Dear Customers, Reboot, restart, “proceed past Go, do not collect $200”. . . these are just some of the ways to say the same thing.  It’s 2022 and when the new year rolls around we are faced with beginning all over again.  The difference between 12/31/21 and 1/1/22 is negligible. The days look the same,…

Dear Customers, This New Year’s Eve won’t be my first, and with God’s grace, it won’t be my last.  But there’s something about every one of them that fills me with mixed emotions.  On the one hand, there’s nostalgia in saying goodbye to the year that’s ending, no matter how it played out.  I will…

Dear Customers, If I were about 60 years younger, right about now I’d be on full Christmas alert!  I’d be so excited I’d be virtually vibrating.  And why wouldn’t I?  The houses in the neighborhood were decked out in their illuminated finery and the Main Street business section was aglow with lights strung across the…

Dear Customers, The whirlwind that is December continues!  The entire month reminds me of one of those swirling wind currents that can exist any time of the year.  In the summer they feature dust and the errant leaf while from now through March they most likely will include a smattering of snow.  With everything there…

Dear Customers, All that work our manager’s put in back in August and September, attending food shows and filling out on-line ordering forms is about to pay off!  Arriving on almost every warehouse truck we receive are shippers and display pieces featuring new items, seasonal items and items that feature tremendous deal pricing.  Many will…

Dear Customers, The saying that “one should not shoot (or kill) the messenger” while attributed to Sophocles more than 400 years before the birth of Christ, was first penned by William Shakespeare in his famous play, Henry IV.  In Part 2, Cleopatra threatens the messenger’s eyes when he reveals that her great love, Marc Antony,…

Dear Customers, THANKSGIVING!  After the last 20 months, you may be thinking, “what do I have to be thankful about?”  This pandemic has affected the entire world with sickness, death, shortages, and disruptions beyond anything we’ve ever experienced in our lifetimes.  I imagine it is similar to what the Pilgrims experienced in 1621 after their…

Dear Customers, I was watching a news program (against my will because I momentarily misplaced the remote) a couple of weeks ago where the news crew were visiting one of the nation’s largest shipping ports.  The mammoth shipping tankers were literally lined up in the harbor waiting to unload.  Some of them had been waiting…

Dear Customers, With just a little more than two weeks till Thanksgiving, we’re all probably (at least in our heads) planning for the big meal.  Thanks to our friendly pandemic, however, there are bound to be shortages among the items we’re used to buying year in and year out.  I would advise buying early whenever…

Dear Customers, As the calendar flips to November, I get excited for the holiday season that is in the offing for the next two months.  True, the woods are gray, leafless and stark while the sun drops behind the hills earlier and earlier but there’s something about a warm kitchen that chases the gloom and…