Oh, the humanity

We were walking around with about a gazillion other people at the Detroit Eastern Market this morning and we were about to walk across I am not even sure which freeway on a footbridge where there were a whole bunch of people selling stuff and it was getting hot and the smell of patchouli (and manure) was in the air and I was thinking, “Oh, the humanity,” and then the GG said, “Oh, the humanity.”

I dunno why I have never been to the Eastern Market before. I’ve read umpteen bazillion articles about it over the years and one of my fav-o-rite blahggers, who lives over in the “Pointes” and is a *real* writer (who actually makes sense! <grin>), frequently posts a Saturday photo from the market (doesn’t look she was there today though). Me? Well, am I one of *those* people, you know, the snobby over-educated Planet Ann Arbor folks who don’t go “into the city” very often? Why would we? “It’s dangerous down there and anyway everything we need is here, yada yada.” Except I am not one of those people. For one thing, I am hardly over-educated with the flute performance degree I’ve never used and my community college “internet professional” certificate. Also, as much as I love the Planet Ann Arbor, I have one foot firmly planted up there in the Yooperland. It keeps me humble. (I think…)

Anyway, I have never been to the Eastern Market before. Despite the facts that I have visited relatives in the Day-Twa area all of my life and the GG and I long ago flirted with the idea of settling over in the northern burbs for a bit before we ended up in A2 (more on that some other time).

Now the beach urchin Lizard Breath is living over in Fabulous Ferndale and she and her 20-something friends hang out all over the area going to shows and bars and whatnot. And so an email went out: Who wants to go to the Eastern Market this Saturday? Me, the GG, Mouse (who was a *really* good sport about getting picked up at 7:30 this morning), Dogmomster, and Valdemort.

What did we ever do without text messaging? As our three vee-hickles converged upon downtown Dee-troit and parked in various places, we were storming each other with messages: “We are at such-and-such an intersection, where are you?” etc., etc., etc. Only Liz actually had any idea of where things were and, having lived in SanFran the last six years, she’s also a neophyte. We all eventually connected and spent a wonderful morning floating around like a big cluster of cats trying not to lose each other while taking everything in and trying to get our bearings.

So, what did we buy? Lizard Breath snagged a beauteous black coffee table at the antique store for something like $30. And a couple little cactus-y / succulent plants (Mouse too). I bought those for my kids against the protests of the vendor who seemed to think my kids should be buying *me* stuff (and of course, *that* brought a flood of thoughts into my head about my life with The Commander and how things [sorta] reversed the last few years but we won’t go into detail about that now or maybe ever…) The GG? 12-year-old cheese of course. I cannot remember if Dogmomster or Valdemort bought *anything* (besides breakfast). Me? Well. Sweet corn from O-haaaa-o (hey, it’s more local than Fla, not that there is anything wrong with Fla corn). Aaaannnnnd… Drum roll… This beauteous hicken. Yes, he is a hicken. Don’t ask. What is his name? I do not know yet…

I will go back to the Eastern Market again (and again (and again)) but I won’t go every weekend (that we are “home”) because I was *exhausted* [psychologically] by the time we got home in the early afternoon. We have our own [rather renowned] farmer’s market here on The Planet and we love to walk down there at 0-skunk-30 on Saturday mornings.

I dunno what’s on tap for tomorrow except for a run to the Jackson Road Meijer for stuff I can’t carry home from the Plum Market in a backpack. Yaknow, like toilet paper…

Goodnight and love y’all,
KW

P.S. Uh, we have new neighbors. They bought Hans’s house. I am sure they are wonderful but I am not quite feeling like I can hang out in my back yard without an, uh, bra, just in case we have a close encounter with them…

2 Responses to “Oh, the humanity”

  1. Margaret Says:

    You’ve made me really want to realize a couple of my dreams–go to more Farmers Markets and try new places and things. Now I just have to find the energy!! 🙂

  2. jane Says:

    while I wasn’t at Eastern Market, I did end up at an estate sale and bought a dehumidifier for $25. about 1/10th of what I would pay for a new one. and it works! and apparently it’s so heavy because there are coils of copper in it. so when it does die I can get some money for the copper tubing. yay!