The Fruits of Summer

Everyone,

I heart our local farmers market. It's probably silly, but I get hyped up all day on Thursday to go there and see what new treasures they have for sale. Butterfly's good friend Vinny and his mom, Lelo, come with us every week. We've kind of turned it into an exercise/dog walking party. Lelo brings her wagon, I bring Soot, and we trudge the mile or so down the street to city center and the farmers market. There is a lot of talking between Lelo and myself. There is a lot of "Hey! Keep the rope inside the wagon!" There is a lot of waving to the cars by the kids. There is also a lot of sniffing and peeing by Soot. A great time is had by all.

July is National Blueberry Month. And boy do we have blueberries! I buy quarts of them at the farmers market (one quart for $5, a steal in my opinion...at the grocery store they are one quart for over $8) and we have blueberries for snacks. We have blue berry muffins. We have blue berry pancakes. We also have blue berry poo which is black sludge. I have to lock the fridge shut to keep Butterfly out of them. They are big, juicy, sweet, and oh so good. We seriously can't get enough of them here. Join us in the blue berry bonanza. Buy some from your local grower and you too can have black sludge as a result.

The gem this week at the farmers market was peaches. When we first moved here, I got all excited about being in the south and having fresh good peaches. I was disappointed when the peaches I bought in the store were moldy on the inside, and crunchy like apples. They had no taste. This week, I bought a big bushel of fresh picked (that morning) ripe peaches. They are about as big as your fist, and juice just runs down your arm. You really don't even have to chew the flesh...it just melts between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. The taste is rosy and sunshine and makes me think of hot summer days.

Listen to me wax all poetic about fruit. Ending now.

Safire

PS- Butterfly waves at the cars like she is the Queen of England. She has the wrist wave down, and the look on her face is "Oh, hello good people of the realm. Hello, hello." It is SO FUNNY. Lelo and I joke that her majesty is the royal carriage when she does this.