Are They Giving The Stuff Away?

My niece sent me the picture below. If you follow the flow chart it says that if you live in Canada there is only one place to eat....Tim Horton's. In the States there are many places. Well....apparently, if you live in Houston there is only ONE place to eat....Chick-Fil-A! You may want to click on the photo to see a bigger more readable chart!


There should be one more line to the chart that asks, "are you in Houston, TX" with a line that goes directly to Chick Fil A! (except on Sunday of course, then you are on your own)

When we lived in Canada, or when we visit Canada, I am always amazed by the line-ups (that is Canadian for line) at Tim's. No matter what time of day or what the weather is, there is always a line-up at Tim's. A Canadian phenomena I am told. I have no idea why anyone would sit in a line-up for coffee and a donut for so long.....it's not like they are giving the stuff away!

A recent Tim's line-up in the Toronto airport.....free coffee and donuts anyone?


Now that I am living back down south I have found the equivalent to Tim's...as far as a place people will sit in an unbelievably long line (American for line-up) to get fast food. It is Chick-Fil-A. I went by the other day to grab a sandwich and a drink. The drive thru line was wrapped around the building! There were 2 employees outside beaming in the orders to speed things up...Tim's you should listen up here! The line was still doubled around the building. It took me a good 5 or 10 minutes just to get around the line and make a less than hasty exit with plans to come back later, when the line was shorter or I could find a parking spot.




The traffic jam I had to work my way around to get out of the parking lot! Craziness!



They even put up traffic cones to keep the lines separated in the parking lot.

The first photo was taken at noon when the line was all the way around the building and there was not one parking spot! The second was taken at two, by one very hungry driver, who did find a parking spot....and the much anticipated chicken sandwich. And yes, it was delicious. Now I need a donut!

Living a Double Life

It hit me sometime this weekend as I drove to or from one of the Houston airports that I have lived a double life over the last 2 weeks.




Life 1
We spent last week in Nova Scotia at our farmhouse. The farmhouse is in the middle of rural Nova Scotia and about a 45 minute drive from the nearest airport and 30 minutes from the nearest decent grocery store. You pass farms and fields and small towns during the drive and there is no traffic. We don't have TV at the farmhouse and the days were filled with manual labor such as weeding garden beds, moving furniture, painting, shoveling lots of dirt and mulch, and doing a lot of dust maintenance.....dust is everywhere when there is construction going on. My shopping outings were to hardware stores and home improvement stores. We did not go out to eat because the nearest restaurant is a 30 minute drive. It is a simple life and very peaceful and quiet. Oh, and the weather was mostly beautiful and much cooler than here in Houston. We enjoyed every minute of it!



Life 2
It was Memorial Day weekend this past weekend and we arrived in Houston on Friday night to the crowds of people coming and going at the airport for the long weekend. The drive home from the airport is 45-55 minutes long and the entire drive is on 8 lane freeway and we never left Houston! Lots of traffic! You are surrounded by city. The freeway is lined with every kind of store and business imaginable. When we got home the yard had been perfectly manicured by our most excellent yard dude that afternoon. The house was nice and clean, just like I left it....and the grocery store was a mere 7 minutes away. Oh, and did I mention that it was 100 degrees when we left the airport???!!!

My two lives are starkly different. It takes no time at all for me to adjust to either though. If only there was a little Nova Scotia in Houston and a little Houston in Nova Scotia....my lives would be perfect!