in the heat of the day

It’s hard to believe that five months from now I’ll long for this:





…but I will.

Because the rain came down hard on the poor vendors at the Madison farmers markets, we, the tardy market shoppers, had the full array of produce to pick from when we finally crawled out of our lairs (who wants to leave home when it's pouring rain?) and made our way to the food stalls.















The photos aren’t from my wonderful Westside Community Farmers Market across the street. The irony is that my local market is too convenient for a Saturday visit when my daughters are in town. They like the longer, more convoluted journey down to the Capitol Square, the slow amble among dozens and dozens of stalls, the buying of the baked goods at the place where I used to roll croissant dough for market day (l’Etoile) – all that is, for them, part of the joy of being back home.


With a wee bit of guilt, but with the inevitable pleasure of being downtown yet again, we make our way around the Square. And because it is raining (you did bring an umbrella, didn’t you? No, did you? No, not me either…), the crowds are less dense and the walk is more leisurely and really, who would even care about the wetness: it is as if someone poured a bucket of water on the produce to rinse it a little. Making it shiny. Fresh and honest.










Because it’s summer and because weather system number one came and went and we’re onto weather system number two, the rains are long gone by evening and hot air has (finally) blanketed our state. A Florida moment, you might say: humid and clammy.

As I said, five months from now I’ll be wishing it was August 7th.