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Saturday, August 16, 2014
About 6:23 AM – Go to quickly check e-mail. Internet not working. Push a button and it fixes itself. Feeling grateful it was so easy. Click on e-mail. Nothing exciting, mostly just a few junk mails. Go downstairs. Jeff and I tell each other our dreams from the night before while we’re getting things ready. Bracken reminds me I forgot something upstairs. His windchimes we got at a garage sale the day before. First he fashioned it into a necklace and chimed everywhere he went and then he hung it next to his bed to go to sleep. Now he wants to bring them to market so I go retrieve them from the hook by his bed. Forget something else and go back upstairs a few minutes later.
About 6:57 AM – Leave house. Think it’s 6:57, but all the clocks in our house are different. (So I’ll just write “about” next to all the times.) Jeff tells corny joke and makes me laugh. Forget it now. Bracken and I eat breakfast in the car while Jeff drives. Jeff made breakfast, bless his heart. He already ate at home. I’m telling Bracken to eat a good breakfast so he can get some “treats” at farmer’s market. Drive through the tunnel on the way to Eugene. Honk. We always honk. (Unless Bracken is sleeping.) Listen to Bracken sing from the backseat for a few minutes. Sounds like an angel. Much better sound than the whining earlier.
About 7:49 AM – Stop by the feed store and pick up a bag of chicken feed. The feed store is not officially open yet, but they invite us to swing by early, since their door is already open. With twenty chickens, it’s become a weekly stop. No room left in car since it’s packed full for market. Put bag of chicken feed on the floor on the passenger side. Get an intense craving for kombucha. Must have kombucha. Can’t stop thinking about it. Hardly ever drink it, but suddenly I’m crazy for it. Tell Jeff. Now he can’t get it out of his head either. Run into store while Jeff and Bracken wait in car. Looks like they are sold out. Darn it! Oh wait, one single bottle left. Eww, some green kind. I wanted ginger. Consider leaving the store empty handed, but decide to risk it and try the different kind. Emerge from the store, looking for our car, and then head over. Jeff asks why I only got one bottle and I explain. Jeff is stressed and worries we’re going to be late. I drink some. It’s surprisingly good. We all agree it’s not so bad after all. The green stuff is algae and it’s really good for us. Relieved it doesn’t taste terrible.
8 something – Arrive at market. Need to check in by 8:30, we’re good. Jeff checks in at info booth (now conveniently located very close to our booth.) Start taking the booth structure off the roof and unloading the car. It all fits in our car like a puzzle. It needs to be loaded and unloaded in somewhat of a certain order. It’s always changing, but we’ve done this a million times. Lately Bracken likes to play with the bungee cords while we set up. Once the car is empty, he goes inside and acts like it’s a fort. With the back open, he can build things with bungee cords, say hi to friends, and watch people. Neighbors comment on his bungee creations and he proudly shows his work. Bracken and I move car a little ways away so other vendors on our block can unload their stuff.
About 9:19 AM – The booth is up and we’re almost finished setting up. Jeff needs to go to the wood store. Bracken asks for coconut water (a special treat we get on Saturdays.) Usually we wait till the end of the day, but Jeff is happy to oblige. Jeff and Bracken leave to run their errand. The grocery store is right by the wood store so they can get their drinks. I finish setting up our displays, make everything tidy, and take a few pictures of some of the new things Jeff created over the week.
About 9:34 AM – Take a seat and get out my knitting. Absolutely elated. Knitting time! I’m in a state of bliss being able to knit in the booth. Market is not open yet and hardly anyone is walking by, so this is the perfect knitting opportunity. It’s overcast and cloudy. Knitting makes me feel cozy.
10 AM – Market officially opens. Still knitting. Awesome!
About 10:34 – See a guy walk by with a funny t-shirt on. Run out of the booth and ask him if I can take a picture of his shirt. Tell him that my mom would get such a kick out of it because it’s inspired by one of her favorite SNL skits. Guy laughs and is happy to oblige, with his daughter next to him who bought the shirt. Go back in booth. More people starting to walk around now.
10 something – Jeff pulls up with the car in front of our booth. I’m ready for him and have my bag in hand. I get into the driver’s seat, with Bracken still in the back, while Jeff goes to watch the booth. (Don’t want him to do too much walking or his sciatic pain might flare up.) We go park at the parking garage. Bracken asks if we can go on the elevator. The ways he says that word is so cute and I smile. Not a fan of elevators, truth be told (I prefer stairs), but this elevator is definitely the coolest elevator that I know of. It’s glass so you can see outside. It makes me feel less claustrophobic. Bracken pushes the button. He jumps into the elevator with glee. We land back on the earth and walk through the farmer’s market. We say hello to friends and visit booths. I get Bracken a little container of raspberries and eat some too. Sun starts coming out. We cross the street, making our way back to our booth. It takes awhile to get across market because we chat with friends as we go along. We stop in a friend’s booth and say hi. They asked if I’d seen Jeff yet and said they had just been to our booth and Jeff said that I had forgot to give him the change to give to customers when I went to park the car. Oh shoot! Hurry back to booth.
11 something – Arrive at booth. Give Jeff change. Luckily he had been okay without it. Hang out in booth for awhile. Bracken says hi to booth neighbors and plays in the area behind our booth.
About 11:50 AM – Go to nearby coffee shop. Since Bracken was little he refuses to use the bucks (porta-potty, whatever you want to call it.) I don’t blame him. They’re not fun to go in. Purchase cold peppermint tea so we can use their restroom. Forgot to bring a reusable container. Need to get better about that! Call mom from coffee shop on the cell phone, which we only use from time to time when we go to town. She asks how market is going so far and says she has a feeling it’s going to be a really good day for us. Appreciate her always putting nice blessings on our day.
About 12:10 PM – Back to booth. Jeff said a friend dropped by with some fabric (that I’m super excited about for fabric buttons) and I was bummed that I missed seeing her. Eat some lunch that Jeff packed. Bless his heart again. Enjoying fresh salad greens from our garden, happy that we have them again. Stay in the booth for awhile. Still really enjoying the new earring rack. Bracken starts to get kind of antsy and we leave and go for a walk. (The two of us do a lot of walking on market days. Jeff really likes being in the booth, so it works out.) Walk around market for awhile, saying hi to more market friends. A friend gives him a carrot, another some change for the farmer’s market, and another a handmade gift. I’m looking around and feeling grateful for the feeling of community and all the kind things our friends do for Bracken, making the market so fun and special for him.
About 1:56 PM – Back in booth. Eat some more food. Realize better get to farmer’s market before it closes at 3.
About 2:15 PM – Head over to the farmer’s market. Pick up a little bag of citrus fertilizer for our little lemon tree and a goji plant. Realize the goji plant has thorns, so the place we planned on planting it won’t work. Will think of a new spot. Like dried goji berries and love the idea of having some growing in our yard. Try two apple varieties- ginger gold and akane. Both good, like the akane especially. Get some more mushroom spawn to inoculate with. Stoked! Don’t need much from market, with our garden in full swing, and start making our way back to our booth. Back in booth for a bit.
About 3:19 PM – Visit coffee shop. Some air conditioning sounds really nice right now. It’s hot outside. Come back to booth with cold drinks. Jeff requested a fresh squeezed orange juice blended with ice. Those are good.
About 3:46 PM – Leave booth to run a few errands. Walk through market and over to the parking garage. Bracken gets to ride the elevator again and is very pleased about that. Other people riding with us enjoy his enthusiasm. Eugene is about an hour from our house and we need to make the most of our trips to town, getting all our errands run. Head over to Long’s Meat Market (with high quality meats from local farms) to get some things. They know us by name. Our order is in the back. There is a long line, it’s busy. There is a bench with a book. Bracken sees it has Winnie-the-Pooh on the cover and asks me to read it to him. He asked me last time we came. Or maybe the last two times. Think I said “next time” to him before and don’t want to say that again. Tell them to hold my order, and help the people behind me, so I can go read a book to Bracken. They don’t mind. Bracken sits in my lap and I read him the story. He calls it the “Winnie-the-Pooh snow story” and excitedly tells people around us “Winnie-the-Pooh!!” Go up to counter again and get my order.
About 4:30 PM – Leave Long’s and head to grocery store. Decide to go to a small store, a few streets out of the way, because it’s so pleasant to shop at. Bracken says “yay” when we pull up because he likes this grocery store. Get Bracken some coconut water. All out of dried elderberries. Jeff asked me to get some for his sun teas. Find it in their bulk section. Decide to surprise Jeff and get something he loves that we hardly ever buy- olives. Take our time in the store because Jeff likes when we show up a few minutes after market closes so that he can start packing up by himself for just a bit. It makes it easier. Bracken asks if he can drink his coconut water while we are in the store. Usually don’t allow this, but decided to say okay. Doesn’t get lid on all the way after drinking some and when he sets it on the counter to pay, it tips over and some spills out. The cashier is nice about it. Bracken is upset about it. But he doesn’t stay upset for long.
5 PM– Eugene Saturday Market closes.
About 5:07 PM – Leave grocery store. Found a little container of sprouted pumpkin seeds with nutritional yeast on them, right by the checkout line. Bracken and I started eating them in the car. They are soo good and I wish we had much more of them. Drive back to market.
About 5:15 PM – Arrive back at market. Park in front of our booth and start loading our car up. Our booth neighbor is already completely packed up and gone. (Wish market closed at 4, since it’s such a long day for us and the farmer’s market closes at 3.) Other neighbor invites Bracken to help pack up their booth, which he thinks is fun. Jeff bungee cords our booth structure to the roof rack and also the two chairs that don’t fit in our car. Hardly fit all our stuff in our car, just like every week. Get all the doors to close. Yes. Say a little cheer we actually fit it all.
About 6 PM– Say goodbye to those in the vicinity. Leave market. Talk about ways we could make our set up and tear down quicker and easier, but thinking one hour for packing up isn’t too bad. Or at least better than it was at one point. Drive by bank on the way out of town that has temperature displayed. 90 degrees. Still that temperature that late in the day? No wonder it felt so hot at market that day. It was a good market day and we feel grateful. Jeff has a list of all the new things he wants to make for next week. Give Bracken snacks and he happily eats them in the backseat. Jeff happily eats his olives. I hesitantly try a few and I don’t gag. A bit surprised they taste good to me, since I ate so many one time when I was a child that I made myself sick and could never eat them again. Maybe I’m finally changing how I feel about olives. That would be good. Jeff and I talk about the day. Bracken falls asleep in the car. Earlier he said “mama, sleepy”, telling me that he was tired. Typically no naps on Saturdays, plus so much walking all day long (my feet hurt), I can’t imagine how tired he is. Thinking that he’s getting big because he hardly asked me to carry him at all throughout the day and did all that walking on his little legs.
6 something – Stop by Morning Glory Farm on our way home. Get some carrots. We’re all out of carrots. Bracken stays asleep. Pick up some pears from the neighbor that we traded for. No room left in the car. One box at my feet and one box on my lap. I’m scrunched and they’re heavy, but I’m happy about pears. Jeff wants to quickly swing by the post office on the way home. He goes and checks our P.O. box. I wait in the car under a pile of pears.
About 7:20 PM – Arrive home. Been gone for a little over twelve hours. Bracken is still asleep. Start unpacking the car as quietly as I can. (Last week we left most of the car packed, but this week I need to do some car cleaning and need to get it all out.) Make some progress taking things out of the car and putting them on the front porch.
About 7:35 PM – Bracken wakes up. I get him out of his carseat and pick him up. He’s moody, which is understandable. He tells me he wants “outside time” so I bring him over to the front yard. We take off our shoes and feel our barefeet in the grass. Jeff joins us. Jeff and Bracken lay on the ground and look up at the sky. I revel in the sound of the river. No longer surrounded by the busy sounds of moving cars and people everywhere. Feels good for us to all take a few minutes to take a breath after such a long day. We’re all happy to be out there. Go and gather the eggs from the chicken coop. Then I go and finish unloading the car while Jeff and Bracken go in the kitchen.
About 8:12 PM -Get a splinter in my foot. Finish the job with a bit of a limp and am probably sort of pathetic looking. Car unloaded. Sit on couch and Jeff brings me a flashlight. Get splinter out and marvel that such a microscopic thing could cause so much discomfort. Inside for the night. I’m sweaty. Bracken and I take a quick shower while Jeff makes smoothies. Get our pajamas on. Feels so good to be clean.
About 8:45 – Enjoy our pre-bedtime smoothies. Go upstairs. Need to rest, have a lot of catching up to do on Sunday after being gone for a whole day. Pass out in bed after such a long day. Another full market day.
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