Today started off wonderfully well. I got up early and drove to Moose Jaw to find the teehsirts at the Souvenir Shop that the visiting British bishop and his wife wanted to get for their family and to make the drive worthwhile I arranged to do some other shopping and see some friends.
The particular store I planned my trip around in order to get some winter flip flops that only that store carries, is now permanently closed!! It is a major chain store so I am very surprised the closure is not reflected on the national website. O well, I got the other shopping done and I can go to some of that chain's stores here in Regina tomorrow.
I had morning tea with a grand friend and we had the most wonderful time of prayer together before I left. The caffeine-free Earl Grey tea we enjoyed put me in a mellow mood!
I had lunch with another friend. We had such a good chat over our delicious lunch and then we did a short tour of a store next door to the restaurant.
It is the first time in a long time that I have been in Moose Jaw with the intent of doing any shopping and I was shocked by some of the changes in the stores that are still open for business there. Some of the department and smaller discount stores have greatly reduced their stock of household goods and clothing and have doubled and tripled the size of their discount grocery departments. Must be a sign of the stressful financial times. I would love to be able to take better advantage of discount groceries, but most of the canned and prepared foods are from brand name companies that use corn products and we can't eat those at our house. Anyway, it was quite eye opening for me! Losing a major chain shoe store makes me wonder how long some of the other clothing retail chains still running there will be open. They have lost quite a few in the past couple of years. First Zellers, then Penningtons, then Northern Reflections, then a couple of smaller boutique retailers downtown, now Sears....the residents are having to drive to Regina and other places more and more often for clothes and other things.........well, not for discount groceries though!!
Coming home I drove into thick forest fire smoke blowing down from the northwest, probably quite a bit of it from the huge fires in Manitoba. I couldn't see our own city skyline rising up from the flat praire lands until I was less than 2km away from it! The thick smoke and strong odor are making my lungs ache. From previous experience I have learned that once that smell is in my nose it seems impossible to get rid of, even long after the smoke has dissipated. Hopefully, with the intense heat set to hit us again for the weekend, the smoke will go away because the two combined, along with my being forced to keep the windows shut here at home, will make for a miserable few days.
I am thirsty! So, off to get a big glass of sparkling water and have a little sit down in front of the tv. I have a boxing match I want to see before the weekend rolls around. Now is a great time to do that. I have been pondering some of the items of prayer from our Diocesan prayer meeting last night and I think I also need to spend some time in more serious prayer for our diocesan workers and the plans that are being made for the future.
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