On Sundays, the girls go to my parents and J and I have three childless hours to do whatever we please. Sometimes we run boring errands together, trips to Home Depot or to the grocery store. Sometimes we drink coffee and do nothing, though that’s a pretty rare occurrence. Today, we went to the farmer’s market with our four-legged fur-child, who was very excited to have mama and daddy all to himself.

We came in at the far end of town so as to avoid the market traffic, and parked outside the little store there. I popped inside to pull cash, but the ATM was out of order, and I didn’t have a check to cash at the register, so we were limited to the $13 in J’s wallet and any vendors with a Square. The dog owners were out in force, and Stubby paused to greet an ancient Springer spaniel, and then what looked to be a pair of retired Greyhounds.

It was still early in the day, and there weren’t very many patrons about, though the vendors all seemed happy to be out in the sunshine. Pickings were pretty slim in terms of veggies – it’s still early for us – but there were cheeses and pickles, breads and mustards. We made a lap, stopping to talk to a friend who owns the ice cream bus, another who was shopping with his son. We tasted a beer infused gouda, and marveled over a loaf of herbed cheesy bread; both made it into our tote.

Our funds spent, we sauntered back to the little store. J went inside for sandwiches and Stubby and I wandered around back to watch the lake. A loon drifted by as I fumbled with my camera. Despite Stubby’s best efforts to ruin the shot, I caught the image just before the bird dove, resurfacing well out of range. The distance they can swim underwater is just amazing – you never know where they will come up. There is a pair that returns to our own little lake each summer, and I am still in awe that we see such an exotic species on a regular basis – this is no Mallard eating bread crusts at the suburban duck pond.

Two hours already gone, and we hadn’t even begun the projects on today’s short list, so we headed home with full tummies to pick rhubarb and work on the chicken coop before bringing our little ladies home to nap.