Tuesdays at Trader Joe's

This post is dedicated to Zane (my nephew),

Alia (the one who invited me to waffles last Saturday,

Hannah (Alia's roommate), and JoAnne (my sister),

the Tuesdays at Trader Joe's Gang.

Almost every Tuesday at 4 p.m. the same old gang

piles into JoAnne's green Prius to head across town to Trader Joe's.

Four of us are in college--

three normal college people and one middle-aged one.

And today, the middle-aged one took her camera

to Trader Joe's.

I didn't intend to shoot pictures of the trip;

it was spontaneous, motivated by the goofy group I was with.

I don't imagine the following will be

of interest to some of you who read here,

but here's a record of today's trip.

 I should start here, after leaving my last class at 3:30 p.m..

I went outside, and it was warm and lovely.

And there were the cutest little clouds in the sky.

And the trees glowed, and the leaves danced about on the breeze.

I came home and was delighted to remember

that I had "spoon truffles" in the fridge.

So, I ate a big one.

Spoon truffles are what you get when you're too lazy

to form the little balls and roll them in cocoa.

You just put the mixture in the fridge and eat it by the spoonful.

I love this stuff!

Maple, coconut, cocoa, vanilla, coconut oil, a pinch of salt.

Then my sister came, and we all piled into the car

and headed across town, talking about the election

and the run from which Alia had just returned.

Here's Zane, his cart filling quickly.

Notice he likes bananas.

I don't know about anyone else,

but when I enter Trader Joe's, I beeline

straight for that place behind Zane to grab

a free mini cup of coffee and whatever sample they're serving.

That's the main reason I go.

(Not really, I go just to be with the Gang.)

Zane and I noticed that the turkeys have landed.

(You heard it here first.)

Oh, and early on in the shopping trip,

I noticed leaves under Zane's applesauce.

I said, "Awww, that's cute. You decorated your cart for autumn!"

"No, it came pre-decorated," he said.

"I picked this cart because it had leaves in it."

Alia saw me and instantly went into model mode:

eyes squinty/almost glaring and legs crossing each other

in front of her as she walked.

She's a natural.

And then Alia thought I might like to take a photo

of her demonstrating her juggling skillz.

Look at her! She can juggle one lemon.

With one hand!

And Hannah, in the background, is totally impressed.

Zane and I are always finished shopping first,

so we do things like look for silly wine names.

Goats in Villages.

That's not very alluring.

JoAnne and Alia checking out before Zane and me.

How did they get ahead of us?

There's Zane bagging his bananas.

Did you know that some Olympic track athletes

eat a whole bunch of bananas in the height of training?

One Jamaican sprinter said he eats

more than 20 a day during track season.

FYI.

But the bananas on top of the bag are just a cover.

Here's the real health-food diet of a college student.

That blur is Zane, riding his cart to the car.

Wow.

Oooooh. They're so cute!

(They really are.)

And they have loaded the back of the Prius well.

And now we're driving home.

The sun is setting to our right.

We stopped at ballot box so Alia could drop off her ballot.

(What a good citizen.)

And then we went home.

And I ate my Chicken Tikka Masala,

the only thing I bought at Trader Joe's.

It was a fine adventure with some fine people.

See you guys next Tuesday

(and a whole bunch of times before that, too, 

since two of you live directly above me

and since the other two stop by often!).