Happy September, everyone! Can you believe it?
We have been having the most gorgeous weather; the days are summery and hot, but the early mornings are cooler and lovely, perfect for walking and for wearing t-shirts. I considered a photo project featuring all seventy-six of my tees, but a) that sounds boring, and b) I would almost certainly lose interest after the second day. You’ll just have to imagine them all.
The weather is also perfect for gardening. Friends, I cannot even describe my tomato situation. I harvested my first tomatoes on June 25, and it has been an avalanche of ruby globes since then. I thought the zucchini situation last year was out of control, but that was before 2025, The Year of the Tomato. For at least a month I have been picking at least a big bowl of cherry tomatoes, plus 7-15 Romas, every single day. I am drowning in tomatoes, I texted my friend Sandi (HI SANDI).
Autocorrect, in its wisdom, changed it to I am detoxing in ovaries.
I am going to victim-blame myself by saying that I wasn’t wearing my glasses, but it just occurred to me this very second that maybe there IS some kind of “detox diet” for “ovary cleansing” that involves a lot of tomatoes. Is there such a thing? I don’t want to check, my algorithm is weird enough as it is.
In any case, one cannot live on tomatoes (or ovaries) alone – OR CAN WE? No, probably we can’t – and so I found myself, as I do every week, at the grocery store.
I love peeking into other shoppers’ carts. I feel like it is a vignette of a life, or at least a hint into that person’s weekend plans, as evidenced by the woman who had six bottles of wine, a sheet cake, and at least ten family-sized bags of potato chips. Madam, I salute you, and can I join?
I almost always get into a semi-involved conversation regarding cart contents with other shoppers, and sometimes those conversations are life-changing. For example, one long exchange in the Covid Era led me to abandon almond milk forever and embrace cashew. Another woman told me gravely, and without substantiating evidence, that one should never purchase Boom Chicka Pop from Superstore, only Costco, and since we were at the former, I felt like this was a stealth information operation. I didn’t even have any in my cart, and so how or why we embarked on that topic, I do not know. Maybe she was a mystic.
Last week a lady was behind me in line and I smiled at her, ready to engage in conversation, at which point she looked away quickly and took out her phone. It was a gentle rebuff, so I turned away, but not without checking out the contents of her cart, which consisted only of three 4L containers of sour cream, a bakery box of 18 chocolate chip cookies, and a leopard-print blouse.
Oh, the variety of things one can purchase at Superstore! I’m sure the contents of my own cart would be semi-interesting to someone as nosy as I am; at the very least, someone ALWAYS comments on the volume of bananas I purchase each week. But I found myself dying of curiosity – what does one do with so much sour cream? That amount can’t possibly be for condiment use only! Or can it? What recipe could require 12 litres of sour cream? Is this for a food truck? I have all the questions and no answers, but I hope the woman enjoyed her cookies and is wearing the leopard-print blouse with aplomb.
Weekly Reading
What a great week of reading I had! Winners all around.
Everything Is Tuberculosis. Everything I ever knew about tuberculosis, I learned from Alice Munro stories, the Bronte sisters, a variety of Victorian novels, and Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday in Tombstone. I found this book, which dives into the infection that kills 1.25 MILLION people annually – yes, today – incredibly fascinating and also incredibly depressing. The author traces the fascinating history of this incredibly long-standing infection, showing how society’s view of it has changed dramatically. At one point it was considered the INHERITED disease of artists and poets, romantically claiming that as one’s body succumbed to “consumption,” one’s soul and mind expanded. Tuberculosis also influenced fashion and beauty standards, as the wasted, thin bodies of women would be paired with alabaster skin, rosy fevered cheeks, and wide glittering eyes. It reminded me of the “heroin chic” of the 90s. Interestingly, once it was discovered not to be an inherited disease but a contagious bacteria, TB’s PR took a dive, going from the disease of the upper class to that of poverty. And that it is, it is an infection that can be dormant until something like trauma, stress, malnutrition, and general impoverished circumstances hit. To this day it is a pandemic, one that could be prevented and helped but is not, due to general greed and lack of caring about things that are not in our faces. I started reading this on the same day I listened to Trolleyology -the science of ethics – on the Ologies podcast, and I can’t help conflating the two and the ethics around not stopping a preventable pandemic. And listen, caveat emptor: I loved this but I would never recommend this to germaphobes or anyone with any kind of health-related anxiety.
Audition. I loved this absolutely wild, mind-bender of a book, the likes of which I have never read before. This was one of the most original books I have ever experienced. It is made up of two parts with all of the exact same characters, same narrator, same point of view, but completely different narratives. I don’t even know how to describe it except that it is an exquisitely written character study of a woman’s life in two incredibly different realities. It could be interpreted in any number of ways but I think it shows the different paths a life can take, and a choice that can force one of those paths to be true. There’s lots of symbolism with regards to marriage, motherhood, and reproductive choices, and I would put another caveat emptor here: this isn’t a book for someone who wants a firm plot, lots of backstory and answers, and a logical timeline. It IS for someone who loves character books, little clues as to symbolic thoughts, and gorgeous writing.
Maggie; Or A Man and A Woman Walk Into A Bar. This was such a beautiful, delightful book about two non-beautiful, non-delightful topics: divorce and cancer. A woman receives a cancer diagnosis shortly after her husband tells her he is having an affair and is leaving her. She names her tumour Maggie, after the Other Woman. It sounds grim and it is – there are two young children involved, the affair comes out of nowhere, her mother died of the same cancer – but it is also strangely joyful and absolutely gorgeous to read. I loved it.
I hope you are all enjoying your long weekend, friends.
Typically there is not much difference for me with regards to long weekends – every weekend is a long weekend and no weekend is a long weekend – but we have had my older son here to stay for a couple of days while his roommate has houseguests and before classes start up again. My younger son started his new job working in the vineyard, so there has been a lot of excitement around here. September is such a Fresh Start Feeling month, even when there’s no Fresh Start for me personally. Have a beautiful week, everyone! xo
Ha, I LOVE looking at other people’s grocery carts! And then I try to imagine what their lives are like… it’s a fun way to pass the time in the checkout line. I’ve learned not to comment though- I once said to a guy “You must be having a party!” and he looked at me blankly and said “um… no.” I felt like I had passed judgment on his excessive soda and chip consumption, oops.
Even though I do like plot-driven books, Audition sounds super interesting! I like weird books like that.
I hope you’re going to tell us what you’re doing with all those tomatoes!!! Salsa? Spaghetti sauce? I’m trying to figure out if it would be better to have a zillion zucchinis or a zillion tomatoes… tomatoes seem more versatile.
Jenny, I ran into one of my fellow yoga teachers (this is years ago now, I had two teen boys) and she looked at my cart and said “Oh how wonderful, you’re having a party?” Lol, no, just my weekly shop! I didn’t have soda but I did have a lot of food!
I’ve been making fresh salsa, and adding tomatoes to all the dinners I can, but mostly I’ve been roasting and freezing the tomatoes for soup and sauce in cooler weather. I don’t really like to can – roasting and freezing is much more my style!
I’m laughing so hard at your comment about the cart and his reply. That sounds like something that would happen to me. 🤣
Hahaha! Whoops!
I am a cart-peeker but, like the commenter above, not a cart-commenter—EXCEPT to say something like “Oh, I love that stuff” or whatever, if I see someone is buying a somewhat unusual item I also love (not, like, a Hershey bar, but more like Werther’s salted-caramel cream caramels). I occasionally buy a caffeinated soda that comes in brightly-colored cans and I have had TWO separate surprisingly vigorous conversations with otherwise-bored cashiers/baggers, both teenaged boys, about what is the best flavor (blue raspberry, we all agree).
Swistle, are we sisters? Because that’s what I do too. Always to say “ooh that looks good!” or “oooh I have always wanted to try that, is it good?” I love those kinds of conversations!
I didn’t plant a garden this year, but my SIL needed to shed some tomatoes so I helped her out. I roasted them into the most lovely pasta sauce.
I want in on the wine/sheet cake/potato chip party!!!
One of my all time favorite books is a memoir about having TB in the 30s. The author’s first book was called The Egg and I, which was a memoir about her first marriage to a chicken farmer, and her follow up was called The Plague and I. There was no treatment other than being sent to a sanatorium until you either recovered or died – she recovered and turned the experience into a dark but funny book. It’s been forever since I read those books, so there might be a reread coming on.
OMG I am going to look that up right this second, right this second!!! Brb.
Okay the egg one is available at the library but the plague is not. Next step: looking it up on my kobo!
Your tomato avalanche sounds both glorious and terrifying. I can just see it escalating from a basket on the doorstep to a truck with a neon sign flashing: FREE TOMATOES!
The grocery cart spying cracked me up – but what really got me is that you actually TALK to strangers at the store. In Switzerland, that would be unthinkable. Even Zurich’s main station, with thousands of people streaming through, is super-library-quiet. I always wonder how bizarre that must feel for tourists.
Enjoy the sunshine and the boys being home – September really does feel like a reset!
Catrina, I guess I am the opposite of a Swiss person. I talk to EVERYBODY. The first time I took an Uber the driver missed the turnoff because we were in a super involved conversation about Winnipeg winters and gangs.
I agree that September has a Fresh Start feeling! I am trying to ride that feeling to some better habits!
Hahahaha – detoxing in ovaries. Yes, autocorrect, that sounds totally reasonable.
How do you keep the critters from eating your tomatoes??? I have three tomato plants, and they all seem to be prolifically producing fruit, but a) the tomatoes refuse to ripen TOGETHER, it’s always one or two at a time, and b) the instant they are ripe enough to pick, some chipmunk or squirrel or bird absconds with them. You know *I* don’t care, but my kid loves tomatoes and I would rather not pay $5.99 for her preferred tomatoes at the grocery store when WE HAVE TOMATOES GROWING IN OUR YARD.
Yes, looking at people’s grocery carts is SO fun. I most love the women in fitness clothes who have carts full of organic fruit and skim milk and carb-free pasta AND like, Magnum bars or something completely decadent. Yassssssss, I get it! It’s all about balance!
Once my husband and I bought a head of iceberg lettuce and a pint of ice cream and that was it. We got amused comments from the checker on that one.
It’s so funny, nothing has eaten our tomatoes. It must be because something is eating our peppers. It has to be a squirrel or something, because we have a deer fence around it. As soon as I get excited that a pepper is almost red/ yellow – it gets nibbled on.
Iceberg and ice cream! Yes! I love those carts. Once at Costco there was a person who was buying a mattress and a watermelon.
I don’t look at groceries so much, but when I am in line at the pharmacy I always try to guess someone’s age before the pharmacist makes them say their birthdays.
Oooooh I have never done that! Fun game!
I love peeking in other’s grocery carts. My mind always boggles when someone’s grocery cart is piled to overflowing. How big is that family? And how big must their grocery bills be? I rarely push a cart myself, as I only use one of those baskets, and, at the most, I will buy three bananas at a time. I guess I even you out when it comes to bananas! Lol
Pearl, you would have been in awe of my cart, back in the days when I was feeding two teen boys (and a lot of their friends!). My cart would be overflowing every week. My grocery bills are still huge even though I don’t have teens anymore, but I think that’s because everything is so expensive now. I think together we are averaging out the bananas!
I rarely look in anyone’s cart, even when they pile their groceries onto the counter in front of me. Oh, once in a while I glance at a man’s haul, which is always about the same: convenience foods, snacks, maybe some fruit, and beer and/or soda. Bread and lunchmeat, too.
My great pleasure in the grocery store is to shop for people who thoughtlessly leave their carts blocking the aisle whilst they wander away and grab things. I then put random items in their cart for them. I consider it a Public Service.
Now tomatoes–I am the grateful recipient of my sister’s abundant garden. She is constantly dropping tomatoes off to me, and I use them happily. I’ll find a way to use as many as she gives me.
Oh, when I lived in an area that was mostly elderly, I LOVED seeing old men and their carts. Sausages. Eggs. White bread. ALWAYS ICE CREAM. It made me smile every time. I am SO nosy, I am always peeking!
NANCE I AM GOING TO DO THAT. If I see an abandoned cart I’m going to drop something in there!
That explains the pack of Ensure that ended up in my cart once…I was with my mom, who was going through some health things, so I assumed SHE had put them there. She saw them, and didn’t want to pry (the opposite of Nicole, I suspect), but suspected I was buying them. We bought them, got home, and I said, “Where do you want your ensure?” And she said, “I thought it was your ensure?” Probably I left the cart at the end of the row while I grabbed something in a crowded aisle, and pissed someone off. Or, someone thought it was their cart, and got home and thought, “where’s my ensure?”
Hahaha it probably was someone who put it in the wrong cart! I have ALMOST done that before!
I low key judge people’s grocery carts in my head. So much processed food! But that’s what I bought when my kids were young, too. Food prep takes up a lot of time that people don’t have, especially when raising children.
Our garden was a flop this year. Too much rain all at once and way too hot. The only thing we had in abundance were cucumbers and herbs.
Food prep takes up so much time! I get it. I don’t know how people who work full time do it.
Too bad about your garden – that’s a disappointment!
Oh the tomatoes! What are you going to do with them all? Salsa? Sauce? Can you freeze them somehow? I look forward to finding out. Also that lady with the sour cream and the blouse. I laughed out loud. I bet the cashiers have some wild stories about what they see any given day.
Anna, mostly I have been roasting them and freezing them, to make sauces and soups when the weather is cooler. We are eating SO many tomatoes in salads and other dishes, like I’ve been making fresh salsa quite a bit (I don’t feel like canning!) I have onions, jalapenos, and cilantro in the garden so it makes for a very satisfying salsa.
I enjoy sneaking a peek of what people have in their carts, but I don’t usually comment about it. However, people always feel free to comment on whatever is in my cart, including the cashiers, which always makes me smile. Back in the day (old lady story coming now) I worked as a cashier at a Kmart, and I was trained to NEVER EVER make a comment about what people were buying. I was told, “Do not offer your opinions about anything unless directly asked, and even then, keep it neutral.”
Isn’t auto correct hilarious sometimes? I love that – it could really be a thing to detox the ovaries!
I just detoxed my ovaries with some tomatoes!
I don’t ever make comments that could be construed as negative – I always say that x looks good or that I’ve always wanted to try y. I could probably stand to be less chatty, I guess!
You worked at Kmart!! I love that!
This books all sound interesting, I’ve been thinking about reading the John green one for awhile since I lived there Anthropocene reviewed although my lack of interest in tuberculosis has been an impediment but I know he will make it interesting and character books, symbolic thoughts and gorgeous writing pretty much describes my reading taste!
I do look in other carts but mostly don’t comment and mostly worry others are judging me for the contents of my cart!
We are heading into the two best months in the okanagan on my opinion; September and October and I’m grateful we had such a relatively smoke and fire free summer ❤️
I would never judge your cart! And if you ever see me in Superstore say hi!
The tuberculosis book was so well written – it was fascinating and a really smooth read.
What is that woman doing with all that sour cream?? I do not think you can buy sour cream in that large of a container in the states. Is she going to bathe in it? How very odd! I do like sneaking a peak in other’s carts, too. It’s an interesting peak into their life.
We are having glorious weather, too. It’s going to get a bit cool this week but that is better than it being too hot since school starts tomorrow.
I had planned to read 2/3 books and your review has convinced me to try Audition!
LISA I WAS WONDERING THAT TOO. What could it be? WHAT COULD IT BE? I wish she had been amenable to conversation, because I was dying to know!
I also love to check out other peoples carts, but I try to avoid it as I tend to be somewhat judgey. I have never started a conversation except if someone is buying a large amount of something that must be on sale — for example 10 lbs of butter — I’m going to check that out.
I would LOVE that abundance of Roma tomatoes, but it is a lot of work, canning, making sauce or whatever you are doing with it.
It IS a lot of work dealing with all the tomatoes!
Oh I start conversations all the time, usually it’s like “oh that looks delicious” or “have you tried that before? I’ve always wanted to.”
I had a graduate student once who made a habit of collecting lists he found on the ground– mostly shopping lists– and compiling them into poems on tumblr. It was the most fascinating project.
Ooooh that sounds really interesting!
I just realized I do love looking at other people’s grocery carts, while simultaneously being afraid other people are judging my cart (WE’RE GOING CAMPING! I often want to yelp defensively).
I have that tuberculosis book on hold, have for a while, even though I am a bit germophobic. The second one reminds me a bit of a book I read recently where the two halves (you have to turn the book upside down to switch) brush against each other narratively only slightly, but chillingly. Very creative.
I am always up for a bit of grocery store small talk, but sometimes it goes horribly wrong (for me – I guess it’s entirely possible I have been someone else’s ‘horribly wrong’ on occasion)
My eyes are wide right now wondering how things go horribly wrong in the grocery store. I feel like I need details! Offline ones I guess. Once I got into a really involved conversation with the cashier about what we want done with our bodies when we die.
I love looking at people’s carts (and, also, I can’t help look at people’s recycling bags when it’s garbage day – we have to put it in blue bags that are transparent, so sometimes I’m like HOW DID THIS ONE HOUSEHOLD consume 40 L of milk in the last two weeks??).
Oh YES I find that kind of thing fascinating too!
Man, I was so excited to click on this post when I saw the title because I was like, WHAT DOES IT MEAN?! Still a great post, but I was expecting more ovary talk. Ah, well. 😉
I love peeking at people’s carts but do not want them looking at my cart!!! Especially when I’m doing one of my grocery shops where I’m just buying junk. Hopefully they think I’m buying for a big party and not for myself, lololol.
Hahaha Stephany, I actually did wonder if anyone would click on the site thinking “I need my ovaries detoxed” and become very disappointed. I mean, unless that person was really into tomatoes!
HOW IS IT SEPTEMBER?
Ok, now that we go this out of the way, we really do need a teleporter, because I’d come and take ALL THE TOMATOES off your hands. I didn’t grow anything this year and live vicariously through your and your bounty!
Remind me why you ditched almond for cashew milk. I am team soy (right now).
San, cashew milk is SO creamy and delicious. Almond just can’t hold a candle to it! I can’t speak for soy because I’ve never really warmed up to it, but I absolutely love all things cashew.
I also wish for a teleporter, because I cannot grow tomatoes in my yard, so I buy them at the Farmers’ market in summertime…I mean, it’s good to support farmers, but what if I could have delightful Nicole raised tomatoes in MY kitchen? And I could pay you and you could buy t-shirts or books! Or vegetable seeds for next year! Or treats for Rex! Win win!
J, I wish we were neighbours! You’d love Nicole’s Farm Fresh Tomatoes!
I cannot believe it’s September… and also I forgot it was Monday YESTERDAY because of the holiday and it felt like Sunday… (That’s why I’m so late to this post, sorry!)
I have all of those books on my holds already, and your approval is making me antsy to get my hands on them!
I’ve been harvesting a lot too, Nicole–but nothing like you, OMG!
Oooh you are going to love those books, Maya!!
Hi, Nicole! No, I can’t believe it’s September! Where did this year go? It’s been quite busy and I have not had a chance to read/comment much on my favorite blogs! It’s been hot the last few weeks (well, probably the humidity made it feel much hotter)….and I’m looking forward to some cooling down.
I put 2 of the books on hold — Maggie and Audition. Thanks for the recs!
I didn’t want to garden this year because we were gone a lot but we have a few volunteer tomatoes — and how could I not let/help them live if they voluntarily sprout?? So we’ve had a few heirlooms this year…but I certainly miss having lots of tomatoes for our salads! I wonder if tomatoes do detox the ovaries?? LOL
I, too, notice people’s carts but only when they have something fun/unusual. There was a gentleman who had a bunch of booze (hard liquor) and ice cream. I don’t normally comment but he said something that seemed to invite conversation so I said something like, “Oh, your cart looks like a lot of fun! Can we trade?” LOL
M!!! Hiiiiii!!! Welcome back!
Booze and ice cream is a winning combination! I feel like that guy would be a good time!
Maybe I should copyright/ patent this idea – it COULD be tomatoes are the way forward to ovary detoxification!
I love peeking into other people’s lives. My brother and I used to play a game on the freeway where we would guess details about people’s lives by their car. Old Toyota pickup with a dresser in the back; teenager moving to college. Black Escalade with tinted windows; 40 year old soccer mom. Anyway, we get hours of entertainment from it and we never know who is right! I mean I guess we can see if its not a lady, but we never know the full story, which is okay, because it is the guessing that is the bulk of the fun!
I went to Walmart Supercenter in New Orleans and the guy in front of me in line had like 6 2L bottles of coke and 10 frozen pizzas. My guess is that was going to be his dinner for the next several days but maybe he was having a party!? I never talked to him so we will never know.
Oh that’s a fun game too! I think I’ll try that sometime.
Party or just living the bachelor life – who can say!
Nicole, I just read two chapters of Audition and I am soooooo enjoying it!!! I love the writing, the hint, the overstay, the characters, please let me know if there are other books like this, I want to read them all!!!! What a delight to start the day this way.
oh. I also always like to see what others put in their cart and “judge” them. haha….
I’m so glad you love it and I’ll let you know if I come across anything else similar! I am going to read more by that author for sure.
I often note other people’s groceries, especially when their cart is full of crap. I know, it’s not nice to judge, but damn, people should be taking better care of what they put into their bodies. Right? Talk about detoxing your ovaries! That would be a good place to start.
I’m here for the seventy-six t-shirt posts. I’m shocked you can’t commit to it. I’m so disappointed. 🤣
Nicole, I never think about tuberculosis. I had no idea people in the world still suffered from it; very sad indeed.
Hahaha can you imagine if all I posted was like 76 tees? Another day, another black t-shirt!
I enjoy seeing what other people are buying. Especially their groceries. I hope to see something new and inspiring, but often find I’m looking at the same old, same old.
Name-dropping just cuz you might know who Lilias Folan is/was… I was shopping in Kroger one afternoon and put fresh beets in my cart. A few aisles later I passed by Lilias. She glanced in my cart, looked at me and shouted: “beets, I need beets!” She thanked me for reminding her to get some— and darted off toward the produce department on the other side of the store. Fun to know you’ve influenced a yoga celebrity.
WOW WOW WOW!!! Lilias Folan!!! Ally, you’re an influencer!!! What a great story!
People watching is the best past time (pastime?) there is. Whether it’s their grocery carts, what they do in public (whether intended or not), or even just how they move. Can you tell I’m a classic introvert? 😉
I hope the tomato bounty brings you sunshine in mid-winter, when you use the frozen, roasted ones to make something wonderful.
People watching is great – people are so interesting! Everyone living their lives and stories all at the same time.