City Views, Country Dreams

A very good Tuesday evening from New York.

Weather forecasters told me this morning that I should expect thunderstorms.
Those storms seem to have passed us by. The air is breezy now, and it is still a while until sunset.

This was my longed for day off. Last night I stayed at the shop while the monthly crew cleaning took place. This morning, when my little alarm clock did its beeping, I decided that I would get up...after a 30 minute re-entry from dreams ville.

Then, up and to the shower, and then down to the basement laundry room to take care of much overdue laundry. All done, folded, and put away before 10 a.m. Just about then, my phone rang and I had the immense pleasure to having a dear friend tell me about her just completed trip to Paris, Venice and some other spots in Italy. It is almost as good as traveling there myself, to hear what she saw, experienced, ate. (All of you, from your various locales, also help me to not feel too badly about working long hours in New York. I do thank you!)

I did a bit more apartment improvement duties, followed by grocery shopping, and lunch. Then ... it occured to me that a nap might just be the luxury that I sought. It was. In a few hours, I did wake up somewhat refreshed, and went out for a walkabout, taking my umbrella along just in case. The wind was definitely up, and the air was marvelous. My hair was blowing all over the place, not tangling mind you, and it felt wonderful.

Got home in time to do some reading, messing about in my new sketchbook with pencils, ink and paints (just trying to keep my playful visual creativity flowing without editing) and then fixed myself a delicious pasta meal, followed by scrumptious strawberries in cream. Just ate the last strawberry. Got more left for tomorrow! I do love this berry season.

Let us back track a bit. Good news on the work front. All the noise that got started at our managers meeting, seems to have taken hold. Now the former official line about "making do with the shop budget you have" has transformed itself into "lets err on the side of over-staffing, etc." I do have to laugh a bit. It is great to have one's strongly held opinion transferred to the powers that be. I do not mind a bit that someone else may champion this notion as his/her own idea. I just want the extra staffing.

My return to the shop was full of catch-up, and lots of stored up problems to be dealt with.

Some of you all asked about what I have selected from the current collection for my "clothing allowance." So far, just one light-weight ribbed linen pullover sweater in a blue-purple that we call iris. It is an easy to wear mixable piece. My allowance still allows my choosing ca. $400 more worth of items, but I am not sure what else I may take this month. It is always possible to hold the funds over to the next month and have a real splurge.

It is quite difficult to do the store managing without my assistant, but as of June 10 I will have the loan of an excellent sales associate (not an assistant mgr) from another shop. She will be with me for the summer, and I will be able to mentor/train her with the idea that she might wish to eventually become an assistant manager.

Right now, the work is strenuous, but I do feel that my staff realize (for the time being anyway) that we are all in this together. This is a major change from the atmosphere in the shop when I joined them a year ago.

That digital camera purchase cannot be too far off, so begin to prepare yourselves for an onslaught of visual imput. I know that I will need lots of tech help, and also know that I can count on you for that help when I call.

Every day when I read various postings and blogs, I continue to be encouraged by what a generous bunch of people have been gathered together here.

Pleasant dreams to all of you!

xo