Yesterday, mini-pear and I stopped in at this little gourmet grocery store down the road from us. I've been on a Nutella quest and this was the last local possibility.
I found my Nutella ($4.50 for the smallest possible jar), resisted the $10 jar of strawberry rhubarb jam, and decided to pick up some greens. As I stood looking at the produce, the whole refrigerated unit appeared to roll in a slow undulating wave towards me. My first thought was that I was going to pass out, a thought confirmed (in my mind) when my knees sort of buckled.
"Mini...I think I'm going to faint..." as I reached out to steady myself. The softly waving unit shuddered and rattled under my touch. Behind me jars of salad dressing crashed to the ground and shattered. The butcher's voice rang out loudly, "We're having an earthquake!" He hardly got his sentence out, and all was still again. And that was that.
Wet clean ups in every aisle. I looked at the shelves supporting the produce, amazed they hadn't cracked or anything. There was a mild buzz of chatter, as the few employees and customers shared comments on what they'd just felt. Mini-pear hadn't noticed a thing.
We've periodically felt very mild tremors at night, so I didn't think much more of it. Only later on did I realize this was part of the quake originating up near LA.
Hey! Happy to have found your blog off of Mandy's! I was sitting at my desk an thought,"Was that an earthquake?" "Oh, I guess so..." That's what 30 years in So Cal will do to you :) Say Hi to Mini Pear from us!
~Dawn (and Elena and AJ)
Posted by: Dawn | July 30, 2008 at 09:22 PM
How scary! Earthquakes are a big reason why I'd not want to live in California (though it hasn't kept me away as a tourist, go figure)
Posted by: Rebecca H. | July 31, 2008 at 07:54 PM