Hello Novel!: Market Day!

When I was a kid, we'd head on up to St Jacob's Farmer's Market about once or twice a summer.

Usually, we'd head out with my mom's parents. We'd wander the buildings and the outside vendors, eat samples from everywhere (maybe sometimes twice?) Each of us kids would have a couple of dollars to spend and we'd agonize over which bag of candy we would get at the "candy man's" stall, before heading over to the vendors who sold little toys and trinkets. Grandma and Grandpa would often slip us another dollar or two to get an extra treat, or to buy that toy we'd been eying.

One time Grandpa treated us to ice cream from the Ice Cream Caboose ( a real old caboose!) I chose bubble gum against my mother's recommendation. It was cuz she knew I wouldn't eat it all & then she'd be stuck trying to finish the blue stuff I had left. Because you just don't let stuff like that go to waste! (Sorry, Mom. Next time I'd definitely choose a nice maple walnut or some such. But....there probably wouldn't be leftovers...)

Usually I tried to make my candy last and last and last. A little like Mary from the Little House in the Big Woods book. My brothers would gobble theirs down like Laura.

One time, I bought myself a grape-flavoured glittery lip balm that had a bit of colour. I loved that tube. One day I accidentally left it in the girls' bathroom at school and never found it back. I can't remember if I shed a tear or not, but I felt sad over it. It was the closest thing to make-up I had at the time. And at that age, make-up was forbidden and pretty special.

Grandma and Grandpa usually treated us to a pony ride. I have an old photo of me on a pony, in a dress my mom or grandma made for me, wearing my hair short. I was pretty cute. They still have pony rides there.

Mom always bought bushels of beans at the market, and we'd come home and snap the beans mom and Grandma tipped. Then they'd can them and we'd eat those beans all winter long. I still don't do store-bought canned beans. Home-made beats all.

Another highlight was seeing the animals in the auction barn. You can walk over top on the viewing decks. Usually there were just cows and calves. Sometimes you'd see sheep or pigs or goats. And, very rarely horses. I was one of those kids that just adored horses. I hoped every time that I'd see some.

Well. Last Tuesday, Ed & I visited the market with my parents. We wandered the vendors, inside & out, tasted samples and bought some food.

But the auction barn viewing. The little girl inside of me was absolutely thrilled. Not just cows, calves, sheep, and goats, but HORSES too! And lots of them. There were even a couple of llamas! We probably spent a good half hour in there, jut watching them all. Cows getting checked & tagged, making sure everyone knew about their indignation. Horses nipping at their llama neighbours, no love lost between them. A little white goat sneaking through the bars, first in with the woolly sheep before getting himself lost in a pen of cows who quickly grew irritated with him. Even the curious little thing himself looked relieved to finally get out of there. Cows making a bolt for it and the handlers chasing them down with shouts and shepherding stick taps on the rump.

You could say it was a successful day - made even more successful by the company and finished off with a good lunch of kibbeling and chips - as close to market-fresh-in-the-Netherlands as it gets in southern Ontario.

And, in case you wanted to see what we saw, here are some [blurry] pictures: