The farmers' market in the MG, which started last year, is, shall we say, on a bit of a smaller scale. There are a handful of produce vendors and a few stalls selling baked goods. Sometimes the Lifeway company, based here in the MG, comes and sets up a booth so people can try (and sometimes purchase) Kefir. There was a guy with a meat wagon, selling different cuts of meat. There's a lady who sells delicious pretzels dipped in chocolate, and some ladies who sell healthy granola kinds of things. Then, because that would be about 6 stalls in a very large parking lot, the creators of the market got, well, creative. At the farmers' market, you can visit the MG Chamber of Commerce (to which I exclaimed "We have a chamber of commerce?"), make charming hand crafted corn husk dolls at the table belonging to the Historical Society, visit the PTA of Park View school (warriors!) and do... something... at the table set up by the MG Public Library. Yesterday, there was also the chance to enter a drawing - the winner would receive a basket of produce from every vendor at the market. Why not? So I did it and then we left, heading about our business.
Well, several hours later, I get a call - I had won a special drawing and could I come collect my basket right now? So we made tracks back to the market to get my winnings.
Can I say? The basket was a thing of beauty. It included a bunch of gorgeously ripe tomatoes, some beets, a few carrots, a zucchini and a yellow squash, some packets of seeds, a head of broccoli and some lettuce, a gardening trowel, a pair of gardening gloves and a little decorated tile thing that bears a cheery phrase (I don't remember what it is now, and my dad has already put it out in the garden.). I was so excited because I never win anything, and suddenly, here I'd gotten a spectacularly beautiful collection of produce. And that stuff's expensive, you know?
The other highlight of my weekend was when I went to visit the art fair in Skokie. We'd gone to the library, and I saw a small collection of tents set up and I exclaimed "OOOoohh! Art fair!! Can we goooo?" in a kind of excited, high pitched voice that only dogs can hear. So we went. It was really hot. And most of the stuff was just kind of OK. I like looking at jewelry, but at these things it can really go either way. It's either really expensive or really kind of cheap looking. And as for the art, it's not like I'm really in the market for big paintings or large photographic prints, however lovely, so I don't spend a lot of time at those booths.
But then - I saw it. The most extraordinary bracelet, made of copper wire, beads and semi-precious stones. It was easily the most unique (in a good way) stand I'd seen. These pieces were unique, distinctive, and totally different from anything I'd seen before. The bracelet that caught my eye was copper wire and blue stones. It was gorgeous. But it was over 50 bucks. We walked around a little more, and I decided I wanted to get the bracelet. So I DID, and I do not regret it. It's one of the only pieces I own that has a name "Cooler by the lake" which is SO perfect, because I work on the lake (pretty much IN the lake) so it was like a sign. The designer is local and I cannot say enough about her work, so go and check it out here: www.shelionstore.com
So yeah. That's my weekend in a nutshell. I got a new bracelet and won some vegetables, and I was happy as a clam. It's the little things, you know? And just to keep up with the breakneck pace of my whirlwind life, tonight, we watch the True Blood and have a Swedish feast (in honor of Eric, brought to us by IKEA). So watch out for a recap/Post Mortem as well as a detailed description of our dinner.
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