Fall

[offcntr]

Definitely fall Saturday morning. This was my view as I drove into Market.

I come down Delta highway from River Road, so there's frequently fog as I cross the river and pass the ponds. This is the first time the fog got thicker as I came down the exit to 7th Street.

Fortunately, I had layers. Lost the jacket while still setting up, though the flannel stayed on much longer. Hat came off after lunch, and by 3 pm I had to go change from jeans to shorts.

Fall in Oregon is weird.

Farmer's Market is amazing, though. I bought salad mix, green beans, lemon cukes, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries, d'Anjou pears, blue plums and two different varieties of seedless table grapes, all locally grown. Next week we'll probably be through the rest of our homegrown apples, so they'll add to the list.

I brought a few new plates in from the recent firing, set up left to right a crab dinner plate, sea otter dessert plate and an orca dessert plate, and only then realized I'd created a marine food chain. Decided to leave it there and see if anyone noticed.

Students are back on campus, and coming down to Market in droves. I never used to sell well to college kids; my demographic seemed to be moms and grandmas, a dwindling market. Lately, though, they've been stopping in, admiring the work, sometimes buying, or at least taking a business card for when they had their own kitchen/apartment/space. Denise has also seen the love--three young women went through her entire box of watercolor cards, comparing favorites, before settling on the ones to buy.

A father and daughter came in a couple of times, looking at everything, not talking much to me. The second time, though, daughter came close and said, Can I ask you a question? Certainly, I assure her. Well, when my mom was growing up, she had a panda cookie jar that was always full of cookies. Do you ever paint a panda on a cookie jar?

I flip open my inventory book, say I have one in the booth right now. It's in a box under the counter, would you like to see it?

Would she ever! I cherish the look of delight on her face when I brought out the jar, even more so when I showed her the mother and baby panda on the back.

Mom's getting a panda cookie jar.