lifemarks & vegetables

there, really, is nothing like waking up in my childhood home & having breakfast with my mom and dad...no matter how old i am.  i even got to use my mom's new favorite coffee cup.  lucky me!

my hometown is filled with markers of growing up and nascent adulthood.  not just landmarks....lifemarks.  the familiar radius brims over with memory triggers, most of which elicit a hum of happiness in my heart.  oh, there's plenty new in town - or updated, in any case.  i love it all.

flower staging area at the farmer's market, saturday morning

we were on the hunt for an early birthday gift (to me!), and i was quite dazzled by the vegetables.  but i ended up going with a gardenia, which i will plant tomorrow.  i think, in the end, i will be quite happy with my decision.  it was tough - eggplant? turnip? sweet potato?  lots of competition, but the gardenia finally won out.  here's a photo essay of the vegetable birthday gift contenders.... (those who know me well know i am just joshing.  flowers & chocolate.  end of story.)

 

my mom left a car for us to find in the parking lot of the farmer's market.  (she carpooled to the beach with a friend.)  turned out that was (slightly) like finding a needle in a haystack, even though my parents' old car has some distinctive markings (see below).  after all the farmer's market fun (including running into an old high school friend!), i tailed my dad to our lunch date - and he had a fun time sticking his arm out the window & pointing to all the edifices of my childhood (there's your elementary school!  there's your high school!) as well as some gawk-worthy new buildings (there's the montrosity of a castle someone is building right next to that sweet little cottage, totally blocking out all hopes of sunlight forever & ever).  he, also, pointed out part of the bike-friendly greenway, which my parents are ticking off in ten-mile (or more!) increments.

Dad was headed to the live opera simulcast from the Met at a local movie theater (to which he, unsuccessfully, attempted to lure me), so we had lunch at the very francois (& nearby) Coquette.  delish!

mushroom soup & side of brussel sprouts - yum!

my sweet Dad

& this....just because.