Veggies to Go

This week has been overwrought with an influx of distractions which have caused the blog's authoress to becomes a bit drained. In short, the blog has been neglected. It's not that the creative juices aren't flowing. It's just that they aren't coming out of the usual spigot with the usual force. When I feel the well start to dry up a bit, I find myself paying extra special attention to the extremely random and obscure. While it may not make for outstanding subject matter, I am a firm believer that EVERYTHING is material so I try to find a way to turn the outlandish into some form of entertainment. I didn't say I was good at it, I just said I tried to do it.

Yesterday when the union man 5 pm whistle sounded and I was scattering to my car along with the rest of the State Government roaches awakened by a kitchen light I was nearly run off the sidewalk by a very determined pedestrian. Said pedestrian was pulling behind her a wire cart on two wheels. You know the ones I mean, used to haul groceries by residents of New York City and used to tote knitting needles and yarn by elderly women too old to drive. They tilt a little to the front and can cause a major bottle neck if wheeled into unsuspecting crowds. There's always some stooge thinking it's a great way to transport his booze down Jackson Avenue in New Orleans during the Zulu Parade on Mardi Gras Day.

Anyway, this primitive and non-motorized vessel hopped the curb and nearly caused me to take a nasty spill. No doubt I would have been run over like those poor people in Wal Mart the day after Thanksgiving had I taken a tumble. Nothing and I mean NOTHING gets in between a State Government worker and his or her car at 5 pm. Once I was able to regain some equilibrium and recover I noticed that this oddity was more obscure than I had initially thought. Bobbing and weaving in between the State slugs and bureaucrats was a cart overflowing with roughage. It was a proverbial vending machine on wheels of every conceivable leafy green flora you could think of. Swiss Chard? Check. Romaine? Check. Boston Bibb? Check. Field Greens? Check. Baby Spinach? Check. Broccoli Rab? Check.

Had Granny Greens been in the general vicinity of a Farmers' Market or even a Whole Foods, this wouldn't be an issue. But what struck me was not JUST that this geriatric woman was the Pace Car of nomad's wheels, she was completely out of place. There isn't a single produce stand or vegetable stand within MILES of the State Capitol. There are no road side fruit and veggie stands anywhere in the downtown Austin area. A taco cart? Sure. A cappuccino buggy? Oh yeah. But to date, no one is peddling salad greens near the Capitol. I couldn't help but wonder, "Where in the world is this woman coming from and where on EARTH is she going in such a hurry? It's not as if those raw veggies are going to melt or spoil or lose their flavor if she doesn't break the sound barrier getting them home".

This "story" doesn't have a big finish or a moral. It was just one of those completely out of place and bizarre occurrences that caught my attention and made me wonder, had I not been so agile and had Granny Greens been in a bit more of a hurry, and had I collided with her lettuce and been hurled into the air and landed on my head, would that have constituted a "tossed salad"?