Everything
Changes
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Remember when the Big Store in Havre
was Buttrey’s? What a magnificent place to shop, in the Atrium, with an
escalator. That was truly “down town”. And Havre boasted many, many smaller
stores, enough to satisfy any shopper’s needs.
Then the Mall on the hill was built;
things changed. Stores closed in the center of town. The Mall struggled,
filled, struggled. Another big store came to town. An independent grocery left.
My heart lurched when I read that
K-Mart, Sears and Herberger’s are due to close. To me, these seemed to be
community keystone stores. Things change.
Havre, the community and the area it
serves, is an anchor for people from hundreds of miles around, including a
steady stream of visitors from our northern neighbor. I’ll watch proudly,
hopefully, while Havre bucks up, takes it on the chin, and comes up with a plan
for revitalization.
Years ago I learned that often a
“disaster-of-the-time” enables me to make changes for the better. The curse
becomes a blessing. Often, not always. Depends on me. Am I willing to step beyond my comfort, go
out on that fragile limb and make a drastic change?
This morning I asked Leo to take me
into my little town for a shopping. “A shopping.” That is the way I want to say
it.
We could drive to Guadalajara where
every Big Box store created lives. Last year I walked into one of the largest
malls in the world. Inside is a store with shoes, a pair of which costs more
than my net worth. Fascinating as that mall can be, I was uncomfortable.
The first stop today was at the egg
lady’s. This woman in her 90’s in very poor but behind her humble door, back of
her dwelling place, she has a large courtyard with garden and chickens. I buy
my eggs from her.
Across the street I sent Leo into
the plastics store for heavy trash bags for lawn clippings. I went to the candy
store next door for coffee caramels and Hershey’s kisses. My neighbor Erica is
ill and chocolate cures everything.
Next stop the Farmacia Similare for
my anti-inflammatory, the only “real” medicine I take. Around the corner is the
Comex where I stocked up on throw-away brushes, a liter of marine varnish and
one of black paint for metal. I want to spruce up my gate and my patio
furniture.
From there we whizzed around another
few blocks, parked and walked to the Mercado where I filled my basket with
mangoes, nectarines, tomatoes, onions, peppers, bananas, broccoli and a baking
potato. And peanuts, so I can make peanut butter.
The next tienda supplied me with
cheese, also crema for which there is no exact equivalent in our stores, and a
jar of Nescafe Decaf, for those rare times I want an afternoon coffee.
Up the block and around another
corner, I bought la licuadora, a blender to us, from one of our small appliance
stores. I didn’t think I’d ever buy one. I get by without electric appliances.
But I have grown fond of the aguas made with liquefied fruits and vegetables. A
blender makes that job easier than my by-hand method.
In another store I found a new dust pan. My old one broke.
Our dust pans here are on poles like a broom. No need to stoop to the floor.
I finished my shopping with a clutch
of fresh cinnamon sticks, long as my forearm, from yet another tienda. I
prepare my morning coffee with all the pomp and circumstance of a Japanese tea
ceremony. Grind beans, heat the French Press, put in coffee and a measure of
stick cinnamon, pour on boiling water, cover and brew. Ah, the flavor.
Everything changes. In the last
year, the powers that be in our little town let be built two Big Box stores, to
the consternation of the majority of the people. Some like one-stop shopping.
Personally, I like “a shopping” which routes me all around town to the little
tiendas.
Tiendas. Malls. Down town. Out of
town. Remember when you ordered from Sears or Monkey Ward and took what you
could get? The future is the present and past combined. We order online,
without touch or real knowledge, and hope we can live with what arrives.
Changes?
Sondra
Ashton
HDN: Looking
out my back door
July 5, 2018
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