Go or no-go
The poorly framed photo has nothing to do with the content of this post.
I’m gonna riff off the old Sault Ste. Siberia Penney’s store (and others), since Pooh and Margaret kinda got my brain off on a tangent. J.C. Penney *was* a relatively affordable place to buy clothing if you were not a terrifically affluent family and we bought stuff there. I suppose there were also the “dime stores”. We had three. Woolworth’s, Kresge, and Scott’s. Did they even carry clothing? I can’t remember. I do remember lusting for a Barbie bridal gown, but they never had one so The Commander made a beautiful one for my Barbie. I suppose the last Barbie bridal gown got off the truck in Traverse City or some place and those yooperland kids would just have to deal with tennis outfits or whatever. (My kids are probably ROFL if they are reading this.)
The store The Commander liked the best was The Hub (womens’ clothing). Unfortunately we were only occasional customers there. A bit too expensive for us. There were a few other stores selling womens’ clothing but I suspect that the sometimes snooty Commander regarded them as “old lady” stores. And not without reason. I don’t think the inventory changed all that often (like for years) and once all of the hats in one of them had to be fumigated (or whatever) because of lice. In all fairness, The Comm’s early career was at the downtown Detroit Hudson’s, which was an elegant store when she worked there but was imploded (on purpose) a number of years later.
Nowadays, I am all about comfort and ordering online from trusted sources. Elastic-waist skirts, tights, leggings, base layer shirts. Tie-dye. Anything that’s comfortable and makes me look a little crazy.
Fun fact, my MacMu granddaddy worked in downtown Detroit (he had something to do with building contractors) and he used to see old man Kresge in the streets at lunch time or whenever. I don’t think he knew Kresge personally. He also used to meet my mother (his daughter) for lunch at places that, well, I’ll just say, by the time she moved to the yooperland with my dad, she knew the difference between pasties (long a) and pasties (short a). Don’t worry, she was of age on these lunch junkets, if barely.
So. Go or no-go. Until now, go/no-go was when my team got together before a software release to decide whether it was a “go” or maybe we had to pull it back. I don’t think we EVER didn’t decide on GO. We were that good. Tomorrow’s go/no-go is do I go to the monthly EPA retiree lunch (with the GG) or not? I have not been to one of these lunches yet. If the GG goes alone, I get to be spac-i-fied. On the other hand, I know a lot of those people because I also worked with them long ago. And I was pretty dern bored today*. If the weather permits. If I do go, I hope CDP and wife are there.
*I am okay, just haven’t cobbled together a new routine yet. I WILL GET THERE! CHEERS!
January 19th, 2026 at 8:18 pm
If you go once, you can decide whether you want to continue next time or bag it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained as the saying goes. John enjoys his Boeing luncheons although he doesn’t attend all of them.
January 19th, 2026 at 11:31 pm
I have days of not knowing how to approach the day. But luckily?!? a flood in the basement has provided my job for the past few weeks and likely the few months. This has moved beyond simple clean-up and into complete reorganization.