Trouble at the Tummy Temple

The leaves are falling. Not so much that it is getting colder but that it is dry. Even giant branches are falling off huge old trees so I mind where I ride going to the store. Hoping for a rain tonight and possibility tomorrow but Mother Nature will do what she wants. Got a little spritz on the way in with more to come.

The parking lot seems to be busier than I’m used to but I’m a little later and might have gotten into the noon crowd. Upon entering and inhaling the air-conditioning there are few carts available.

Following my usual routes there seems to be more folks today than normal. Many more confused and wandering than normal so the traffic becomes jammed and there is no horn on the cart to get them out of the way.

These faces are strange to me so they are not the usual neighbors filling their carts with grub. The staff still seems to be restocking as normal and going about their usual routines but all these new folks are searching the aisles as if they are aliens that just landed.

The items I had come to load in my cart are in the same places so I just took a breath and took the time to move around these wandering zombies and took my place in the line to the checkout.

All the checkouts were stocked and the lines were long like it was Thanksgiving, but I have time and can wait.

I ask about the crowd today and Katy tells me, “The Martins are closing and the Food Lion is shutting down.” So as Brian stuffed my dirty cloth bag with blueberries, peanuts, and my medicine, I thought this might be the NEW normal?

As I loaded my pony the parking lot was packed. Have all those shoppers decided my little Tummy Temple would fill their needs or was it the threat of rain?

I somehow avoided the traffic craze and managed to get back into a quiet neighborhood over crusty leaves and noticing another branch down on a neighbor’s house. Ouch!

Will return tomorrow as I always do, except for Christmas, and may have to adapt to the new competitors for our daily sustenance.