The Parrot

I love to visit my friends. They live outside of Ottawa and have a huge house and a pool. There's also three dogs plus one bird. The dogs are great, the bird, not so. It's a parrot and it attacks when it's not being paid enough attention. And when it's left alone upstairs when everyone's downstairs, it makes a sound like a child crying.

So one day we're all downstairs. The bird's crying and it so happens someone has backed into my friend's car and a cop is taking a report. Suddenly, he looks up. What's wrong with that child?

No, it's a bird. There's no child in the house.

He's not convinced and because he's worried that a child is being abused, he has probable cause. They let him in. He checks the whole downstairs. No child. He starts up the stairs.

Well, the bird cries because it's lonely. When it hears a whole troop of people, it stops. The cop sees the bird.

It's not making any noise.

They try to explain. Anyway, half an hour later, he's finally convinced there's no abused kid in the house, that the bird is a brat and he leaves. My friend is philosophical, Just doing his job, she says.

Anyone who owns a parrot knows about the quirky behavior of these birds. Wouldn't it be better to leave them in their jungle home?

Gaston

I'd almost like to start this blog post with a psuedo-Yogism, It doesn't pay to buy. Well, Yogi didn't say that, I did. I think it every time I think of Gaston.

I decided one day, to visit the Rideau Center. It's a big shopping center of about 250 stores. It is on one side of Rideau Street and is connected to The Hudson's Bay Company by an overhead walkway. THBC is on the other side of the street, of course. The walkway is enclosed.

In the walkway, there are vendors. Some sell hats and scarfs, usually cashmire and wallets. Anyway, I was walking from THBC when a man stepped out from one of the stalls. He introduced himself as Gaston.

Now I had made a pledge not to buy anything and I knew Gaston was a salesman. I should have kept walking but he was so nice and amiable. I decided to stop but not buy.

What a personality. Well, Gaston convinced me to buy not one, but two kits I didn't need. Eighty dollars. I walked away regretting it immediately and worried what David, my room mate would say.

I walked home.

"What's that?" He asked.

"Some stuff I bought."

"How much did you spend."

Gulp. "Eighty dollars. And it's stuff I don't use."

"Take it back."

"But, you see, Gaston...he is such a good salesman."

"You have a weakness for those people. Give it to me. I'm taking it back."

He left and I felt some relief. An hour later he was back. He still had the bag which he put in front of me. Now there were three kits in it.

"Since when do you buy beauty products?" I asked

"Gaston...he's..."

"A really good salesman? He can make you like him so that you buy things you wouldn't normally?"

"He actually is a good guy."

Right. So now I have three nail kits just waiting  to be used. I tried one, it was nice...sort of. Pretty good for something I don't use.

On the good side, I stopped feeling bad that exact day about my weakness for salesmen. Especially ones like Gaston who make you like them even when they're pushing you to buy something you don't want. He's a supersalesman. But I look for him whenever I'm at the Rideau Center just so I don't end up with more stuff. I turn and walk the other way.

Hopefull Fashions For Spring

I think it's here. Spring, in all springly glory is melting the snow from several snowstorms. Trees are beginning to have buds. I am going out more for walks and best of all, stores trying to rid themselves of their winter stock are having sales.

I went to a shopping mall called Carlingwood the other day and a coat store was selling $200.00 coats for $37.00. I got two good quality winter coats for next year. The only think is, I'm on my diet and have lost about twenty pounds, so they might not fit. Well, one will fit because it has strings you can pull to make it fit better. I'm keeping them both, even if I do lose more weight, though, because they're a deal. They'll just be a bit big. Find with me.

I didn't know I would find any sales this year as Zellars went out of business in February. I was getting deals galore in the weeks leading up to their closing but they're gone now and so are the deals.

So I've been a bit worried about where I'll get my pants. Tops I can get anywhere but not as cheap as Zellars but that's okay, they're better made. But pants. Pants are so expensive if you're not at a discount store. Some brands are $100.00 a pop. Even $40.00 is more than I'm used to paying. What to do?

It has me thinking that maybe I'll go through with a plan I had in the ninties of last millenium. Making my own clothes. Back then, I came up with this plan because the fashions of the day were so horrible.

It began in the eighties with everyone wearing unisex army clothes. Battle jackets and boots. Some people even got married in combat boots. I never went along with that particular style but stuck to t-shirt and pants. I wish now I'd have dressed better when I was young but then, remember leg-warmers? Even dressing up back then made you look like an idiot.

So I thought when the nineties came around and there was no improvement to fashion, that I might learn how to design my own clothes. Just simple things. I bought a lot of fabric but never could afford the fees for the classes.

Then fashions got better. Now you see young girls wearing knee socks and looking good because of the type of skirts they wear. They're so cute and the fashions for older women are good, too. Heck, even men's fashions are improving, especially the shirts.

But now I'm losing weight and thinking I might be better off learning how to design pants so I can make some I can take in when I need to

Spring makes me so hopeful.