Sunny Soulard Saturday.

 i  L-O-V-E  days off.

due to a greatly appreciate act of kindness by my manager at work, i had yesterday off. a full saturday all to myself...no expectations or school work or church picnics or music practices. i could do whatever i wanted to do...

A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G

so...i woke up at 8:15am, ate a bowl of fresh, crunchy granola with vanilla yogurt for breakfast, pulled on a pair of comfy linen pants, tied my not-so-clean hair into a ponytail, summoned my mother & we headed for The Historic Soulard Farmer's Market. 

the markets people-packed corridors welcomed us into their humid holiday weekend rush with open arms. wooden bins over-flowed with fresh produce that smelled of the earth & radiated a vibrant organic rainbow. hundreds of people from all over the world perused the isles. wagons and wheel barrels and strollers and dogs and skateboards clipped at my ankles as they waded through the crowds. on the dirty, damp asphalt rested boxes of lettuce heads & limes & stacks of glowing apples, waiting to be snatched up by an eager shopper.


i sampled sweet blackberries & crisp green beans.
i scaled a flower stand for twenty minutes, convincing myself not to spend my entire (yet small) fold of bills on tall bundles of birch twigs & the florists delightful, radish-red gladioluses.




i picked out a new candle & a bottle of goats milk lotion in a matching scent, and in honor of Memorial Day festivities & new recipes, filled my shopping bag with all kinds of dirt-tucked potatoes.

i also met a kind baker who shared with me a scrumptious sample of her freshly made pumpernickel bread, still warm & perfectly moist... which inevitably resulted in my purchasing a loaf & making an afternoon snack of it along with the to-die-for butter that my mom purchased from a Mennonite meat stand. 

mommy's hands

two hours later, when our wrists were tired from heavy bags & our feet dirty and ready for rest, we decided to get a few sandwiches, share a glass of sprite & head for home...but not before a spunky old, whiskery man playing his guitar & singin' the blues called us his way, enticed a few dollars out of us & charmed my fun-natured mommy into purchasing his CD right then and there!


so, with the windows rolled down, a bouquet of flowers across my lap & a banjo twanging in my ear...
i went home. 

me, sporting my new bracelet from the oh-so-charming Barn Sale that i attended last weekend -- written about here & here -- made by this lovely lady ... isn't it adorable?  

i  l-l-l-l-love  it!