the farmer in the dell....

This weekend we spent time in South Bend

for Easter with Anthony's family.

While there, we went to one of my

(and everyone else's) favorite places.....

The South Bend Farmer's Market.

When I think of Farmer's Markets,

I usually first think of being outside in the sunshine.

This is nice and can be done frequently if you're in Cali.

But as you know in the northern midwest,

summer only peaks it's pretty little head out 3 months of the year.

(at most!)

As we took our "let's see what's here today" lap

(yes, it's in a giant square and multiple laps are necessary),

we first stumbled upon James.

He made flower pins and painted with his grandma.

This reminded me of when my family had yard sales when I was a kid.

I would sit at my yard sale table hoping/wishing/praying

that a buyer with a taste for "the finer things" would drop $.50 on art.

(House/Dog/Apple Tree, tempera on high-gloss paper plate c.1986)

...and so you know I couldn't resist James and his flowers.

I proudly wore that pretty flower with every shirt to celebrate Easter.

What can I say? It made me really happy.

~~~~~~

As a kid, this was Anthony's favorite spot.

(because the trinkets and shelves moved)

I too get excited now when we come upon it....

his amusement is fun to to watch.

And finally, like any good Farmer's Market or antique shop,

you never know what you're going to find.

By the time I found this treasure,

I was unfortunately already out of cash....

I do love squirrels though.

And although you can't see it,

I've got on a squirrel acorn necklace.

My brother Joel asked me about it this weekend.

"What's the nut necklace about?"

"Well, I'm kinda squirrelly", I happily replied....

because yes, yes I am.

:-)

Overall, the trip was a success.

We ended up with:

2 cups of coffee

Almond Extract

Rootbeer Candy

Sicilian Eggplant

Fingerling Potatoes

Large Cheese Popcorn

Szechwan Peppercorns

Apple Squares and Punchki

3 cups of freshly made herbal tea

(yes, between 3 people we had 5 caffeinated drinks in 2 hours)

Amusing almost buys:

Knives

Cupcakes

Squirrel mug

NBA Bulls Jersey

Pretty fresh flowers

$10 awesome trench (sadly too big)

Freshly made giant pretzels (my weakness)

(Somewhat scary) Cake decorated like a lamb

Fertilizer made from Wabash River Asian Carp (hahaha)

Freshly made giant pretzels (lap two, with much restraint)

Seeds...that once grown in garden, dog would pee on and kill

Cheese/Carmel Popcorn (because 1 bag just didn't seem like enough)

All in all it was a fantastic afternoon with Anthony and Kara...

and $25 (really) well spent

*No, I do not call Farmer's Markets "FM's"

I did this only because of space.

If it worked out to be "BM's" though?

The 12-year-old humorist in me would find that amusing.