Sure, you might think I have too much free time. But you might also be a fool.
An associate had the good sense to shift away from her job in media. She opened up an arts and crafts shop on Fort Worth’s burgeoning Near Southside. But she opened just before society was discontinued.
She’s still working but now does a lot of her work remotely. And I needed something to do while reviewing the hit movies of the 1980s as in the link above.
JuJu Knits had started advertising kits on how to knit and crochet [which I believe is a type of dance].
Sure, I could have learned to sew for free by joining the Army, but I wanted to help a friend who, like so many other small business owners, is struggling.
That, and that alone, is the reason I did not join the Army.
Also, I just learned “knitting” and “sewing” are not interchangeable terms. We might all have cabin fever, but listen, America’s Youth, you never stop learning.
The Near Southside is a place where the neighbors all know each other and look out for each other. In fact, I was just outside discussing how all the rain has been wreaking havoc on the yard with my neighbor.
I told him I was, like so much of America’s youth, about to take up knitting.
He explained his wife is a fan of crocheting and was in the market for some yarn. He asked the name of the business, I assume so he could schedule dancing lessons.
And there-in lies the Near Southside’s charm. We’re all looking out for each other.
“Hey, who’s your yarn guy?” is a question that goes unanswered in too many communities across the country anymore.
Leon Bridges is also looking out for us.
Bridges is from Fort Worth and offered to play a virtual show to raise money for people who work at the bars and restaurants along South Main and Magnolia. Bartenders, cooks and servers are losing money because they can only have a quarter of the normal crowd inside. Many places said they’d lose money, so they just won’t open.
The show is tonight, and I talked to one of the organizers, the owner of Kent & Co. Wine.
Because they’re retail, they’ve set up a drive-thru around their building. They can drum up sales that way, and Englander says he contacted the Near Southside neighborhood group when he saw most other places don’t have that option.
Almost immediately, he says Bridges jumped at the chance to host a benefit, even if it has to be online.
Businesses are hurting, but we’re finding a work-around. Since he moved here a year ago, Englander says he’s grown accustomed to how we all enjoy hangin’ out in this part of town.
And while the doggies enjoy a nice drink of water, their humans can enjoy a nice drink of wine.
Alcohol-to-go sales can continue after May 1.
From what I hear from Texans, we may just let this keep on going forever.#txlege
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 29, 2020
And in crisis comes opportunity. The state is now allowing liquor to-go to help restaurants stay in business. Why not, instead of forcing me to walk almost four blocks to get carry-out wine, let the wine come to me in the form of a mobile wine cellar?
When kids hear the bells, they run out to the ice cream truck. Now, when their parents hear, I assume, some James Taylor, they could run outside waving dollar bills above their head to get the attention of the guy driving the wine truck.
Meantime, I think I’ll fit in just fine with the knitting community.
In addition to more blogs because of this pandemic, there will now be scarves everywhere. I’ll sit outside with my hair in a bun, knitting away and looking severely at passersby who drive down the street with the loud music.
That music could drown out the sound of the guitar licks from the mobile wine cellar to let you know it’ll soon be there.
