A Day of Wind and Soup

Ah, yes, it's definitely a November day -- the cold, blustery kind of day that can send trash cans and recycling bins flying down the street for blocks.

I'd heard the forecast last night so I expected the colder temperatures and set my trash out last night. So this morning, when I heard the bump, bump, thud screeeeeeech of my recycling bin heading for Arkansas, I pulled on my jeans and my favorite old green sweater.

I grabbed another last bag of trash I'd missed and headed out the front door to see all the trash cans in the neighborhood tossed onto their sides, including mine. I set it right, disposed of the extra bag, and started looking for the stray blue bin that had once sat next to the cart.

Ah, yes, there it was, sitting proudly in the middle of the street about a half block away. There are only a couple of us who recycle, and Sylvia's bin was still at home, next door. (I think her recycling must weigh more than mine.)

I nearly caught up with my bin when the wind scooted it ju-u-ust a lit-t-t-t-tle farther. OK, a couple of steps later, and another gust caught it. Dang it! Finally, just this side of the grade school I grabbed it and turned on my heel to take it back home like a naughty run-away child.

Brrr! With the turn, I realized I was heading right into the wind which was finding every hole in my sweater. Dang! I'll have to remember to wear a shirt under this!

Well. There's my trash can again, on its back, taking a nap. First, the recycling bin went back to the side of the house, its contents long gone. Then back to pick up the trash can again.

It was another exercise in futility. Four more times I'd have to pick up the cart before the trash truck finally arrived. Then I could finally drag it back to its regular spot on the west side of the house. At least my trash didn't travel on the wind!

The morning was finished out with several phone calls setting up interviews through the rest of the week. There are a lot of nice people out there, people with interesting stories about everyday life. It's a joy to talk to them.

I checked the mailbox and had a catalog from Barnes and Nobel. Hmmm, I thought, this would be great to browse through over lunch.

Ahhhh, cold and windy... what could be better than SOUP today? Armed with the catalog and my coat, I drove to Panera Bread with hopes of sitting at a sunny table with a bread bowl filled with Chicken and Wild Rice soup. I got better than 80 percent of that -- no bread bowls left today, sorry. No, no baguettes either. We weren't expecting 400 people today. But yes, we do have a loaf of whole wheat we'd be glad to cut. Yummmm.

Most of the 400 had left by the time I got there, so it wasn't hard to get a sunny table near a family of four women and a girl. Obviously it was a three-generation group: 4-year-old girl, mommy, her sister, grandma and grandma's sister. I think the mommy and her sister were taking grandma and her sister to the airport but they stopped for a girls' lunch out first. It was fun to watch them poring over receipts from a recent shopping trip figuring out who bought what and how much money they saved with their discounts.

I thumbed through the bookstore catalog while I enjoyed every spoonful of soup, the sun wrapping around my shoulders like a cozy quilt. Hayden's "The Heavens Are Telling" (Sunday's anthem at church) played in my head. Ahhhh.

But now it's time to return to reality. On the drive home, I played dodgeball with all the neighbors' trash carts that had lined up in the center of the street. Man, I didn't realize they were nearly as big as my car!

Y'all keep warm, and have a bowl of soup. Baby, it's cold outside.