Shopping at Jungle Jim's

When we took our daughter back to school last week, we made a pit stop at this amazing place...Jungle Jim's International Market.  It's not far from Dayton and only about 1/2 hour from the school so I hope we will be stopping there again.

Here is what I bought:

big jar of tahini (good for hummus)
Middle Eastern couscous (the big pearl kind, I love this stuff)
quinoa (haven't tried it yet)
steel cut oats (so different from rolled oats)
red lentils

As well as good ol' American type foods, they have a huge array of international foods and products.

• World of Rice, with more than 40 varieties
•  Mercado Gigante - 400 feet of authentic Hispanic groceries
•  78 olive oils from Italy, Greece, Spain and France
•  Teas from 15 different countries
•  Chutneys, dals and spices by the real auto-richshaw from India
•  Fine chocolates from Switzerland, Belgium, France and Germany, as well as the USA
•   Biscuits, jams and curds from England
•   Meet Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest and find more British Favorites

We saw icky pieces of meat such as chicken and duck feet, pig snouts and feet, tripe and tongue.  Enough to make me never want to eat an animal again but of course I have, at least twice since.

I even saw DRIED BUGS.  Yum.

In our not so cosmopolitan town, it's possible to get some of the things I bought but at about twice the price.  The oats are the only item that is reasonably priced here.

If you are ever in the neighborhood stop on by at Jungle Jim's!  You might get lost in there, like I did.  I was going around in circles trying to meet up with my daughter.  Thank goodness for the cell phone!

An unintended absence...

I didn't mean to be gone for so long.  Really I didn't.  I am a born procrastinator and I simply went from day to day without blogging.  I have even taken a break from most of my blog reading.  I miss it!  I miss all the beautiful stitching and inspiration and my blogging friends!

I saw these spring flowers outside my front door when I headed out for a walk today.  It is so wonderful to see something so lovely in this world that is in so much pain.  Why do things seem worse now than they did when I was young?  Is it because we are so overwhelmed by information and we are aware of what is going on or is it really worse than it was?  Is it because my children are on the verge of being on their own and I won't be able to protect them any longer?  I don't expect answers of course, but is in my nature to ask. 

Here is something else that gives me a bit of joy.  This little kitty is from Leaping Cat by La D Da.  I have been plodding along with stitching him (or her) and I'm just about done.  Just some leaves and flowers and border. 

Since the colors on this piece are so muted I am looking forward to something very springy and bright and I have it all picked out. 

But first I want to stitch Simply Live in memory of Lisa Roswell.  I was very upset by her untimely passing.  When we had so much flooding here in Ohio I kept hearing about a woman who had been swept away in the flood, not immediately realizing her connection to the stitching world.  She lived only about 50 miles from my home so it just felt so real.  There was quite a bit of damage in our area due to the flooding and many roads were closed.  I so wish her road had been closed but it was early in the morning and dark and it all happened so fast.  It was hard to get around that day, so many roads were closed.

It was just a short while ago that these nightly visitors came to our yard to search out bits of corn.  They were so skittish!  The cats sure got a kick out of them but one little movement had them taking off in a hurry.  

And these guys are regular visitors no matter what the weather!  Our neighbors don't like it that we feed them so much.  They will just have to get over it.