Stranger Danger...

I was in the P.O. this morning for an interminable length of time. There was a line stretching out of the P.O. and only two people working at the counter (the third was handling passports). One amusing thing...I went in and got in line and Mr. Pointy Sticks went off to fill in Return Receipt Requested labels and such. While standing there I looked up and discovered that my brother and S. were in line a good bit ahead of us and I chatted with them for a moment. I then got into a conversation with two women who came in behind me, one of whom (Liz Mathews) sells jewelry on Etsy. (I didn't know her name until I asked...I wanted to see what sort of jewelry she made and some of it is very nice.) Meanwhile, when Mr. Pointy Sticks was done, he got in line several people behind me (he doesn't believe in place-holding). I realized that I was holding a package to mail and only had a couple bucks with me, so I caught his eye, sort of in the middle of the conversation with the two women and said, "Hey, I need some money." And he pulled out his wallet and handed me a twenty and the women said, "Whoa! Will that work for us?" I said, "No, I just seem to have the touch." And I turned to my brother, who was standing up at the counter with S., and I said, "Hey, I need some money." And, somewhat confusedly he started to get some money out of his pocket...and I cracked up. Told him I was just kidding. Startled the women a little, I think, and then got a laugh.

After standing in line I finally got up to the counter, only to discover that I didn't have the right zip code. And instead of pulling out a zip code directory the woman behind the counter said, "You can get the right zip code from the Automatic Package Center (APC) in the lobby." So, out I go to stand in another line. There were two women in line, one right before me and one right behind, both of whom had three or four year old daughters with them. Well, the first little girl looked up at me and then turned to her mom and said, "Is she a stranger?" The mom glanced at me and said, "Well, do you know her?" "No," said her daughter. "Then she's a stranger." The little girl looked at the older man waiting in front of them and said, "Is he a stranger?" And the mom said, "Yes. Anyone you don't know is a stranger." And, as this little girl is sort of dancing around in this small area, the mom kept saying, "Sarah, get over here!" "Sarah, stand next to me." We weren't near the doors...this was a little bay in the post office box area. There was ample room for the little girl to dance around without getting out of sight.

Then the little girl behind me caught sight of my shirt and said to her mom, "She has a bird on her shirt." And the mom said, "She sure does. That's a pretty bird." And I talked to the little girl about the bird and the fact that the bird was sitting on a teacup and how silly that was...stuff like that. And I thought, "What a difference in attitude." It was certainly a pleasanter way to pass the time.

Anyway...I'll save you my rant about how stupid the APC is. Instead, I'll leave you with a picture of some pretty yarn....


The last of the skeins I ordered from Etsy shops. This is Chestnut Ridge in the Crown Jewels colorway. So soft and so pretty.