September 30, 2007

• Yesterday began with a trip to the Farmer's Market.

  Well, of course it actually began with a couple of hours working at the computer, but I had yesterday off, and I am not going to let the fact that I had to spend some of it working change that.

  In fact, the day ended up being quite different from my plan, which is of course a characteristic of days off, so that was good.

  It was nice to be at the market, with different languages flowing around me and my marketing bag growing more and more distended as I chose delectable vegetables from each farmer's table.

  There was no fruit. We had no fruit this summer, because of the odd weather, and I had heard that there would be no apples, but I had hoped it would turn out to be false.

  When I stopped in to see my hostess from last week, she and her parents kindly offered me a cup of coffee, and we had a fun and far-reaching conversation. One of the points in it was the possibility that the odd weather was not an isolated weird year, but part of the new, changed climate, and that our region will no longer be able to grow fruit. A sad thought, that.

  Here's my swag. Also my shopping list. If you ever have difficulty with the whole make a list and shop thing, you might want to go to savingdinner.com, where they have numerous shopping lists for 6, and converters to make them work for 2 or 4, too. The lists go with the book Saving Dinner, but I have found that even if you don't follow the menu specifically, these lists will still give you a week's worth of healthy dinners.

  You still have to figure out breakfasts and lunches and, if you have teenage boys in the house, snacks, which may comprise the bulk of your grocery shopping.

  Having replenished the stock of vegetables, I went home. #1 daughter said she was going to go to the shopping center in the next county. I went there in the summer with #2 daughter and #2 son, so I have you shown you pictures of this place before. I asked if I could join her, and we had a very pleasant couple of hours. We ran into old friends, tried on myriad fragrances (and I have to admit that I was quite tempted by Williams-Sonoma's ginger-almond dishwashing liquid, but of course a bottle of dishwashing soap costing $8.50 would count as "buying something" rather than as "grocery shopping"), and checked out the new trends in shoes.

  We even looked at clothing. The clothing stores there are clearly divided into the ones for young women and the ones for older women. I further divided them into the ones that use good quality materials and the ones that do not, and #1 daughter has to divide them into the ones that carry clothing small enough for her and the ones that do not. Each of us found a couple of shops where we could expect to shop successfully, and we plan to go back someday.

  The horse statue here really charmed me, until I found out that it is a feature of a chain of restaurants, and not just a flight of whimsy on the part of the owner of this one restaurant. We also went to Starbucks (Earl Grey tea for me, blueberry muffin and Caramel Apple Something or Other for #1 daughter) and I quite liked it, too, except that the fun of the mismatched chairs and quirky music was also slightly spoiled by the fact that it was a recreation of something that used to be individual and special.

  I remember when you visited a town and went to the very special and unusual coffee house and bookstore and restaurant, because it was different from what you had in your own town, or what you found in other towns. This experience has all but disappeared. I said as much, but also acknowledged that it is curmudgeonly of me to say it. Or even think it. Maybe the chains are like prints of great paintings. I love prints of great paintings, and feel very happy that I can enjoy them in spite of not being able to see the originals. Perhaps I should feel the same way about chains.

  In any case, we enjoyed our window shopping there, finished up the grocery shopping, and went home. There I did not do any sewing, but I did make quite a bit of progress with Ivy.

  I enjoyed some time with my family, and we had The Great Pan Race and I scrubbed my bathroom (it being the last day for the HGP Week of the Master Bath), and then I made an early night of it.

  Today The Empress is coming by after church, and then we will be joining my parents for lunch at the local Palais de Chicken. My husband has taken the day off for the occasion. I slept in this morning till 7:30 (after getting up at 4:00 to let the cat out, as she had not gotten the memo about the whole day off thing), so I am feeling much more like myself than I have been.

  I hope that all of you are enjoying your weekends, too.

  • 9:28 am
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