I was up early this morning and saw S off to work at 6:30. Don’t honestly know what the point is to being up that early, the sun isn’t truly up until 7:45ish. But I decided to get dressed and bundled up and head out the door into the pre-dawn darkness for some fresh warm bread for my breakfast. It was down to 29° overnight and according to Yahoo Weather it was only 32° when I headed out the door. It didn’t seem too cold when I started out so I decided to go ahead and loop past the post office first. As I neared the post office, however, my ears and nose were starting to get quite numb. I hurriedly dropped my letter into the slot and headed toward the main drag to the bakery for my breakfast and some much needed warmth.
The side street that the post office is on was choked with trailers. I forgot that Tuesday mornings there is an open air market on this street. There were several refrigerated trailers quite visible because of the lights blaring from inside. Two large trailers are butcher shops, one trailer houses the fish monger, another houses the sausage guy and one extremely large gleaming white trailer sells cheese. The cheese trailer has cheese of every conceivable variety and description. I stay as far away as possible from the fish and cheese trailers because the smell is overpowering and I don’t think I can face it on an empty stomach.
Most of the rest of the stalls are open air stalls mostly large tables where wears are displayed. There were 4 or 5 produce stands showcasing carrots, leeks, oranges, tangerines, potatoes, lettuce, cabbage and a wide variety of fresh colorful apples. The produce is arranged nested in colorful boxes filled with shredded paper. It makes you hungry just looking at the variety of fruit and the smell of the tangerines brings back memories of the tree in Mama Reyes’ back yard. Remember how we used to pick the tree bare of fruit as far up as our short arms would reach?
There were a surprising number of people already milling around the stalls, even at this hour and temperature. All of them carrying baskets or dragging rolling carts. It was a sight that made me feel happy just to be there. It was cold and bustling and very charming in a way.
As I wove my way down the street between stalls stopping briefly here and there to look I found one stall that was selling shoes or more precisely, clogs. Clogs in many colors and for every member of the family. One vendor was selling down vests and I thought I should get one, as they reminded me of how cold I was. As I moved on I noticed two stalls that reminded me of Charlotte, they had bolts and bolts of beautiful fabrics and best of all they had buttons. Buttons! A table loaded with buttons, buttons in boxes, buttons in buckets. It would take a full day to sift through all of those buttons. I kept thinking how much she would love all those buttons and wondered how much closet space she has left for fabric. She would need an annex to her room for all of this tempting fabric. (I wondered too if she would make me some pillows if I sent her some of it.) I wished I could linger longer but my ears had reached that state of frozenness that makes them start to hurt and burn.
As I headed out of the street I could see my goal ahead with lights shining and promising warmth. As I walked I noticed that there were many more people out this morning, bundled up beyond all recognition and heading toward the market with baskets in hand. The bakery too was packed with people holding baskets, some already full of shopping. The wait at the bakery was long but I didn’t mind. It’s a darned good thing you can’t gain weight from inhaling bread aroma. (You can’t can you?) I bought four fresh, warm buttery croissants and couldn’t wait until I got home to eat one, besides if I waited, they'd be cold when I got home in this weather. I tucked the bag with the remaining croissants inside my jacket so we could keep each other warm.
