Wool and Spice

I went to Costco yesterday and hadn’t been inside the store more than five minutes when I could feel my jeans hugging my butt a little tighter. I’ve experienced the phenomena before. All those calories just ooze out from the bulk packs of 4 pounds of butter, 120-piece petite quiches, family-size southern-style deep-fried chicken dinners, marbled New York Strip steaks, triple packs of 48-ounce boxes of Frosted Flakes, double bags of Nestle’s semisweet chocolate chips, 60-piece breakfast sausage links, 3-pound boxes of fruitcake, 36-count cartons of 100-calorie snacks, gallon cans of olive oil, 25-pound bags of rice, 12-inch apple pies snugged up next to pumpkin cheesecakes, holiday cinnamon rolls and jumbo containers of bite-size brownies.

Blocked by the concrete walls these free-range calories become the worst kind of indoor air pollution. You inhale calories without even enjoying the sensory experience of eating and they’re the kind that go directly to your thighs. Soon your mind becomes numb by the bargain that is All Things in Bulk. When you wake up at home you find purchases you don’t remember making. Like a tin of Danish butter cookies bigger than Denmark itself. And that box of 120 petite quiches.

I put on my sweatpants. We had quiche for dinner. Tasty.

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Does anybody else feel leaderless right now? I mean, George Bush hasn’t been much of a president but we are going through the worst financial turmoil in decades and he’s checked out. He’s visiting Peru this weekend for heaven’s sake. Where are the speeches encouraging “my fellow Americans” not to panic? Where are the meetings with Congress and the Treasury and the Federal Reserve? Do you think his apathy is an act of laziness or is it something else? And Hank Paulson has stepped back after spending billions of dollars on Wall Street which hasn’t eased the financial situation — ask our retirement accounts or what’s left of them.

Meanwhile Congress and the auto industry are playing chicken with 3 million jobs. Although I have to admit I’m siding with Congress on this one: if the car companies want taxpayers to foot the bill for another multi-billion-dollar bailout they’d better be ready to account for how the money is going to be spent and how their compensation is going to be cut this year and next. I’m not in the mood for another AIG-type bailout. Whatever happened to personal responsibility?

George Bush has the nerve to chide Congress for going on recess without solving the auto industry crisis. Was that phoned in from Peru or did he leave a note on his desk in the oval office? Don’t get me started on the critics who are complaining that Barack Obama hasn’t snapped his fingers and solved all our woes. As far as I know George Bush is still the president until January 20, 2009.

Bah.

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Tomorrow, I promise knitting progress.

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And maybe some fruitcakiness. Just because I love all eleventy of you who come here.

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And finally because it’s Saturday, here’s the sky through a maze of tree branches and a mess of squirrel nest.