Pete, Kate and Donna Lee's Most Excellent Adventure! We have been blessed with an abundance of rain this spring. I say blessed because I know there are parts of the country/world who are not being so blessed at this time. In fact, they are downright dry. Our world is very green and overgrown at this point in time. A fact that PK is trying to rectify by mowing the front and then the back 40. I say trying because everytime he decides he has time to mow, it rains. And rains. And is windy and rains. Today was a day of epic spring wonderfulness.With a sky as beautiful as this, who could stay inside? (This is a church in Woodbury that has gargoyles! Who knew the Methodists had a sense of humor?) It was cloud free most of the day (and when it did cloud over, they quickly dispersed) and comfortably warm. So, did we spend the day outside working on our verdant overgrown property? No, of course not. That would not be an Excellent Adventure!
Instead, we went to here. Can't read the sign? 
It says Cowtown. Yep, in the heart of Southern Jersey, we have a place called Cowtown. It's actually a rodeo, one of the oldest continuously running rodeos in the country. The rodeos run on weekends from May until the fall. But, they also have flea markets all year long on Tuesdays and Saturdays. So, we went to the flea market. We saw hats, lots of hats and knock-off handbags. If you wanted a faux Dolce & Gabana bag, this was your place to find it. Cowtown isn't my kind of flea market because they didn't have dolls without heads and worn out shoes and old chairs and other used stuff. This was all new items. We bought some fruit (asian pears and red grapes) and some sausage to make sandwiches for dinner. We also bought some bandanas because we use them a lot in the sweaty summer heat. New Jersey is the Garden State, yea, I know, go ahead and laugh. If you live in the north close to New York, it might be a little hard to believe but here in the south, there is still a lot of farm land and fruit or
chards. We passed lots of stands that will be soon full with vegetables and fruit from local farms. Today we saw these. Probably not a thing there was local except maybe the asparagus. The tomatoes are too big this early to be local, we don't grow bananas or mangoes or lemons. Maybe the cherries, but I think it's still too early for those, too. No matter. It all looked good.
It says Cowtown. Yep, in the heart of Southern Jersey, we have a place called Cowtown. It's actually a rodeo, one of the oldest continuously running rodeos in the country. The rodeos run on weekends from May until the fall. But, they also have flea markets all year long on Tuesdays and Saturdays. So, we went to the flea market. We saw hats, lots of hats and knock-off handbags. If you wanted a faux Dolce & Gabana bag, this was your place to find it. Cowtown isn't my kind of flea market because they didn't have dolls without heads and worn out shoes and old chairs and other used stuff. This was all new items. We bought some fruit (asian pears and red grapes) and some sausage to make sandwiches for dinner. We also bought some bandanas because we use them a lot in the sweaty summer heat. New Jersey is the Garden State, yea, I know, go ahead and laugh. If you live in the north close to New York, it might be a little hard to believe but here in the south, there is still a lot of farm land and fruit or
chards. We passed lots of stands that will be soon full with vegetables and fruit from local farms. Today we saw these. Probably not a thing there was local except maybe the asparagus. The tomatoes are too big this early to be local, we don't grow bananas or mangoes or lemons. Maybe the cherries, but I think it's still too early for those, too. No matter. It all looked good.PK and I dropped Kate off at home and headed for the Berlin Farmer's Market for their flea market. This is an indoor market all year through with an often strange assortment of things and an outdoor market in the warmer months. It used to have an auction where animals(cows, horses,pigs) were auctioned. I remember hearing some of the auctions when I was a kid but I never ventured into the area. It seemed like a strange place, all dark and smokey. THIS flea market is a real one. They have all kinds of stuff both new and "gently used" and down right worn out. PK likes to go and find old tools that he can bring home and lovingly restore. Here he is looking for some old hand p
lanes 
. The pile looked something like this, all metal and rusty and jumbled together. He picks and prods and finds a chisel without a handle which he can "fix up". He's in hog heaven doing this. We found a back pack for Kate so she can go backpacking with PK and they can do an overnight in some wildnerness campsite. It was in good condition and only cost 15 dollars. New ones like this are way over a hundred dollars so we got a bargain. Kate is thrilled because she loves backpacking/hiking. Me? You couldn't pay me enough money to strap a big pack on my back and walk for miles and miles and then sleep on the ground. No accounting for taste. I like camping but I want to drive up and unload my car at the campsite and set up a nice, tidy, little outside home.
lanes 
. The pile looked something like this, all metal and rusty and jumbled together. He picks and prods and finds a chisel without a handle which he can "fix up". He's in hog heaven doing this. We found a back pack for Kate so she can go backpacking with PK and they can do an overnight in some wildnerness campsite. It was in good condition and only cost 15 dollars. New ones like this are way over a hundred dollars so we got a bargain. Kate is thrilled because she loves backpacking/hiking. Me? You couldn't pay me enough money to strap a big pack on my back and walk for miles and miles and then sleep on the ground. No accounting for taste. I like camping but I want to drive up and unload my car at the campsite and set up a nice, tidy, little outside home.I have resisted doing any cleaning or other chores today. Tomorrow we are due for more rain (surprise, surprise) so there will be plenty of time to do chores and laundry. I am going to go and cook sausage and peppers for our dinner with some left over potato salad. That is, if I can stop watching for the mailman. Elanor gave me a Borders gift card for Mother's Day and I ordered The Knitters Book of Yarn and I'm waiting for it to come. Impatiently waiting.
I hope you are all having a Most Excellent Adventure of your own this weekend.
7 comments:
what a lovely day! And how thrifty of PK to do up old chisels. That's admirable!
yes, the term flea markets if over used. It doesn't apply to all markets, does it?!
And yes, we are still very dry here. I envy your green.
That sounds truly lovely! (And I didn't know that Methodists had a sense of humor either--and I was one...)
Wait--don't real flea markets sell fleas?
That's why I'm glad we entered Jersey from the south--it dispelled any of those myths people have about New Jersey.
What an EXcellent adventure! did you find anything aside from food for yourself? Joy, joy for your sunny day!
I am slightly jealous of your Excellent Adventure. It rained here yesterday. Again. A lot. There was a brief period of heartbreakingly blue sky, with a big yellow thing somewhere up there. And then, it rained. And it's still raining. But then, we too have lots of greenery. So it can't be all bad.
Did Kate pick up another $15 plastic cowboy hat? Aren't flea markets great? There're a couple of farmers' markets up here I want to check out.
I'm with you on the hiking. Not my cup of tea at all. But you most certainly did have an excellent adventure and you didn't even have to strap all your stuff on your back!
I lived in Woodbury for the first 29 years of my life, passing that church practically every day, and never knew there were gargoyles... Thanks for pointing that out!
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