:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gfrancieYesterday I met up with my Mom and then later on two of my siblings. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon. On the drive over, the weather was kind of ugly and I kept getting stuck behind large trucks that spread plenty of grit, dirt and water everywhere so the car looks a sight. I was driving on this one rural road and we passed by some horses. One horse suddenly fell over (which gave me a minor stroke) but I soon realized it was just rolling around in the dirt and having a fine time. Horses dropping to the ground is always a minor cause for alarm since they aren't known for laying around all that often.
One thing that always kinds of weirds me out when I go to visit this small town I am from is the little changes occur. Things like a house being painted a different color or a business that once was but is no more. There are houses that have been a particular color for a number of years but I tend to think of them as being another color from the earliest part of my childhood. There is an old enormous Victorian house (The Saunders House) up on one of the hills (the town is filled with Victorian homes) that has been a sort of teal-ish color for at least 10-15 years but I always think of it as being brown because that was what it was for so long. That particular house is interesting because it has a bit of a curse on it. Every married couple who has ever bought that home has ended up divorced. One of the more recent couples divorced but they didn't give up the house. The wife moved into the carriage house out back. When I drive through town I sometimes feel like I am trying to prevent a form of dementia. I try and recall various things I know about various homes and buildings. Who once lived there, what color it used to be, what its history was. It is like I am trying to make sure everything is real even as it changes.
Thankfully some things remain comfortably familiar. We had lunch at Don's Pharmacy and the waitresses are the same. Older gals who make smart-alecky remarks, who know what you like and call all little boys Buddy. I departed from my usual pineapple milkshake and had a brown cow. I also had half a BLT on toast with fries. The pies were tempting. Instead we rolled ourselves out of there. People were seen, Senor Onion was gazed upon and all was well.
We stopped at this one shop because my Mom had wanted to pick up something. My brother and sister said they didn't want to go in as the owner has a standard poodle that freaks out whenever they go in. That struck me as rather odd as both of my siblings are very good with animals. My family has adopted a few different aggressive animals over the years and they tend to chill out. So they went on their way to another shop and I went in with my Mother. We had been in there for just a few minutes. Senor Onion was being very calm and quiet and just taking in his surroundings and I was looking at some display when the poodle completely and utterly freaked out and charged at me and began to bark like mad. Not your typical, "Hey hey I am a dog. You are a person. Pet me pet me." It was a pretty peculiar vicious bark followed by a lot of growling. The dog showed obvious signs of not being pleased. It startled Senor Onion a bit (who I should note isn't afraid of dogs and is fond a Great Dane that wanders through our neighborhood) and I turned to my Mother and said, "I think we will leave now."
The owner of this shop is kind of famous for her passive-aggressive faux-hippie peace sauce attitude said, "oh...don't leave. sorry about my dog." I smiled and said, "no. I think we shall leave. I don't feel terribly comfortable." She pet the dog and made noises about putting the dog in the back room. She kept trying to make me stay and I finally was firm with her and said, "NO. We are leaving. That dog is obviously uncomfortable." It was the fact that she kept trying to get to me to stay that irritated me. The dog kept barking and growling and wasn't very happy with our presence. It is rare to see a dog that obviously disturbed and it seems rather odd to keep a dog like that in a shop. But there is no accounting for logic sometimes.
I met up with my siblings shortly after and said, "okay you are right, that is one wacked out dog."
Maybe the dog was made mad by all that atrocious New Age music and magic pixie sticks?
We saw another dog later that was very cheerful. It was a chocolate lab puppy. It was soooooooooo cheerful and happy it could create world peace. Senor Onion loved this dog and probably would have snuck him home if he could.
Despite mentally unstable standard poodles it was a nice visit.
Today we went swimming with Senor Onion. I made the mistake of doing the grocery shopping today. People kept trying to run me down with their carts. There were little old women in scooters who were not above knocking over small children or anyone in their way. But errands were attended to.
I also had some mildly disappointing vegetarian chili. I had no idea why I thought it would be a good idea. That will teach me.
And so the laziness continues.
One thing that always kinds of weirds me out when I go to visit this small town I am from is the little changes occur. Things like a house being painted a different color or a business that once was but is no more. There are houses that have been a particular color for a number of years but I tend to think of them as being another color from the earliest part of my childhood. There is an old enormous Victorian house (The Saunders House) up on one of the hills (the town is filled with Victorian homes) that has been a sort of teal-ish color for at least 10-15 years but I always think of it as being brown because that was what it was for so long. That particular house is interesting because it has a bit of a curse on it. Every married couple who has ever bought that home has ended up divorced. One of the more recent couples divorced but they didn't give up the house. The wife moved into the carriage house out back. When I drive through town I sometimes feel like I am trying to prevent a form of dementia. I try and recall various things I know about various homes and buildings. Who once lived there, what color it used to be, what its history was. It is like I am trying to make sure everything is real even as it changes.
Thankfully some things remain comfortably familiar. We had lunch at Don's Pharmacy and the waitresses are the same. Older gals who make smart-alecky remarks, who know what you like and call all little boys Buddy. I departed from my usual pineapple milkshake and had a brown cow. I also had half a BLT on toast with fries. The pies were tempting. Instead we rolled ourselves out of there. People were seen, Senor Onion was gazed upon and all was well.
We stopped at this one shop because my Mom had wanted to pick up something. My brother and sister said they didn't want to go in as the owner has a standard poodle that freaks out whenever they go in. That struck me as rather odd as both of my siblings are very good with animals. My family has adopted a few different aggressive animals over the years and they tend to chill out. So they went on their way to another shop and I went in with my Mother. We had been in there for just a few minutes. Senor Onion was being very calm and quiet and just taking in his surroundings and I was looking at some display when the poodle completely and utterly freaked out and charged at me and began to bark like mad. Not your typical, "Hey hey I am a dog. You are a person. Pet me pet me." It was a pretty peculiar vicious bark followed by a lot of growling. The dog showed obvious signs of not being pleased. It startled Senor Onion a bit (who I should note isn't afraid of dogs and is fond a Great Dane that wanders through our neighborhood) and I turned to my Mother and said, "I think we will leave now."
The owner of this shop is kind of famous for her passive-aggressive faux-hippie peace sauce attitude said, "oh...don't leave. sorry about my dog." I smiled and said, "no. I think we shall leave. I don't feel terribly comfortable." She pet the dog and made noises about putting the dog in the back room. She kept trying to make me stay and I finally was firm with her and said, "NO. We are leaving. That dog is obviously uncomfortable." It was the fact that she kept trying to get to me to stay that irritated me. The dog kept barking and growling and wasn't very happy with our presence. It is rare to see a dog that obviously disturbed and it seems rather odd to keep a dog like that in a shop. But there is no accounting for logic sometimes.
I met up with my siblings shortly after and said, "okay you are right, that is one wacked out dog."
Maybe the dog was made mad by all that atrocious New Age music and magic pixie sticks?
We saw another dog later that was very cheerful. It was a chocolate lab puppy. It was soooooooooo cheerful and happy it could create world peace. Senor Onion loved this dog and probably would have snuck him home if he could.
Despite mentally unstable standard poodles it was a nice visit.
Today we went swimming with Senor Onion. I made the mistake of doing the grocery shopping today. People kept trying to run me down with their carts. There were little old women in scooters who were not above knocking over small children or anyone in their way. But errands were attended to.
I also had some mildly disappointing vegetarian chili. I had no idea why I thought it would be a good idea. That will teach me.
And so the laziness continues.
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Date: 2009-02-08 01:09 am (UTC)You mustn't know yourself now you're off and driving. You can go anywhere you want without having to rely on other people to get you there. Good for you. It gives me a bit of courage to be honest because I'm going to learn to drive this year but the thought of it does scare me. However it is something that I just have to suck up and do!