In a conversation between my wife, a Worcester Girl and another Worcester Girl – They were both amazed that Ocean State Job Lot in Sturbridge now sells alcohol – not the rubbing kind. Beer and wine can now be put in your shopping carts. I marvel at alcohol laws here and down South and other places. When I lived in Connecticut people were freaking-out at the loosening of alcohol laws when the cut off time for purchase went from 8 to 9pm now 10pm. Here in Mass and other places in New England, alcohol laws have been modified and according to the Worcester Girls you could never get booze anywhere but at a liquor store or “Packy” hahaha

I measure these Commonwealth liquor laws by the laws I grew-up with in Texas and many parts of the South. The Old “Blue Laws” were in effect, where you could not get alcohol on Sundays and holidays. I think those laws may have changed now?? I also remember being able to buy booze @ service stations, supermarkets, drug stores, almost anywhere. And get this – You could buy alcohol until 2am. LMBO It’s probably still the same today. My wife and I both wondered why anyone needs to buy booze at that hour. Do they really need it? Couldn’t they just wait until the next day? Nope! I remember there were also after-hour places where people would sell you illegal booze at a grossly-inflated prices, because waiting 6 hours till booze could be purchased again was just not an option. The alcohol you had already been drinking said you needed it NOW and at a jacked-up price! When you were lucid, you evidently did not buy enough to drink later. It was very poor planning. Goodness!!! No wonder drunk-driving laws have been strengthened!!!

I’m sure many lives have been loss over alcohol laws and drunk drivers everywhere. The next generation of Worcester Girls will be astounded at possible future changes. Just image, going to Ocean State for a pack of marijuana cigarettes at any hour? And as for alcohol, maybe it will be sold in vending machines like the military once did.

Yes, I have no spicy news for you today and the snap beans are NOT salty. If they were salty, my blood pressure would be in chaos. For seventeen years, I’ve heard of a (Phantom Gourmet Approved) place in Charlestown Rhode Island that I finally visited. I did not go willingly. I was dragged there complaining about the price monetarily and the price on my body. The place is the Nordic Lodge (Buffet). To me it’s just expensive gluttony. My family loves the Nordic Lodge and have wanted me to try it for years. I finally gave in and went for the experience.

The Nordic Lodge Buffet is an all you can eat place where you can gorge yourself on all sorts of delectable food items for a mere 93 Dollars (Adult Price). Yes Ninety Three Bucks for a single meal!!! That might be fine for those with disposable incomes, but I’m not fond of overly-expensive meals. The most I’ve ever stupidly paid more for a meal was, $169.00 (including wine), for a woman I once tried to impress. But that was years ago and another story.

I’m just not that impressed with this buffet. The food is good. You can get your fill of “Lobsta!” and people certainly do. One guy after his family had finished and were about to leave decided he had to have 2 more of the crustaceans before they departed and he did. I feel him….people stuff themselves like crazy because they feel they must to get 93 dollars’ worth. That’s the thing about a 93-dollar special meal….Can most really enjoy it? I had a main plate of lobster fritters, prime rib with beef teriyaki on top, Cole slaw, various shrimp and scallops. My second plate had various seafood salads, more lobster fritters and wastefully 2 chicken tenders and 2 chicken wings. Not only was I overstuffed, I was done!! Oh I forgot, I had some Pommes Anna-like potatoes that I summarily dipped in more butter. I felt I had to end with something sweet and because my diet is already filled with so much fruit, I decided to have some beautiful chocolate cake and tantalizing bourbon pecan pie. I see why the wait-staff ask if you want half a piece of dessert because it will just be wasted. I force-fed myself half the dessert before I finally surrendered. I wish I could have carried the cake and pie home for later but again, that’s the thing with buffets…stuff yourself now and nothing later but the ill-effects of it all.

Don’t get me wrong, I Love great food but I like to savor and enjoy meals. I also like to consume my food…..A few of you know what I’m trying to say. And for those of you who love the Nordic Lodge, please don’t hate me, but I have been to better buffets…less expensive and more varied. At the Nordic Lodge steak, prime rib, seafood & all the lobsters you want are the desired main items. The rest of the pickings to me are not that varied or delectable. One of the best buffets I have ever been to is the Caesar’s Buffet in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. The Caesar’s Buffet only cost “about” $44 dollars and condiments, bread, side dishes, salads etc., are so desirable that you can feel-up on them instead of the main entrees. I know, it’s all subjective…Subjective Gluttony. (Smile) Do me a favor…My family will not read this. Please don’t tell them how I feel about the Nordic Lodge.

Some classic TV commercials and childhood memories was brought to mind recently when my niece in the Midwest told me about a visit to an acquaintance’s house. She said the place stank so bad that she was afraid to sit down anywhere and also afraid of what might find her. ROACHES!!! I know, I know. I dislike those type of critters also.

My childhood friend and I used to laugh when Muhamad Ali would appear in TV commercials and declare to someone stomping their feet and dancing around roaches. Ali would say, “That’s No Way To Kill Roaches!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXzRmX9eK7k  And roaches to me was no laughing matter. As meticulously clean as my mother was, we had a roach-problem. I’m sure it was the area we lived in of the South. For some reason we could never get rid of our roaches and neither could the houses on both sides of our house. They were night roaches! My room was in the back of the house and I would freak-out when one came near me when I was watching TV. The kitchen was a different story. Turn the lights on and WOW it was like a different world. You could not leave anything on the stove, table or kitchen counter. Any treats I had would go into the fridge where things were safe. I actually thought roaches were a part of everyone’s life. But when life’s journey took me to other places I saw roaches were not a part of everyone’s life. Roaches had become just a memory…a bad dream.

After my childhood nightmare with roaches I have only fleetingly encountered them. Once in Southern California I stayed with a couple of guys for one-night while my new apartment was being readied. These guys had a roach-problem. But their roach-problem was because every fast-food container they had was not disposed of…just thrown about the floor wherever they finished it. Take about slovenly! Roaches crawled on anything moving and in all the food containers. I think I fumigated myself and anything I had with me after camping-out on that floor. The second time I encountered roaches was in Florida where the flying giant Palmetto bugs terrorized everyone….but they were mostly outside.

Like my niece, the only other time I was confronted with roaches was a visit to someone’s place in Harlem, New York. They were good people who lived in a high-rise building with hundreds of others. The rent-controlled place was immaculate and beautiful but full of roaches, like I had never seen. There were roaches in the sofa I was sitting on. They crawled over me as I sat. They were everywhere!!! You could not escape. It was like a Horror movie. I had to act normal…as if it was normal…so I wouldn’t offend. Yeah, that was No Way to Kill Roaches and certainly no-way to live either. A friend in Connecticut just told me today his yard is filled with rat snakes and a few copperheads…..that’s certainly no way to live. OMG!!!

“Everyone” in the Republican party is now rallying around Donald Trump because they care more about their party than they do the country. (My view)

I see Trump signs in people’s yards and bumper stickers on cars stating, “Make America Great Again.” My question, When did our wonderful nation stop being Great? Was it when a Black-looking President with a lily white mother get elected? A Republican Congress has been in full-force! Hasn’t it?

I am less angered by Trump than I am by by “people” who downgrade America because things are not going according to their beliefs. I have always Loved America and thought it to be Great…even during The Jim Crow era I grew-up in. I have loved this country even after reading about all the other historical ills. But I still get goose-bumps every time I hear our national anthem. Are people’s lives so awful that they must denigrate America?

I would like to get into the heads of the minions who inhale Trump’s mantra. I would like to feel what they think. Would I feel anger and fear? Or would I just feel dullness? hahahahaaaa Would I be able to make it back? The Flag is Still There! The Flag is Still Flying! America is Still Great!! To say America is not great is UN-American…maybe even dim-witted. But it’s all politics…..or something.

I Love our military and the people that volunteer to make it up. I Love Cops also, especially when they are defending us from crime. But let me add, I despise Cops that victimize innocent law abiding citizens because of some bias, social or personality disorder they might possess. Just imagine though, you are sitting in a mall restaurant and a wonderful Cop does what he is supposed to do and stops a deranged person from taking your life. It’s the Wild Wild West Baby and we need to be strapped to protect ourselves. But Therein Lies a much bigger Problem of us all being armed. We need Cops. Speaking of needs, do we need Marijuana? Yes, good old pot!
There is almost a national agenda or referendum to make marijuana legal or at least lessen the crime for having it. Lately I am seeing all sorts of news pieces and documentaries where more and more are accepting pot for recreational and medicinal purposes. There seems to be a celebration from many my age. You see them dancing, purporting the greatness of THC euphoria….where it’s now legal. I personally experimented with weed in the 70s. Most of the population was also. I remember working with people across the nation who had very important jobs. These people would go out for lunch with everyone and indulge. Then coming back, everyone would get their cologne out and just be BUZZED FOR THE REST OF THE DAY. Pot smoking and other drugs were also very much a part of the military…until drug testing began.
One of my old military buddies today who lives in another state has been goading me to take a trip to Colorado so we can “get down” with some Legal Pot. But at this time in my life, I am just not sure I want to do something like that anymore. I thought I would when I retired but it just does not appeal to me that much anymore. I wonder though…Could I enjoy myself and not be paranoid? Would I laugh and giggle while watching “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper”? Hahahahaaa I have heard the weed of today is nothing like the weed us Boomers once smoked. I have also read that a few have indulged in Colorado and imbibed more than they were supposed to and it did not end well for them.
I am not sure how long it will take…probably not in my lifetime, but Marijuana Laws will be a thing of the past. IMHO Even with all the problems of regulation and public safety concerns…..one thing that will trump everything else is the amount of revenue that can be made by states. I am very positive in my opinion of this. Just like alcohol, too much money will be made to prohibit it. No one will care much but the victims and their families’ of a vehicular marijuana homicide. Which bring me back to another memory of my marijuana days. People always loved to smoke and drive! They at least liked to be in a vehicle when they smoked. I never understood driving while high on pot. I wanted to be tucked warmly away in some safe hamlet listening to music getting ready for something…anything!!! I just knew I did not want to be in a car. And I could not drive like most did. I did not have that pot/driving skill. I was also just too paranoid. I wanted to be somewhere listening to Marvin Gaye…and I did.
We will see what the coming elections bring us. Will the boomer/hippies still be dancing in circles smiling and inhaling? I am surprised they are still inhaling smoke into their lungs. And eating it seems too much of a concentrated risk. I want to save my lungs for fresh air in my remaining years. Just give me 3 glasses of Old Vine Zinfandel. I’ll then be fine…just hunky dory and pot less!!!!!