Saturday Errands

Walker woke me up early today so we could pick up Diva and go see her exhibit at the regional art center.  It's been snowing for days, but today the winds were howling, too.  There weren't many people on the streets and we were the only ones at the art center who did not have employee badges.

The theme of the show was a celebration of cultural diversity, which in all honesty is not what this area is known for.  I'm glad the schools teach cultural diversity because the kids don't get much exposure to it in every day life. When I was Diva's age, our school had one family with two African American kids and one family from India.  When I was in fifth grade, we had a week long "culture fair" which I now realize was some sort of sensitivity training because a Hmong family was going to be sending two kids to our school.  What I remember most was one of the teachers telling us not to pat the kids of the head, because it was disrespectful in their culture.  The thing is, I don't ever remember us kids patting each other on the head to begin with.  This area has seen an increase in different ethnic groups in recent years, but we're still a long way from being truly diverse.

Diva's self portrait

After the exhibit we decided to go for lunch at a Chinese restaurant that has lots of shrimp dishes on the buffet.  Diva is a big fan of shrimp.  A few doors down, I noticed a reptile shop I've not seen before, so of course I wanted to go in.  At the door, the clerk motioned for us to stop outside.  It was immediately apparent that one of the larger critters had gotten loose.  We watched the cleark chase him around for several minutes before he was captured and we were invited in.  I don't think we'll be adopting any reptiles any time soon.  That lizard was jumping around, knocking stuff over, and generally wreaking havoc on the store.  It was interesting, though, to see all the snakes and lizards and to read all the info cards on their habitats.  One large scaly thing was bigger and more active than my cat.  Of course that's the one Walker liked the best.

After lunch we had one more stop to make, in the same strip mall.  I needed to get measured for a compression sleeve, which my doctor says I will need to wear whenever we fly.  Our vacation is still a few weeks away, but sometimes they have to be custom sewn.  Walker had called the store to make sure they carried the sleeves.  He also asked the store hours.  When we got there, however, the two women working told us we have to make an appointment and come back on a weekday for a fitting.  Neither of them were trained in taking the measurements, and the staff that is trained will do it by appointment only.  That information would have been more helpful had it been shared when Walker called.  Sigh.