Reopening For Business

Well, for good or ill - mostly for good, I think - the Farmer's Market in Monuments Square is back open for real business.

I missed last week's gathering, I think I was working on videos.  But now I'm camped out in front of Henry the VII's sandwich shop and the Dixieland band is setting up over to my right, tuning and running scales before striking up for the lunchtime crowd.

Most vendors are selling plants.  People are putting in their gardens, decorating their lawns, trimming their houses - plants and sprouts are in very high demand.

Still, there is a surprising amount of fresh produce available - simple things like honey, Pastor Chuck's Applesauce (with the avuncular Pastor Chuck ministering to customers himself) and lot's of wondrous baked goods to be had.

A lot of artists have set up on the fringes of the Market - you can buy small handbags, brooches, paintings and simple jewelry.

You can buy wonderful bunches of paper flowers that compete with the colors of real flowers in vases and hanging baskets all through the Market.

Meanwhile the tuba player of the Dixieland band is quietly belting out the theme from the Godfather ("Speak softly, love...") while the sax player - a tenor - is playing some Parker licks - sounds like "Cherokee" - j'approve.

This is only an adumbration of what this place will be like in a month.  It's still very much a local crowd.  

Come to think of it I can't quite bring myself to accept the idea that this weekend is Memorial Day weekend.

I think back to where I was - even just reading the posts takes me back to some horrible places - a year ago and the changes in life and heart have been remarkable.

The next thing you know the annual Zombie Kickball game will be in progress and Summer will be in high gear.

There is just so little destructive pressure on me these days.  I was thinking early this morning that I was sleeping almost all through the night, waking only when the cat knocked over the broom about 3:30.

J'accuse - it's taken a full year for me to accept what a really bad job I was doing in so much of my job - I know I'm a really, really good teacher but was unwilling to be even minimally organized or responsible.

The nice thought is that I didn't ruin the programs I was involved with - and I know there are students (I've heard from them) whose lives were changed - or at least broadened - by my being there.

So now the Market has livened up.  People are coming on their lunch hours - chairs are filling up (I should probably leave this one so Henry the VIII's can have some real paying customers.  

The band has struck up.  "You Are My Sunshine".  Voices and lot's of eyes.

I should probably grab some lunch.  People are seated on the ledges of he Soldiers and Sailors monument - otherwise known as Our Lady of Victories (the statue at the top of this post).

It's really a very pleasant way to spend a late morning.  The reset of the day will see me trapped at my piano working on a new tango for Adira, whose birthday was just this weekend past.

Another friend who is a great excuse for write music.

I think I'll go plunge into the day.