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May 15, 2005
home again, home again
it's good to be home! today was a lot better. mom and i met bill and joan for brunch after they went to church, and then mom, joan and i went to this amazing grocery store they have called Wegman's. it's as if someone rolled up a TajmaTeeter, a Whole Foods, and Fowlers all into one store, then put the Whole Foods cafe and bakery on steroids. i bought some danish butter, which i'm hoping is as good as the butter i had years ago in sweden, and some of their house brand sauces. the next time i make a day trip to ikea, i definitely want to bring a cooler and plan to go to wegman's as well.
i wound up taking home my grandmother's china and silver, which no one else wants. it's not fancy but if i ever want to have a big dinner at my place i could get some good use out of it. i wouldn't want fancy stuff, anyway. the silver is just the kind of pattern i'd choose for myself-- very simple.
it's astounding how simply and efficiently my grandparents lived, and how affluently their children do. i think that's one of the things that was bothering me; i find it spiritually draining to be in that environment. my house would seem very cluttered and rather eccentric to them, but to me it is full of life in comparison to the way they live. it's most obvious at joan and bill's, where i was staying.
in the car on the way home, i was telling mom how i admired the design of my grandparents' house. the chimney ran through the center of the house, and there was a woodstove in the basement, so the heat from the woodstove would emanate to the entire house through the brick of the chimney. that's much more efficient than putting the chimney on an outside wall of the house. mom said she remembered grandpa working on the plans for that house, every evening when he got home from work. i knew he had built it himself, but i wasn't sure if he'd designed it, too.
anyway, my big pink rose out front has started blooming, so i should go cut some. every year i miss them but not this year!
Posted by lisa at May 15, 2005 06:50 PM | TrackBack
Comments
i believe wegman's is based in pa--i have a couple of college friends who do administrative stuff for the company. wegman's rocks!
Posted by: alicia on May 15, 2005 08:50 PM
it's definitely based in the northeast somewhere. an employee told my mom that they ship all the produce from NY or NJ, and northern Va is about as far as they can ship it and keep it fresh-- so sadly, we'll probably never have a wegman's around here. someone needs to give the Whole Foods people the clue!
Posted by: lisa on May 15, 2005 08:57 PM
Business magazines consistently rate Wegman's as one of the most admired companies (how it's run and how the employees like being there) in the country.
Posted by: Phil on May 15, 2005 11:37 PM
oooh ... a day trip to Ikea? If you need company ...
I used to go to Ikea whenever I visit my Mom in Alaxandria, but since she moved I haven't been. There's nothing in particular I want to buy, I just like looking!
Posted by: Lisa B on May 17, 2005 08:35 AM
ok, so a) your comment won't post right away because i have to approve it first and b) you might get a server error but your comment probably posted anyway and c) previewing doesn't work so i've removed the preview button.