Market Update

Today was another sunny & clear day. A little hot, a little humid, but there was a decent breeze, and we were largely distracted by the throngs of people who were out and about. A pretty good day all around.

First, I must divulge a deep, dark secret: I have difficulty driving my vehicle in reverse. It's true! And this is a near-fatal flaw for a crafter, where you need to back up your vehicle at pretty much every venue to unload, and most of the time you are trying to squeeze between two other vehicles, and your own is packed to the gills, so you have no line of sight out the back. Yeah, I sucketh at this.

Apparently, I can't park on the street, either. Just look at this:

I'd pulled into the alley and backed into that space. And this is after I'd fixed it! It was worse before! I am a full 12" from the curb, and deserving of a ticket. Oh, but there's more! Look:

Do you see anything wrong with this picture? Here, let me show you:

Okay, I mostly got between the two corners of the spot, but barely. Now look at that sign. See where it is in relation to the marked parking space? Is this a TEST? How, in Heaven's name, is ANYone supposed to manage this? You can't park beyond the sign, but it's IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MARKED PARKING SPACE! I defy them to ticket me! Hmph. I've been parking there for weeks, and so far - so good.

Let's look at some produce, shall we?

Here we have Farmer Mike attempting to get all artsy on us with this sweet pepper display:


And the obligatory close-up:

I decided to make a Panzanella salad for Tuesday's Pot Luck lunch at work, so several of these came home with me - at least one of every color!

The weekly Mater shot:

I bought some of the Romas there on the right for my salad.

Watermelon(s):

Eggplant:

Squash - Acorn, I believe:

(Told you it was getting to be squash season!)

Spaghetti squash (one of my faves):

In the olden days, when I used to cook, I would nuke one of these babies, scrape out the stringy innards and use it as a pasta replacement. ZERO calories, people! ZERO.

Dear Lord, more okra:

I asked Farmer Mike when this stuff would start to DIE, and he said first frost. Sigh. That'll probably be December here ...

Some giant Zukes:

... poblano peppers:

... and basil! I bought two bunches of these:

... one for my Panzanella salad, and one for my tomato-basil-mozzarella thingies. Yeah, I couldn't decide, so I'm bringing both.

Hot peppers:

Oh, would you look at that... Farmer Mike has put his jalapenos in with the "peels paint" peppers. And you know what, I witnessed at least two different people filling bags with these things. HOT stuff. One of the guys said he buys them every week.

Moving on, Farmer Margie had quite the fruit variety today:

... and pretty grape tomatoes:

I got two of these boxes for my tomato-basil-mozz thingies. All I need now is the Mozz. Tomorrow...I'll go shopping tomorrow.

Then we have green beans:

... and orn-yons (you have to say it like Justin Wilson... I miss him so):

Farmer Katie also has some maters:

... and more cut flowers:

Speaking of flowers, the floral guys didn't show up today ... it's getting to be show season plus today was the last day for the County Fair (and I missed it again, drat!)

Early-in-the-day bread offerings at the bakery:

... and pies:

By the time I got my Rosemary bread for my Panzanella salad, most of these pies were gone.

When I got back to my table after taking all those pics, lookie what I found:

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! The rock lady made me a rock that looks like my kitty! How sweet!

Something new at my spot - my vertical card display:

LOVE IT! I love it so much, I'm going to put together the other one and try them both next week. A good investment, indeed.

Here's a shot of my little corner of the market:

Oh, speaking of the rock lady, this week she had a school bus:

... a terlet:

... and some critters having lunch! -->

Before the beverage stand showed up to set up next to me, this little bike was parked:

So cute. The young lad was there with his Mom. Just look how cute that bike is, and the helmet.

I was drawn in to this jeweler's table by these two necklaces:

I think the colors are stunning! The one on the right could be for someone in the Red Hat society! They are both way to chunky for my tastes, but I can still appreciate them!

And I know I don't do the doggie parade any more, but I will show you this guy:

He's a Shar Pei, owned by my friend and SU customer. He's a former show dog, and from what she tells me, show dogs learn things they need for the show ring, and not things like Sit. So she and her other Shar Pei have been teaching him things, and in two weeks, she said "he gets it". Such a good boy. Here is another shot I took of him:

Such poise! His name is Torch - check out the flames on his collar! :-)

[ETA] And we had a new visitor today - a parrot:

This is not Tweety. This guy is bigger and not so nice. His owner said there was NO WAY we could hold him. Looking at those claws, we backed off.

(Like my hack job with that picture? I have zero editing skills, but I needed to cut out some people.)

Check out the color of his under-wings:

So pretty! Er, handsome!

Ready for some mutant veggies? I have to warn you, the last ones are not appropriate for small children, again. Actually, there were some even less appropriate than these. I've sworn not to ever, ever publish any of them for fear of losing my 3 (maybe 4) readers.

Here we go. As the kids said: a nose:

This next one was just ... well, we think it was several eggplants all grown together ... conjoined. Plus each of them had "growths". -->

That's all I'm going to say about that.

Another one with conjoined issues:

And last, but not least (not even close) ... They asked me how you tell a male eggplant from a female eggplant. Uh-huh. You KNOW this is not going to end well, am I right? Then they showed me these:

And yes, once again, the grown men were giggling and sniggering like little kids. One of my Tweeps asked me if they were 11 years old, because they were sure acting like it. People, do you now see the suffering I endure for my craft?

ANYway, in other news, I've sold out of Sympathy cards, which is sad in itself. Not only do so many people need them (one guy bought an extra, "just in case"), but now I get to spend a good part of the week making more Sympathy cards. ;( I can think of things I'd rather do. Perhaps I'll intersperse my efforts with some irreverence, just to keep the mood a bit lighter.

I've also been blurfing and watching videos for ... are you sitting down ... Christmas ideas. Yep, if I don't plan now, I'll be playing catch-up until mid-December, and that's not ever pretty. My markets go through the Saturday before Thanksgiving, so it's not like I'll get any extra time before my holiday shows begin. Yeah, I know, whine, whine, whine. If I get my act together soon enough, I might even be able to squeeze in a Holiday Stamp Camp this year. Maybe. I'll let you know how the planning goes for that. (Don't hold your breath.)

That's it for today. I hope to have something crafty to show you tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by!