Helena, (A.K.A. the Schmoog or Schmoogie) and I had a great day together. It started in court for my hearing to contest two tickets related to our annual van inspection and emissions certification. She was great and charmed the police officer that we worked with. We won our appeal!
After our brief court appearance, we decided to hit up our favorite thrift stores. Mark, myself, and Helena love thrifting. To us it is a treasure hunt and an adventure. It’s not wise to head out with a particular item in mind, but rather a “let’s see what they’ve got today,” attitude.
Helena and I like to peruse the toys, jewelry (pins/brochures in particular), hats, books, and antique furniture. I also love to find the exceptionally strange or unique items that pop up from time to time.
After a quick deposit at the bank between thrift stores, I decided to take us out to eat for lunch. No place would suffice except our favorite Indian cuisine restaurant, Ekta. If you know our family, you understand that Sophie and Alexander have very limited foods that they will eat. Mark, while he has expanded his palate considerably in the last decade, is still a mid-western meat and potatoes guy. Schmoog, however, enjoys a wide variety of food.
As we waited at our table by the window, she breathed deeply and listened closely to the music. She exclaimed her joy with the rhythm and declared that the instrumental songs must be about Jesus. I marvel at the way her mind works. The smell overwhelmed her and she became patiently impatient for our meal. We started with vegetable samosas with mint and tamarind chutney.
Then, we split basil naan, basmati rice with chicken tikka masala and saag aur paneer. “MmmmMMMmm,” she declared over and over. We stuffed our bellies and she delighted over a simple slice of orange. Enough was left over for 2 more meals. Yum. As we ate we started getting texts, fb posts, and phone calls about the tragic building collapse in Philly. A building adjacent to the Salvation Army Thrift Store collapsed and trapped a number of people. I had recently posted on fb that we were thrifting and people were worried. Have I mentioned lately how much we love that we are loved?
Logy (loooo-g-E means happily stuffed) after our feast, I thought we should head home for a nap. Instead Schmoogie asked (repeatedly) to go to a candy store. So we did. On the drive home she munched on Swedish fish and I on a dark chocolate covered graham cracker. Then we snuggled and napped. We needed this kind of low key day.
I watched the 11pm news conference that night with Major Nutter about the building collapse who said, “We are a pretty tough city and we are quite resilient.” Nonetheless our prayers go out to those who are seriously injured or who lost loved ones.
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