Hard Core

My daughter-in-law and I have several things in common.  One is gardening, and another is cooking.  We often share gardening tips and recipes, and we compare the size and quantity of the vegies we are growing.  We had an outing planned for the second-to-the-last Portland Farmer's Market of the year.  The Portland Farmers Market is a great place to pick up local fruits, vegetables, bread, jams and jellies, peppers, pickles, juice, fish, cheese, cookies, chocolate, home-made beeswax candles . . . let's see. . . have I left anything out?  Almost certainly.

The last Portland Farmers Market is next week, but Mae and I decided we'd go this week.  Portland being what is is, we were greeted Saturday morning with a virtual deluge of rain.  There were flood warnings for various places around town.  Also, I heard announcements on the radio for residents to keep their storm drains clear of leaves and to report any streets or intersections flooded because of plugged storm drains.  What a mess.  But when you've lived in Oregon for as long as Mae and I, you don't let a few sprinkles deter you.  I put on my rain gear, and Mae donned her warm coat and her umbrella and off we went.  We had a wonderful day, and I'm so glad we decided to brave the rain.

We started the morning by driving over to Erik's shop to pick up her ATM card, and along the way stopped off at Starbuck's where we each had our favorite coffee drinks.  Mae likes Peppermint Mochas, and I had my seasonal White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha.  Is there anything better on a rainy day than a good cup of hot chocolate?  After that we were off.  I was amazed at how many vendors were there and what they were selling.  The weather made it hard to get very many good pictures, but I'll show you what I have:

squash and pumpkins galore.  I was able to pick up some delicata squash which has been hard to find in the grocery store.  Also, beets of all colors (my personal favorite)

lots of apples and pears, of course,

peppers of all sizes, shapes, and colors

and radishes and turnips.

You can see I was having trouble with my lens steaming up.  There was also blueberry-cranberry juice and good old cranberry juice (did you know we grow cranberries in Oregon?)

and hot food too.

And here's Mae paying for a jug of locally grown and pressed apple cider.  Yum.

She doesn't look wet, does she?  It was a great way to spend the day.  I'm always surprised when I go out on a day like this that it's never as miserable as I imagine it.  It was pouring rain most of the time, but we barely noticed.  There was so much to look at.

It was my second day in a row out in the rain.  I walked with my friend, Sue, yesterday.  Fanno Creek was one of the places flooding was expected, and I can attest to the lake that is ordinarily Fanno Creek.  There were zillions of Canada geese crowding around and ducks swimming where Sue and I ordinarily walk.  We ended up walking around the neighborhood.  Given our last walking adventure to the bottom of the mountain, I kept the main road in my sight so we wouldn't get lost again.

Today's weather is improved, but very windy.  Our windmill is rated for 1,800 watts, but it's generating 6,000 this morning.  The blades are spinning wildly, the but whole windmill is spinning around from the big gusts aloft.  That's Oregon for you.