wow, yesterday was awful at the Market, or the attempt at Sunday Market.
Ultimately, it cancelled, but not before everyone was soaked and some people had some serious damages to their canopies and goods.
The little boys start school in earnest on Wednesday.
It is muddy outside on the track that is my "yard" but everyone is heading out to do some track maintenance anyway.
Since Christmas is only a few months away, I am thinking on the things that I would like to give as gifts, and thinking also that with a Wal-Mart coming, how I will do even more to stay out of such institutions (I will not EVER go inside that store) and buy instead from people that live here and work here like me.
I would hope the rest of you that care about our corner of the state would do the same.
There is nothing good, nothing we need inside a Wal-Mart. Give them their walking papers.
Hope you all enjoy the good weather promised to return this week, and have a safe back to school week!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Stars and stripes
Just about this time of year I get a craving for Americana: Red, white and blue, sparklers and lemonade. Strawberry pies and front porch swingin'. Long Summer evenings while the smell of newly-mown grass lingers and the barn swallows sing goodnight to the bugs they left alive (for now).
I like to decorate my spaces with flags, but find it averse how many of these painted gewgaws are mass-produced overseas and sold in stores to appeal to those too lazy to do it oneself or without the time for same.
I know there are many artisans producing nice work and I would seek those out were I buying new ones to add to what I already own.
One year I dumped beach sand along my mantle and filled the space with glass floats, pebbles, shells, fireworks and pictures of my children playing at the beach. That was probably my most creative seasonal display and messy too though it mostly vacuumed right up. I might do it again but the cords for the video games tend to disrupt such delicate displays.
As I type this, the spousal unit is driving a bobcat back and forth to fill my lower pasture with extra dirt from whence to create jumps and banked turns so the boys can ride their quads and dirtbikes on a little track.
A family of swallows has taken up nesting on top of a floodlight under the front porch eave. I love their blue and orange color scheme and the fact that they eat bugs all day long. Detest the piles of turds but I'll deal. I built a barn ten years ago for them and while they use it occasionally it seems they prefer to make their own way. I admire that feature of barn swallows but most envy their jet-fighter-like maneuvers over roads and streams as they scoop up their meal.
There are five eggs in the nest. I could barely fit my cell phone camera in there to get a pic of the speckled "bird larva" but slipped my finger in to gently caress each egg and know there are indeed five of them. The parents don't seem to mind that we are so near though they check out while we bbq out there. I hope it doesn't doom the newborns to failure but again they DO have the barn....
Sunday Market's in full swing with both improvements and what I feel might be backsliding tactics. Still, I know what it's like for most of these vendors and feel better spending my money with them than the local big boxes.
I find myself buying things from multiple, smaller, locally-owned sources nowadays, bucking a trend that began when I was small: that of the one-stop shop.
Yes, it's easier and quicker, but I don't know that I will go quietly into the night of retail giants, especially when I realize the price might be my town's identity.
It might be a tough thing for me just because I know or am acquainted with so many small business owners and think about their livelihood and well-being. I want them to stay here and thrive here and so I will buy my canned tuna from local processors rather than off the shelf at Fred's or Safeway. My artisan bread will not come from the shelves of those stores either, instead from the fabulous Blue Scorcher.
No Starbuck's brew passes these lips, I only drink Thundermuck.
Gifts purchased for others will be for the most part of the locally-produced and American made variety. They mean more that way, and hopefully mean more to those that need the money most, will re-use it within my community.
Good luck everyone, enjoying your Summer activities. This territory really glows this time of year. Make the most of it...
I like to decorate my spaces with flags, but find it averse how many of these painted gewgaws are mass-produced overseas and sold in stores to appeal to those too lazy to do it oneself or without the time for same.
I know there are many artisans producing nice work and I would seek those out were I buying new ones to add to what I already own.
One year I dumped beach sand along my mantle and filled the space with glass floats, pebbles, shells, fireworks and pictures of my children playing at the beach. That was probably my most creative seasonal display and messy too though it mostly vacuumed right up. I might do it again but the cords for the video games tend to disrupt such delicate displays.
As I type this, the spousal unit is driving a bobcat back and forth to fill my lower pasture with extra dirt from whence to create jumps and banked turns so the boys can ride their quads and dirtbikes on a little track.
A family of swallows has taken up nesting on top of a floodlight under the front porch eave. I love their blue and orange color scheme and the fact that they eat bugs all day long. Detest the piles of turds but I'll deal. I built a barn ten years ago for them and while they use it occasionally it seems they prefer to make their own way. I admire that feature of barn swallows but most envy their jet-fighter-like maneuvers over roads and streams as they scoop up their meal.
There are five eggs in the nest. I could barely fit my cell phone camera in there to get a pic of the speckled "bird larva" but slipped my finger in to gently caress each egg and know there are indeed five of them. The parents don't seem to mind that we are so near though they check out while we bbq out there. I hope it doesn't doom the newborns to failure but again they DO have the barn....
Sunday Market's in full swing with both improvements and what I feel might be backsliding tactics. Still, I know what it's like for most of these vendors and feel better spending my money with them than the local big boxes.
I find myself buying things from multiple, smaller, locally-owned sources nowadays, bucking a trend that began when I was small: that of the one-stop shop.
Yes, it's easier and quicker, but I don't know that I will go quietly into the night of retail giants, especially when I realize the price might be my town's identity.
It might be a tough thing for me just because I know or am acquainted with so many small business owners and think about their livelihood and well-being. I want them to stay here and thrive here and so I will buy my canned tuna from local processors rather than off the shelf at Fred's or Safeway. My artisan bread will not come from the shelves of those stores either, instead from the fabulous Blue Scorcher.
No Starbuck's brew passes these lips, I only drink Thundermuck.
Gifts purchased for others will be for the most part of the locally-produced and American made variety. They mean more that way, and hopefully mean more to those that need the money most, will re-use it within my community.
Good luck everyone, enjoying your Summer activities. This territory really glows this time of year. Make the most of it...
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Think before you buy
Read labels, ask questions and modify your spending. Seem tough?
No tougher than being "green" is it to buy locally and buy domestically-made and owned items.
Some things may seem impossible, but there are options for just about everything we need or want in this world.
I really don't want to see some of my favorite locally-owned and operated businesses go away and so I take a bit of extra time to patronize them. Think it takes extra fuel to do so?
Not always...many of our local businesses have online stores from which to purchase and even have the items delivered to you.
Rumors of another big-box store make me queasy, but I will not shop there. I have been in the Home Depot just a few times, and purchased nothing personally so far. I have no need to, and when/if I do, it will be out of sheer necessity and lack of option that I do.
We have plenty of options here and I will continue to shop with them as long as they exist.
My Easter candies will not be from Hersheys or Mars, they will be from local candy stores from local and domestic sources.
Times like these, we all need to tend the yards and gardens closest to home, to take care of our neighbors and the ones that take care of us.
No tougher than being "green" is it to buy locally and buy domestically-made and owned items.
Some things may seem impossible, but there are options for just about everything we need or want in this world.
I really don't want to see some of my favorite locally-owned and operated businesses go away and so I take a bit of extra time to patronize them. Think it takes extra fuel to do so?
Not always...many of our local businesses have online stores from which to purchase and even have the items delivered to you.
Rumors of another big-box store make me queasy, but I will not shop there. I have been in the Home Depot just a few times, and purchased nothing personally so far. I have no need to, and when/if I do, it will be out of sheer necessity and lack of option that I do.
We have plenty of options here and I will continue to shop with them as long as they exist.
My Easter candies will not be from Hersheys or Mars, they will be from local candy stores from local and domestic sources.
Times like these, we all need to tend the yards and gardens closest to home, to take care of our neighbors and the ones that take care of us.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Fourteen
and this just floated my lil' ol' boat:
Demolition Man!
Been lost in a little YouTube nostalgia since the afternoon is not conducive to my other desired pursuit of yard work. Yeah, like I really desired the yard work over sitting around watching videos...but I would like to get that done.
Demolition Man!
Been lost in a little YouTube nostalgia since the afternoon is not conducive to my other desired pursuit of yard work. Yeah, like I really desired the yard work over sitting around watching videos...but I would like to get that done.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
WMDs in my home
Yep, you read that right: Weapons of Mass Destruction are right here in the walls of my own little house.
My oldest son observed that, this morning, and it made me laugh when I thought about it.
I was referring to throwing out one of those self-inking rubber name/address stamps that I found lying on the counter after one of my cleaning rampages. Not sure where I'd shaken it out of before that, but the reason it has that reputation is this:
About two years ago, my husband ordered this item, with his name and my name and our address, phone number and a website. It was part of a pyramid scheme he'd fallen into, but that is irrelevant.
The future WMD was stored in a room we didn't use very much, a guest bedroom.
We have two boys, then 2 and 5. They became fond of playing in the guest bedroom after a visit from their grandparents where the grandparents stayed while they visited.
One day I went into the guest bedroom to look for something else and generally tidy up. Jumping on a bed really can trash the look of a room!
What did I find? Not just a wrinkled and mussed bed and pillows on the floor, but our name and address stamped on every conceivable surface.
It was a decorating disaster!!!
Our names and addresses were displayed prominently on the bedsheets, the walls, pictures that hung on the wall. I saw the ink on the curtains, a box of Kleenex, the countertops and drawer fronts.
The capper for me was the carpet. The ink was immovable. Luckily the carpet is dark green. You really have to look to see the stamp.
Yes, the name and address stamp earned its reputation that day. I put it high on a shelf in the kitchen inside a cupboard. Hubby knows where it is should he ever need to use it. We still get the shipments of "juice" from said pyramid scheme, and he occasionally even sells some of it to other people.
That stamp has never seen paper that I know of. It works real well on fabric, though. If we had pets inside, I'm sure we'd know how it transfers to furry surfaces.
My oldest son observed that, this morning, and it made me laugh when I thought about it.
I was referring to throwing out one of those self-inking rubber name/address stamps that I found lying on the counter after one of my cleaning rampages. Not sure where I'd shaken it out of before that, but the reason it has that reputation is this:
About two years ago, my husband ordered this item, with his name and my name and our address, phone number and a website. It was part of a pyramid scheme he'd fallen into, but that is irrelevant.
The future WMD was stored in a room we didn't use very much, a guest bedroom.
We have two boys, then 2 and 5. They became fond of playing in the guest bedroom after a visit from their grandparents where the grandparents stayed while they visited.
One day I went into the guest bedroom to look for something else and generally tidy up. Jumping on a bed really can trash the look of a room!
What did I find? Not just a wrinkled and mussed bed and pillows on the floor, but our name and address stamped on every conceivable surface.
It was a decorating disaster!!!
Our names and addresses were displayed prominently on the bedsheets, the walls, pictures that hung on the wall. I saw the ink on the curtains, a box of Kleenex, the countertops and drawer fronts.
The capper for me was the carpet. The ink was immovable. Luckily the carpet is dark green. You really have to look to see the stamp.
Yes, the name and address stamp earned its reputation that day. I put it high on a shelf in the kitchen inside a cupboard. Hubby knows where it is should he ever need to use it. We still get the shipments of "juice" from said pyramid scheme, and he occasionally even sells some of it to other people.
That stamp has never seen paper that I know of. It works real well on fabric, though. If we had pets inside, I'm sure we'd know how it transfers to furry surfaces.
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