A farewell on Hertel Avenue

The Kmart on Hertel and Delaware has closed and overnight, the sign came down.


It is harrowing to see.

Whereas in my sketch of Kmart the lot was filled with life ...

.... now all is bare and desolate.

What with the building knocked down yesterday that is two of my art subjects that have disappeared in the space of a couple of days. I mean, with Kmart we knew it was coming, but still. When it actually happens that does not make it easier to take!

Howard wondered if our friend Ryan had bought the big sign. But no, he had not.

Another friend had gone in early on hoping to buy one of the interior signs but they were all gone.

I should have drawn the interior of the Kmart. I should have drawn everything in it.

On account of you never know!

Curtains

I have this plan to get curtains in the kitchen, such as the ones picture up above, instead of the blinds that are there.

The blinds have been there as long as I have had the house and they are really dirty from having been in the kitchen so long, with the kind of cooking I do. They cannot be cleaned. I have tried.

So I thought, curtains. I really do not need blinds, you know? I would rather have half-curtains that would block out the sight of me from outside but still let in the light from the higher panes. They would brighten up the kitchen.

Howard said: "But the neighbors would still be able to see you."

I said: "How?"

He said, "Well, from the upper floors." Meaning, if they went upstairs and looked down, maybe they could see me.

I said, "Well, they can knock themselves out."

If it is worth running upstairs to get a glimpse of me listening to Leonard Pennario and stirring things with wooden spoons and swearing at my back issues of Cooking Blight, so be it. I still want curtains.

With that in mind I went to Kmart after work. I got those springy curtain rods that fit the windows without you having to screw them in. I am not a hardware store person. Kmart is a whole other story I will have to get into another time.

After Kmart I went to Amvets all bright and hopeful that I would find cute vintage curtains.

Alas, no luck. They had tons of bath stuff, such as those furry covers that fit over your toilet, haha. But no kitchen curtains that I could find. Darn, and I had such an image of cute curtains with geese and strawberries and rolling pins and whatever. Oh well. Perhaps I will learn to make my own curtains. Meanwhile I did get a great deal on a Food and Wine cookbook that I love. It is Food and Wine Herbs and Spices!

Already I have made a recipe out of that book. I made Cod and Potatoes With Thyme.

Still with dirty blinds.

Great things take time!

Escape to Kmart

Today because it was cold and I felt I needed a break I treated myself on the way home to a trip to Kmart. Kmart is always fun.

I always start out the same way, walking in without a cart and figuring I can always get a cart later. I always end up needing one and going back. Today that happened to me when I found jar pumpkin pie spiced candles for $1.50. They were these big candles and I am allowed to burn candles when they are in a jar. Something like six of them were left and being a piggy Buffalonian I had to buy all six.

Go back to Start! Do not collect $200 but do collect a cart.

Other things I scored at Kmart: 25 cent packages of index cards, 100 cards a package. I bought two but you know what, I might go back and get more. I burn through huge numbers of index cards in my Pennario project. I have these files that go back to when I was in California with him. They are still in the same boxes and I keep stuffing more and more cards into them.

There is one card sticking out of the box right now that I am looking at: "1952, 9/12, Letter from Vengerova." Isabella Vengerova was one of Pennario's teachers.

There are a couple of cards after that about Capitol recording sessions and then you get this card: "1952, November. 'Bwana Devil.' First feature-length 3D movie." Why that is important is a long story and you will just have to wait for the book. Lucky for me I am not writing about some boring pianist, is all I can say for now.

Anyway, index cards. Evernote has nothing on them. I have 200 new ones now and might go back and get more.

I also got a couple of packages of pencils for a quarter each. I put a pack on Howard's desk as a surprise. I like getting him office stuff.

And, oh yes, I got a cell phone charger. That was what I went in for!

I went into Kmart just for that and I came out with all of this.

Oh well.

I needed it!