Random Mutterings in the Afternoon

I completely forgot that I had a free afternoon today.  Marcus had an eye appointment, much as he hates them, and he and I met momma in town and then I could come home.  I am goofing off but I also thought I would get a post up about something I have been pondering lately.

Back to the early 60s and slightly earlier, women in farm communities were thrilled when the Sears and Eatons catalogues came out each season.  Spring came out in the darkest days of winter, and you could shop to your heart's content without spending a penny.  Many towns had general stores or dry goods stores selling fabric and shoes and clothing ready made, and you would buy from them if you could, but if not the catalogue was a lifesaver.  If you were a handy sort, after all that inspiration, you could buy fabric from both places and sew it up into whatever you dreamed or needed. Even though we lived only a hour from the city, mom only got to the city a couple times a year.  

As small town shops and stores closed that catalogue became a sort of bible to the Canadian prairie housewife.  No more the fabric store in Meacham, SK,  one time mecca for farm women in central Saskatchewan.  No more Weibe's Dry Goods store in town (remember the time they had those sweaters we all loved and everybody had one? Remember old fashioned plimsoles and boys high top sneakers?)  Eventually, people did drive more often and would drive farther for shopping.  An hour drive today is much, much less a drive than it was in the early 60s.  Eventually our changing ways led to the demise of Eatons and Sears though Sears would have lived if the people at the top, had been interested in the business and not just pillaged it of every asset, leaving only a bare a shell behind.   

I look at myself now and feel as if I have gone right around this cycle.  I started with all my needs being met by catalogue and now meet the vast majority of my needs online.  

There is just so little that I really need.  When I do need something, I hit the computer rather than trying to arrange a shopping trip to the city.  It seems such a waste of time.  This was happening before I moved out here to rural Alberta, but I am certainly upping my game.  Even shoes.  My usual source for sneakers no longer carries any wide widths, so off to the internet I went.  I needed some specific fabric that I could not get in the city much less locally?  Off to the internet. Books?  Internet. (I know, I ought to support my local library but I love reading a book much more than once. )   

I try to buy in my small town or down the road in Vegreville, even when it can cost a bit more.  I do what I can to support it, but I loved my catalogue shopping as much as I love internet shopping now.

More and more, it feels like what goes around comes around.