Saturday, April 16, 2011

Market day

This is the third Saturday that our Farmers' Market has been open for business, which started the 2011 season with every day so far a bit under the weather: first with cold and rain, last week with rain and cold, and today, the best so far, with some sun breaks amongst the cold and just a few sprinkles. As you can see from this young lady making herself a smoothie on the Juice Peddler, she's dressed for our spring weather in coat, gloves and hoodie. I myself thought it was a little cold for a smoothie as I warmed my hands on my coffee cup. She's generating some warmth, however, by pedaling her smoothie to the right consistency.
Here's the clever Juice Peddler's sign, and you can see the skies look pretty darn good, considering. This has been the coldest and wettest spring in many decades, as was proven by Cliff Mass on his weather blog. His post on "Are Northwest Springs Getting Worse?" has a "spring fever index" showing the number of days since 1948 between February 1 and April 15 that are 55 degrees F or warmer. This year we have had the lowest number since at least 1948, by a LOT! Look at his graph here:
As he explains in that article, it is not just our imagination that it has seemed so much colder this year; it has been enough to make old-time Washingtonians add socks to wear with their sandals! I still see people walking around in t-shirts and shorts, even when it's nowhere near 50 degrees, but not me. I'm still bundled up and even when hiking I wear quite a few layers.

Back to today's market scene. I saw the most amazing young busker singing and playing her guitar. She is so excellent and professional, I could not help but ask her how old she is, and I found that this young lady is only NINE.
At the rate she's going, by the time she is sixteen she will be playing on stages to appreciative crowds. As it was, by the time I left I saw crowds gathering around her and practically begging her to continue singing. She also has quite a repertoire; in the hour I wandered around the market, I never heard her repeat a song.
At noon I had my usual treat of Ethiopian food: spicy lentils, vegetables and potatoes in turmeric and other tasty spices. Not to mention that the food was also piping hot and served on a special bread made with teff, a grain that originated in Ethiopia and has a unique texture. Apparently it's a very small grain that's filled with big nutritional benefits. (The link takes you to the Wikipedia entry explaining the grain.)

I also went to the Village bookstore and now have six new books. It's a good feeling to have so many new adventures in reading to explore. Fortunately I only bought three books and the other three were lent to me by my friend Judy, who will get them back someday. Two of the three I bought were used, so they didn't cost me too awfully much, but I still spent more than I intended. A good day, and as the afternoon wears on, the sun breaks seem to be holding. It's almost 50 degrees out there!
:-)

24 comments:

  1. Woo hoo! 50 degrees! It's warming a bit. I totally dig the peddling smoothie stand...that's the best idea I've seen yet. It looks fun, and getting a smoothie out of the deal makes perfect sense. I love the markets out there...never tried Ethiopian food. I was out today at an Indian restaurant eating very spicy food too. I was amazed when I saw a young family with 3 little kids...2 yr old the youngest...and the wee ones were very much enjoying the spicy foods. I thought it was great that the parents were introducing them to foods from other cultures at an early age.
    So glad you had a good day...wishing you more of them.xo

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  2. 50 degrees and that's called spring?! sheesh.

    I have never seen a juice peddler before. At first, I thought the woman had biked to the counter. lol.

    Beautiful header, by the way!

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  3. nine...wow! bet she was fun to listen to...i love street musicians...and farmers markets....thats pretty cool...we are getting spring rains...under a flood warning and tornado warning..lol...

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  4. What a cute little girl. The guitar is almost bigger than she is! And all that food... Be grateful for 50. Today, it was nearly 90 here.

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  5. Buskers...learn something new every day. Amazing. At nine I think I still hid behind my sister to avoid having to actually speak to strangers.

    I've never seen a juice peddler. What a great idea. I'm with you, though, it's tough to get excited about a smoothie when you're still wearing gloves!

    What books did you get? I'm sure you'll tell us after you delve into them. I absolutely love the feeling of several books sitting there waiting for me!

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  6. Good idea - farmer's market in a coat! Our outdoor thermometer says it's 38 in Brier, and I turned on the gas fireplace indoors.

    I do believe in global warming. I do believe in global warming.

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  7. Some people are born market people. Me? Not so much! But then I'm not a shopper.
    Some people are garage sale people and they spend one day a week touring garage sales. Not me!

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  8. sounds like a great Saturday! Although for me that would have been a wintry one, not spring! brrr...

    Love the idea of the juice peddler!!! :O)

    Books... dangerous topic! I've been trying to avoid bookstores and the Amazon website for the sake of my budget... :p

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  9. What a fabulous day you had. I wish I was with you. I'd love to get more second hand books. I'd also love to have seen that young girl perform. What fun!

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  10. This sounds like a great way to enjoy an April day. It makes a huge difference to be dressed appropriately. I'll bet that child was so enjoyable to hear and that meal looks yummy. And the peddler? Brilliant gimmick!

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  11. I like your new header with the flowers and pinks. When it is July 4 and temperatures are a hundred, I will need to remind myself how our fifty degrees felt today.

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  12. We do miss Farmers Markets here in our little town but there is so much for us to be thankful for that we even like our little store. We went to the store at 6:30 this morning and got carrots and lettuce and a few things in the produce section. Some days they have broccoli, others cauliflower; we don't know from each day what they will have. I am so pleased to hear about the buskers again. The Ethiopian food sounds yummy.

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  13. Congrats on your honorable mention over at Joan's blog. P.S. I gave you a shout out on my blog. Plus you're on my blog list!

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  14. My now retired agriculture professor father-in-law has been checking the "bloom dates" of several species of plants in his neighborhood and sending the data (hand written) to OSU for the last 30-years.

    Oddly his opinion is that global climate change is is normal and not caused by man. Yup, he is a climate change denier. I keep asking him if he things that science stopped progressing since he retired.

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  15. The term, "busker," is one I never heard until I began blogging. It wasn't in my vocabulary. I had to look it up. I don't know what we called them — we called them, "entertainers," when I was younger. I just looked up busker and it is a dancer or singer or one who entertains with music or playing music. So I learned something from blogging thanks to you DJan-ity.

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  16. I have never had Ethiopian food...you seem to be way more adventurous with food than I am. A busker at nine..how wonderful..that is a good way to hone a talent..especially of shyness:)

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  17. Despite the chilly temps, it seems you really had a fun day. I love the juice peddler. I've never seen such a thing. Farmers' markets always generate a lot of energy and fun.

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  18. Waagghhhh !!!! Our Farmers Markets won't be opening for another month!!

    Oh well.

    I can wait.

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  19. Your market always looks like so much fun DJan, but I am so very jealous. Ours doesn't open for another two weeks.

    I am enjoying the 50 degree weather, it's a good temp for getting my yard in shape. I just checked our weather and a freeze warning has been issued for the next few nights.

    I'm like Whitney, what books did you get? My mailbox has been filled with books lately but I'm always interested in learning about a new one.

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  20. I do like teff. My son brought some home when they went to Ethiopia to adopt our new granddaughter. As to the weather...yuk. 80F last week, today 5 inches of snow forcast. Grrrr...

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  21. I left the following comment under your comment on my blog...

    Reply to DJan...
    I had a distinct handicap from the get-go and it was my name. I was embarrassed because everyone made some remark and then laughed when they met me or heard my name.

    I quit school when I was just elected class president of my sophomore class. I think I did it because I just didn't want to have to deal with that name issue and the "president" part.

    Later, of course, I joined the US Army and hoped they'd send me to the Korean War. Maybe if I got killed people would stop making fun of me.

    But the Army can be different...when I got to Yokohama, Japan, instead of sending me on to Korea, they sent me to Hokkaido, Japan. It is cold there and they have lots of snow.

    But I got to transfer from there to Camp Sendai on the middle island and when I walked in the door the first time, the First Sergeant called the company commander in the adjacent office and yelled, "Wow! Captain Smith, he ain't black at all."

    That kind of crap has haunted me forever.

    Then I wanted to go to college or do something and had to go back to my old high school, take all the classes I missed when I quit and then I was able to graduate and "no" I refused to walk down the aisle to accept my diploma. They mailed it to me. I went to Cincinnati to earn enough college credits to get a valid Ohio State Teacher's license which I used until the "system" did me in forever and I quit and stopped drawing paychecks and began making money using my brains.

    So, I am not sure if I am in the middle or out on the edges, but those spiritual people who regressed me to Heaven and back told me that I didn't have to come back to Earth again that I had done my required number of reincarnations and I could loaf away on my journey through Eternity.

    Well, I came back.

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  22. After spending the weekend in Portland, I can attest to the wet, cold weather! The sun finally broke on Sunday just as we were heading home - to cold weather!

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  23. Wish we had a market like this one near by!! Oh well... we do have Amish markets for fresh produce!

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  24. Makes me want to go to our Farmer's Market soon!

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