Glimpses from the Vicksburg Farmers' Market

Saturdays are for car shopping...

It's not a hybrid, but they claim it gets 36 miles to the gallon.  We'll see.

My husband is an arsonist.

I know he's an arsonist because all the Gingerbread Family photos were mysteriously removed from the house before the fire.  Plus there are those incriminating photos of him with the lighter fluid.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Chicago: Day Three

After a morning of phone calls and e-mails, I sealed up the laptop and goofed off for the afternoon.  Twas great fun...

We began at Navy Pier.  I insisted on riding the ferris wheel, despite Ned's fear of heights (aggravated by my insistence on jumping back and forth across the car to get good photos, none of which I'm posting here.)  We calmed post-ferris wheel frights with an Italian lemon ice.
We bought tickets for WICKED.  I wore green to celebrate.  I would have painted my face, but Ned said no.

We checked out art with our friend, Liz, and grabbed dinner at the Berghoff.  Ned ordered the sausage sampler platter.  Me, I chose pierogies, because nothing's better than mashed potatoes in fried pasta!  More news tomorrow, when we have the entire day to explore!

Chicago: Day Two

Bummer of a day.  Except for getting to see Rosemary and Gus for dinner, neither Ned nor I left the hotel today.  We worked all day long.  I just finished working a few minutes ago (11 p.m.) and Ned's still at his laptop.  We have no photos (since we forgot to take a picture at dinner), so here's an image from yesterday.  Ned's standing next to a photograph at the Chicago Art Institute, taken by a family friend in Columbus.  To learn more about Birney Imes, check out this article on the UT Web site, or look at the cover Lucinda William's album, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.  I can't find a Web site for him when I Google, but it'd be great if he had one.

Chicago: Day One

Who was I kidding?  I got no work done today.  I'll have to call it a vacation day.  Ned and I flew to Chicago with our friend, Liz, at 7 a.m. this morning.  We've been running ever since.

First stop: Fat Johnny's for hot dogs.  We were too early, because the place was still closed.  Second stop: Edna's for lunch.  Yummy.  Third stop (after the hotel):  Magic Bean, where we became midgets in the reflection.
From the Magic Bean we traveled to the Art Institute.  It was great, as always, but over half of it is under construction.  My engineer husband pretended to be enthused, but sometimes I think he just doesn't get it (see below).

Last stop of the day:  Chicago dogs and a White Sox game.  As I type this at 10:45 p.m., the 7:11 game has just ended.  We had to leave in the seventh inning because my fellow travelers can't just take the day off tomorrow (like I did today).  Final White Sox score: 16-5.

Just your normal Saturday in Vicksburg.

We've been so excited (and busy) with the Vicksburg Farmers' Market that our posts have diminished.  Many apologies.  We'll catch up this week.  Today's glimpse:  after the market, we went out for a two hour lunch excursion to LD's.  The fried pork chops were worth the wait, though my hungry husband did get a bit cranky.  While we were there, we saw a traveling group of mimes.  I had to run outside and get the photo -- there are fewer things more bloggable than a surprise pack of mimes.

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Hope you got to enjoy a good afternoon nap.

One more VFM note...

The market was a success, in no small part, to our stealth PR campaign.  Check out the good work of our friends here:

Front Porch Fodder

Replaced Southerner

The Ware House

Farmers' Market Fun

Success!  9 farmers (20 booths in all), 1000+ customers, a bluegrass band, no rain, and no leftover vegetables.  For photos, see Shutterfly.  For the incredibly awesome and well placed photo in today's paper, see The Vicksburg Post.

Despite Ned's reluctance to get up this morning when the alarm went off (I am up and dressed and ready to run out the door as I snap this photo), he quickly got into market excitement.
There are the zinnias, free to people who become Friends of the Market.
Here's one of my co-conspirators, Kristen Meehan.  It was early in the day, so she's holding coffee.  She'd soon trade that for ice water.
Liz and Sandy were super-troopers -- staffing the market booth, selling hummus, and even taking a photo with Ned in a silly hat.
And here's the market's personal PR staff.  These are the Who's Who of Vicksburg who helped us spread the word.  Thanks, all!

The guilt is killing me

and I'm too ashamed to admit it to Ned in person, so he'll just have to read the confession on our blog. I ate our first tomato this morning. Without him. I couldn't help it--I was outside watering and it was really hot and I leaned over and saw this one, perfect cherry red tomato all alone on the bush and it just looked so yummy. So I ate it. And it was yummy. Sorry, Ned. There will be more next week.

This is all in my future on Saturday...

Newsflash:  Vicksburg has 8 assorted veggie growers scheduled to sell at our market on Saturday.  That's 8...more than most places.  I don't want to be too cocky, but let's just make it clear that our committee pulled these folks together all by ourselves despite the fact that nobody would share their farmer lists.  And now, we have the most.  We win.  Hands down.  Yay!  

In addition to fabulous veggies from area farmers, shoppers can look forward to live music and 12 other booths showcasing baked goods, handmade wooden items, fresh herbs, and even one of those jumping castles for the kids.  It's gonna be a long, hot Saturday.  Let's hope against the rain.

Valdosta Stencil Graffiti

First Harvest...and Supper

Check out the squash, and all those peppers in the pepper-steak.

Congratulations, Mom/MA & Jimmy!

Some wedding photos are online now at Shutterfly.

Watch our garden grow

We've got garlic.
A blooming Black Eyed Susan vine on the bottletree.
Sungold tomatoes from friends in Nashville, Paul and Joy.
Bell peppers (that actually grew this year!)
And a bit of basil.  The first seeds didn't sprout at all, and Mary Beth was a bit overzealous in planting the second batch.  The hard part will be thinning them.  It just seems so mean.  I'll probably just let them all crowd each other out in a death match.

Mediterranean Night on National Street

Ned and I have been enjoying my cookbook from the Greek Orthodox Church in Charleston, SC, this week.  Here's Thursday's meal -- garbanzo bean salad, eggplant and artichokes, and homemade ciabatta bread.  Admittedly, the bread isn't very Greek.  But it's very good.  Maybe not as good as the salad, though, which is just a healthy mix of garbanzo beans, diced red onion, chopped parsley, and a dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin, and red pepper.  Yum.

Wedding bells will be ringing this Saturday...

We can't wait for Jimmy & MA/Mom's big wedding weekend!  Here's a flashback to the happy couple at our own wedding.

Happy birthday, RR!

Happy birthday, Rosemary!  We don't look a day older than we did in college, right?

Thomas makes the blog.

Here's our friend Thomas, the realtor who will one day sell us our dream house in Nashville.

Remembering Daniel's He-Man Battle Scenes

The guilt continues

Even though I returned the rental car yesterday, I'm still feeling guilty about my carbon footprint.  And I'm still a little enraged by the cost of the gas.  See here where I filled it up the first time.  Actually, I didn't fill it up all the way, because the pump cuts off your card at $100.  So, really, I spent a fortune and still didn't have a tank full of gas.  Unbelievable.  Look closely and you can see the reflection of this Environment Killer in the glass (as well as my incredulous look while photographing the display).

Franklin Weekend

MB enjoyed a weekend of connecting with grad school friends in Nashville.  It was the first time Molly, Amy, Evan and I have been together in years.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a group photo!  Here's a pic featuring 2 of 4...I'll do better next time.

We've got to buy a hybrid car

just to relieve my guilt about driving this rental monstrosity to Nashville this weekend.

Cooking the book

Yesterday I made baklava. That little pan contains a pound of butter, a pound of walnuts, and too much sugar to count.  But it was yummy.  In other good news, ND's athletic director is headed to Duke.  Finally, we're rid of Kevin White!  May Duke enjoy his curse.  And may NBC renew our contract.

Delta Diners, Vicksburg Chapter, eats at Lillo's

The service was a bit slow, as you can tell from the before-and-after dinner group photos, and the Italian Nachos on the menu were really not nachos, but pizza without sauce (not a tortilla in site!), but the group had great fun nonetheless.  Sandy got a shout-out from the guest musician, and Ned and I got to take a spin on the dance floor.  Sandy logged our memorable moments in her new Delta Diner notebook.  Here's one group favorite:

Car #1 has returned to Vicksburg.  We sit on the street awaiting Car #2.

Sandy:  "I hope they get here soon.  They have my cooler."

Mary Beth:  "Maybe they'll hurry.  They have my husband."

Alex (clearly ready to trump us):  "Well they have my pregnant wife."

Laughter ensues.