I needed a white plastic cover for a two-plug electric outlet. A simple thing. Costs less than a dollar anywhere they are sold. But the hardware store in Northbridge closed while I was out of commission and it isn’t the sort of thing they sell at the grocery store. I wasn’t eager to tackle Walmart.

I decided not to think about it and instead go to the fish store in Rhode Island. We used to go there all the time, but life got complicated, difficult. We stopped going most places. A few weeks ago, Garry decided to see if they were still in business. It had been that long.

Turns out it is indeed still open — since 1964. On the way, I saw the feed & grain cum nursery cum hardware place. I had forgotten it was there — made a mental note to stop on the way back to buy the outlet cover.

We bought a lot of stuff at the fish store. A little more expensive than the grocery, but a better selection. And the owner actually knows something about fish.

Then we hit the feed & grain hardware and nursery. Got the plastic cover for the outlet. It cost 41 cents. Garry had a dollar in his pocket and got change. Deal done. This must be the only thing you can still buy for less than half a dollar.

I had a camera and the nursery beckoned. Garry loved the cactus. They look just like the ones in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance because it is the same cactus. I thought it would be a great addition to our little in-house plant collection. A handsome cactus indeed.

While I was checking to see how much they wanted for it, I got a handful of tiny, soft, painful thorns. I’m still pulling them out of my hand and I barely grazed it.

“You can have the cactus,” I said to Garry. “But you’ll have to care for it. It obviously doesn’t like me.” We took a temporary pass on it, but maybe we’ll go back. It’s a beauty.

Categories: #gallery, #Photography, Anecdote, Blackstone Valley, Home, Personal

Tags: #cactus, #Photography, hardware, thorns