A saturday for life

When i first moved to Vancouver, i was going to the Coquitlam Farmers' Market every Sunday.

The produce was unreal--the shiniest, firmest, slender yet voluptuous eggplant i had ever seen; generous heads of cauliflower; loosely bundled radiccio treviso--not available at my (now) much missed Kelowna market. Then, with the arrival of the cold, this market, closed for the season; the winter market replaced it and the many other markets around the city, so all was not lost. Except that this new conglomerate market was on Saturdays. I worked Saturdays. Every Saturday. For the first time in five years, i missed my weekly Farmers' Market visit. But not this week.

This Saturday i did not work until one. Plenty of time to hit the market at its opening hour of ten (i swear, either Vancouver sleeps in, or Kelowna is populated by early risers, because even grocery stores here open one to a couple of hours earlier than home.), and see just what i had been missing.

Alot.

The last of winter and the beginning of spring were there for sale. I wont get into too many descriptive details (enough was said in calling eggplant "slender and voluptuous" i think) i only want to say that this was my favorite day in Vancouver so far. Going to and coming back excited from that market, making breakfast with the garlic chives i had scored, and now dinner with the sorrel and goats cheese, feels routine. Complete. Part of how i live my life--or at least how i have for the last five years. And for the first time since coming here, i feel at home in this rainy, sleeping-in, city. And just in time to leave...well, after next Saturdays market.