HAPPY NEW WEEK!
I hope everyone has a wonderful week.
I was sitting on my porch last night, and I saw an ant crawl lethargically across the floor. It was the first one I'd seen since last autumn. I was glad to welcome the little fella. A few minutes later, I smelled a ghastly awful odor. It was the skunk, and it must have been close to the house! The hibernating creatures are beginning to stir here!
The skunk must have woke up in a bad mood, because it had sprayed some unfortunate critter with the full force of its stench accumulated over the winter. My eyes were watering, but my heart was joyful.
Some years, February can be the most savage of our winter, but the forecasts are saying that it will be milder than usual this year. The days have been warmer this past week, and we had sunshine! We don't have any beautiful flowers yet, like Lindy posted, but I was so happy to see (and smell) the first hints of spring!
Love to all!
LINDA – One day of 38 C is not too bad; it is the hot nights that go with that are unbearable. Better today, 28 max. Community Bus does have air-con but it struggles against the sun streaming through windows as we twist and turn through suburbs to deliver us home. I must spend 5 mins weeding as OH’s watering yesterday included a patch of weeds. I hope the clay is softened enough for the fork.
RUSTY – I don’t know if it is widespread but our GP likes to order blood tests each January. I know we get free breast cancer & bowel cancer checks for 50-74 year olds (after that we oldies are expendable). See above for my comment on heat.
ANNETTE -- I’m sure you have W...w....ths in your part of the world. I refuse to advertise them!
Adelaide Fringe Festival begins today, the start of the Festival season generally known as Mad March. Medicos already warning that covid cases will rise. Hardly anyone is masked now, not even staff in chemist.
AQ: I'm assuming you are referring to Woolworths? The U.S. had a big store chain called F.W. Woolworth from the early 1900s until 1997 when the company failed and went out of business. The stores had been wildly popular, but they didn't sell groceries. They weren't supermarkets. Ours were variety stores that sold cheap household goods, clothing, greeting cards, etc. They also had quaint little lunch counters and tables where one could order a cheap sandwich and a milkshake. We called our Woolworth stores "five and dimes." Our stores had no link to your Woolworths at all. The US Woolworth company failed to trademark the name in Australia. So, when the Australian founders of your store chain were looking for a name for their company, they decided to steal the popular name from the US corporation. The companies are unrelated, and ours has been gone for years, although they lasted for a long time in rural small towns.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/woolworths-is-only-called-woolworths-because-of-a-cheeky-dare-in-1924/news-story/670a3c3d6980e0691f524b1b80f9d345
Diane/AQ: Right. Woolworths. There were Woolworth stores here when we first arrived. We had them in England too (not sure if they were connected to the U.S. company given that Oz folks apparently appropriated the name) plus a similar store called Littlewoods. Our family's myths include one about someone (my sister?) being fired from Woolworths (a pretty low bar). I got fired (the only time in my life) from Littlewoods after I snuck away too many times to be with some utterly useless male and also because I let customers choose their favorite liquorice allsorts from the huge selection. The modern version of WW seems to be something called Dollar Stores or Dollar General with WalMart being a much bigger and more diverse option.. How popular is WW down under?
Diane: Let us know how that over-65's van service is. How wide an area does it cover?
I did like all the snowdrop photos and comments. :-) Such pretty little flowers.
Very busy day, but 95% of things accomplished.
DIANE & ANNETTE – How lovely to learn that Aussies stole a trademark from across the ocean. Several items come to mind where we have been the losers, eg ugg boots. Here WW is one of the 2 biggies in the supermarket war. Coles is t’other. I try to avoid both and prefer a South Aussie family-owned store that specializes in local companies & produce.