Donna was up early and her Uber driver picked her up at 5am Thursday for her flight to Akron, Ohio. I managed to fall back asleep after she left and had a series of dreams (pardon me, Bob Dylan).

Thursday turned out to be another typical day. I started with a couple of hours of pickleball at the Pacific Beach Recreation Center – which was exhausting as the games ran non-stop with little down time.

On Thursdays, the guys all meet up at Dan Diego’s for happy hour. My friend, Dan Cullen, an attorney and alumni of Cal Western – the law school where my daughter Shauna earned her law degree – made plans for a Monday Night Football gathering at his place in Bay Park. I’m planning to smoke a couple of racks of babyback ribs for the occasion.

Dan invited me to join him and his wife for dinner, but I’d already ordered pizza delivery. I stopped at his place and checked out his “Irish Room.” What a man cave set-up! Pictures will follow after our Monday guys’ night.

Friday I was on a mission. I made a list of things I needed to have on hand the night before. I thought the Walmart in Kearny Mesa would have what I desired. After taking care of domestic chores – with Donna away I’m doing dishes, vacuuming, dumping and flushing tanks and cleaning Ozark’s litter box – and oh yeah, watering planter boxes. Not complaining, this life beats most anything I can imagine.

When I arrived at Walmart I remembered this is not the usual Super Walmart. It has a limited number of groceries – no fresh vegetables or meats. I found a few things I wanted, including Kiwi polish for my boots. Then I went to Von’s at Clairemont Square.

I needed babyback ribs for the get-together at Dan’s place on Monday. I was disappointed at Von’s. They had pre-packaged babyback ribs, but they were priced at $5.49/lb. I’ve bought these pre-packaged ribs for $3.99 or less many times. I passed on the ribs but bought some produce.

The next store on the way home way was Kiel’s. I’ve always liked this family-owned grocery store. But, this is their last week of operation. Due to lease issues, they’re closing at the end of the month after 26 years of serving the neighborhood. They had some good deals – including a good price on babyback ribs. But they were cut very small and I was wary of cooking them.

I decided to bite the bullet and go to Siesel’s – a San Diego icon for meats. I paid a higher price, but I got very good looking babyback ribs that were over three pounds per rack. I don’t know if there’s much difference in the quality of pork loin ribs, but I’ll find out on Monday.

It hit me then. Clairemont used to have neighborhood grocers. Some were small – like the place on old Morena Boulevard, others were medium-size like the Mayfair store on Moraga Avenue. Nowadays, it’s not so easy to run to the store. You have convenience stores with limited choices or you deal with traffic to travel several miles to find a bona fide grocery outlet.

This strikes me as I think about our travels over the last year. It seemed like no matter where we were, we could find a local brewery. This is good. But why can’t you find a good local grocery store?

Half an hour before sunset looking west at Crown Point