New Growth

Is it redundant to say that: “new growth”? Does the word “growth” indicate or at the very least imply that something is “new”?

(Is it possible I think too much ... about mostly the wrong things?)

I am thisclose to buying my own printer, in no small part because of my latest adventure at Wal-Jack. First of all, when I arrive at the store, I see a woman standing in front of MY commercial Kodak printer. So I think, No big deal, I have 45 minutes or so to kill before I am supposed to play tennis, anyway, plus I need tennis balls. I wander over to the sporting goods and grab 2 cans, then stroll back to the printer: The woman is STILL there!

(Said as if I have not spent at least an hour at said printer, myself, on at least one occasion.)

I’m telling you: Karl has a Pac-Man machine (which also includes Ms. Pac-Man!) in his basement; I really don’t see any reason why someone shouldn’t get me the big Kodak printer.

I stroll over to the scrapbooking section (??), and then back to electronics, and finally, the woman has finished her printing project. I belly-up to the printer, only to discover that the only thing on the screen is a cursor which moves around when I touch the screen, but does nothing else.

“Uhm, does this printer need to be reset or something?” I ask one of the women working in the photo lab.

She gives me sort of a blank look. “Well, sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t,” she says with a shrug — and then makes absolutely no move to come over and take a look at the printer. (OK, so there were several people in line, waiting for their photos ... which is something I was going to do, also, but by this point, I had no interest in being in the store any longer.)

: (

The good part about the abbreviated trip to Wally World was that it allowed me to take a drive out to the lake. And as irritated as I was, along with the general sadness of the day, I could not help but notice an abundance of butterflies flitting around from place to place, throughout my drive.

I am quite glad I have started to notice the world around me.

: )

Along with the habaneros, the cacti/succulents also seem to be thriving. I was pleased to see some new growth (I will use the term; redundancy be damned!) on the pencil cactus and the aloe plant upon my return from the Windy City.

Perhaps you also need to spend some time away, sometimes, to notice.

Anyhoo, I actually wanted to write something along the lines of new growth. And I actually wanted to write it in my new OFFline journal, which is going to be something of a new adventure for me ... but then, I was unable to print the photos I wanted to include (above), so there ya go.

(Is it Friday yet?!)

; )