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!
:-)