Apparently on Thursday afternoons, Mount Royal grocery store is the hip place to be if you drive a burgundy Oldsmobile with burgundy interior and you have completely white hair. Or if you, like me, had to pick up some milk on your way home because a gallon of milk only lasts four days in your household. I pulled into the Mount Royal parking lot, thinking it was going to be a quick in and out procedure, a grab the milk and get out one-two punch. Oh, how wrong I was.

It turns out that old ladies love me. Maybe it's like the vibe that some people send off to babies and animals that makes them feel instantly safe and comfortable... that sort of good-natured gentle kind spirit that just rolls of some people. Sometimes I have that effect on babies and animals, but lately, I've been getting showered with attention from senior women. The night of the wedding in Las Vegas, after I enjoyed the lovely facilities of one of the many fine restrooms at the Bellagio, I was approached by three absolutely tiny grey-haired ladies who accosted me with questions and comments: "Oh, don't you look beautiful! Why are you so dressed up? What are you doing? Oh, a wedding, how nice! Are you the bride? Oh, look at you!" I had to escape; it was too much flattery and though these women were tiny and very sweet, I'm sure that underneath their delightful veneers there lay the souls of muggers or ninjas. One or the other, I'm not too sure.

While I was trying to make a run for the dairy aisle at Mount Royal, I was blocked several times in the aisles by some more of my fan club. They didn't purposely block me, they just were meandering down the aisles at their own pace, and I had no choice but to pace myself behind them until I could squeeze by. Twice, however, some of the women would stop walking entirely to have a little chat with me. "Oh, you're so polite; you don't need to walk behind me... I'll stop and let you by so you can do what you need to do. Are you a student? You're such a nice girl! Oh, look at your hair!" And so on. So far, I don't seem to have this effect on older men, and I'm not too sure if I'm hurt by this or not. Old men can be funny, but sometimes they're just dirty old men.

In other news, a cute little girl just came to our apartment selling candy bars, and of course, Cassi, Rachel and I were all perfectly willing to help her in her mission to go to some camp in Sturgeon Lake. Actually, all we really wanted was the chocolate.