Don't sleep with Brie. Dog poo. Trader Joe's, and other matters

A cautionary tale:

In the middle of last night as I was either sleep walking or was half-asleep I went to the fridge and cut off a bit of Brie cheese for a mid-night snack.

Once back in my bed I fell back into a deep sleep before eating the cheese.

Brie does not do well in a warm bed.  I awoke this morning to find melted cheese all over my sheets.  Oh what a mess!

What the heck:

Back from my second walk with Penne this morning I noticed a plastic grocery bag on top of my recycling bin at the curb side (today is trash day).

I thought “what ho?” and investigated closely.  The bag contained dog poo.

I am not on the outs with any of my neighbours, so I can but guess that some lazy dog walker decided to gift me with the poo.

That’s not nice.

Fallible memory:

Back in Cambridge days I was a regular patron at the Arlington MA branch of “Trader Joe’s” = a quirky supermarket.  “Trader Joe’s” patrons have an immense and intense loyalty to the company and its products.

So there was great rejoicing when Trader Joe’s opened its second store in Florida just last week. The first Florida T.J. store is in Naples FL.  Sarasota is the site for store # 2.   Ben and I hoved down there today.


 I was somewhat under-whelmed and a bit disappointed.

The Sarasota T.J. store has a small and dismally laid out parking lot (hard to get in, and hard to get out), (the same was true in Arlington, MA).

I had forgotten that T.J.’s has a confusing system for price labelling. For instance I saw some good apples priced at 69c.  The small print revealed that this was 69c per apple, not per pound.

And I looked at a nice frozen, boned and seasoned leg of lamb all wrapped up in plastic –“ a bargain” I thought “at $ 8.99.  In this case the small print showed that the lamb was selling for $8.99 per pound, not $8.99 for the package.

I’ll probably go back there, because T.J’s is quite funky, and there are a few bargains.  But I suggest “caveat emptor”. Despite its funkiness T.J’s is a business not a charity.

Not alone:

I had a growth removed from my temple today by my good dermatologist, Dr. Karen S.  It’s been sent off for a biopsy,

She, the Doctor, said that at first sight I will probably need surgery – to dig deeper.

Then she asked about a dermatological surgeon, asking “did I have any one in mind”.

I replied “last time I needed surgery you referred me to Dr. C. But I was not comfortable with her bedside manner”. 

My dermatologist then suggested another surgeon, and added “you are not the first one to express discomfort with Dr. C’s bedside manner”

I responded with “good”, and then hastened to add that my “good” was not a judgment on Dr. C, rather it was my immediate reaction to the news that I was not alone in my critique of her bedside manner.

I’ll get the biopsy results next Monday.