Saturday, July 11, 2009

Saturday, in the Park


Saturday morning is one of my favorites in the city. Today our walk took us down 8th St to Monroe, where we stopped at Starbucks for coffee, locally made pastries and the morning paper. We walk through a neighborhood occupied by many older and very interesting homes and a smattering of lovely older apartment buildings. I am so pleased to see this garden that has been lovingly installed at the very busy corner of Piedmont and 8th:



look, there are even little squash growing:


but, as I said, it is a busy corner and as we turned it, we saw sad evidence of that fact:


After our coffee, we walked north to Piedmont Park and the Saturday Green Market:


I was not the Pack Leader


The park is always peppered with groups of exercisers:


and then the lovely local produce:


A treat for us this morning: our friend Mary was there selling her colorful and deliciously fragrant soaps:

C bought me these two yummy bars:



All this leads me to tell you that we saw Food, Inc yesterday afternoon. I had wanted to see it, was prepared for the gory scenes, but came away with an increased awareness of the importance of buying local produce and grass fed cattle. I know that seeing this film will make me more aware of my purchasing options in the future. I urge you to see it.....together we can change the world, one seed and one purchase at a time!

I also went to Knitch yesterday. It seems that my cataracts are growing at a galloping pace and I can no longer see to knit the socks that I love so dearly. You may recall that my friend Diane recently sent me some yummy soy sock yarn, but I am dismayed to report that at the present time I cannot use it. I had also purchased some ultra soft cashmere to knit a lacey scarf for my Mom, but I cannot do that either. It is so frustrating! So, I figured I'd try some thicker yarn and some larger needles to tide me over until the surgery. Voila:

Misti Alpaca: 50% Alpaca, 30% Merino, 20% Bamboo.....and I can see it! I'll show you the nice little scarf I'm knitting once I make a little progress.

Go See Food, Inc!!!

7 comments:

Beverly said...

All that fresh produce looks wonderful- I love summer, just for that!

Are you going to get those cataracts taken care of? I had one done two years ago, in my eye that has always been very nearsighted (chart? There's a chart on that wall?). I not only got rid of the cataract, the lens they put in corrected a lot of the nearsightedness.

Not to mention the awesome light show I got to see during the procedure!!

Anonymous said...

I had cataract surgery on both my eyes with a 3-week wait between each eye. I don't need glasses to see anymore except to read (the surgery corrected my nearsightedness). Before the surgery, I couldn't see even with glasses. I strongly agree with Beverly (above) that you should have the surgery. It doesn't hurt and the results are amazing. xxoo Carol

Eva said...

How frustrating to be kept from doing needlework! I send you my best wishes for the operation to help you and that all will be perfect. No own experience to contribute, but what Carol and Beverly say sounds encouraging.

Karoda said...

I always enjoy the peak into your walks and round-a-bouts in the city.

Carol said...

No wonder you both look so fit with those long walks each day. I now must see Food Inc., certainly sounds like a movie for a non-meat eater like me. I agree with you that if everyone ate well grown, free range, local meat and local produce we would make a difference to not only our own health but to the wellbeing of the farmed animals. Cataracts - I had both eyes done a few years ago and it made a great improvement to my sight. I had mine 2 weeks apart - get it done, you can't go on without being able to knit. XX

Rayna said...

Go get the stupid things zapped, Judy.
I had mine done 2 wks apart, too.
Now I wear drugstore readers, where I could never do that before. And I only need a mild prescription for driving at night.

Joyce said...

I want to visit your city after following you on your morning walks.
Good luck with the cataract surgery.