Tag: Vegetables

A Saturday of Surprises

On By DGThomaIn News and Reviews, Writing1 Comment

I was scheduled to work Saturday a few weeks ago.  Well I scheduled myself, but there were a lot of things I needed to get done.   I planned to sleep in a bit, maybe even until 7:30 AM.  Weekdays, the alarm goes off at 5:00 AM.  I also planned to drop by the Farmer’s Market on my way out of town.  From our suburb outside Austin, TX to my office is normally a 60-90 minute commute.  On Saturdays, if we leave early enough we can make it 45 minutes.  A stop by the market would still get me to work relatively early.

I did sleep until 7:30 AM and was in the kitchen by 8:00 AM, trying to decide what I wanted for breakfast.  My phone beeped to alert me, I had a text.  One of my co-workers, already at the office informed me the water was off and everyone was going home.  I resisted the temptation to text “Woo hoo!” and simply replied “Thanks!”

With unexpected free time, I stirred up a vegetable frittata, steamed new potatoes from my garden and had a delicious breakfast.  After breakfast, I managed to talk both my husband and son into going with me to the Farmer’s Market downtown.

Screenshot 2016-06-15 15.04.38

Elgin Farmers’ Market

It’s not a large venue.  There were about 15 vendor stalls, live local musicians, and a decent number of people milling about.  Saturday morning, the crowd,  smaller than normal due in part to an early morning rain shower, still provided quite a few shoppers.  We arrived around 10:45 AM, just in time for a drawing.  A vendor approached us and insisted we drop our names in the bucket.  I appointed my husband our representative.  He often wins these things but I rarely do.

I continued to shop while he signed up for the raffle.  He surprised me by entering all three of our names.  A little late, but not too long after 11:00 AM someone announced the drawing was about to begin.  No matter what the prize, the anticipation of waiting for your name to be called is exhilarating.  The “grand prize” was a gift certificate for handmade goat milk soaps and lotions from Sweet Life.  Everyone had an eye on that one.  First name called?  My son. Several people nearby whispered, “Maybe he isn’t here,” but he hurried to the grandstand, calling “Here I am!”   Screenshot 2016-06-15 15.04.44

Now everyone was interested in the drawing.  We all moved closer and circled the grandstand.  Several more prizes were awarded, before they announced the next prize was an olive tree.  “That’s what I want,” I told my husband.  I don’t know why, but it seemed really cool.  Winner?  My husband; still exciting because I suspected I would be the actual recipient.

More names were drawn and prizes awarded.  The next prize? Two glitter tattoos.  Immediately, I whispered, “that’s what I’m going to win.”   Yes, absolutely they called my name.  I looked around for a little girl I could donate to, but alas they all already sported a glittery tattoo.

I only claimed one of my tattoos, I didn’t want to be greedy after all.  I left with a pretty Celtic knot plastered on my calf.  I thanked my benefactor and had to smile as I walked away.  She shouted to me, “Sometimes, they will last up to two weeks.”

Two weeks later, I can still see the outline.   Wonderful day of surprises!

 

Finding the Sunshine

On By DGThomaIn Exercise, Food, Gardening, Humor/Light Hearted, WritingLeave a comment

I’ve been so busy and absentminded lately!  Today I was particularly scattered.  I began the day with my supervisor standing in the door of my office with a major problem.  I spent the first half hour of my day researching the details of his issue only to find out everything was fine and there really wasn’t a problem after all.

When I finally got to my computer, I checked my calendar for meetings.  The first one was scheduled for 10:00 AM with another one scheduled immediately afterward.  I had just enough time to get a few things out-of-the-way first.

At 10:00 AM I headed off to the meeting, stopping by to grab my staff.  They informed me I had been looking at tomorrow’s calendar.  The rest of the morning, I kept forgetting it was Wednesday and tackling Thursday’s tasks.

I was sure I was going to forget to pick up my vegetables from the Farm to Work program which is delivered on Wednesday afternoon.  The pickup time had changed from 2:30 PM to 1:45 PM.  Finally I set my alarm for 1:45 PM and got back to work.  I kept thinking about the pickup time and watching the clock until finally the alarm went off.  I realized I had forgotten to bring a bag for the vegetables!20150902_205124

Digging through my office, I finally found a bag with some books in it.  Dumping the books out, I rushed down three flights of stairs and hurried to the courtyard to pick up my vegetables. I had been so busy I had only left my desk one time to get a glass of water.  Walking through the fresh air and sunshine was revitalizing!  When I rounded the corner of the building at 1:46 PM, no one was waiting, no vegetables were lined up for collecting and I didn’t see the farm truck parked in its spot.  I took a seat at the picnic table and enjoyed the sunshine.  After five minutes or so I began to wonder if maybe I was confused about what day it was, although I was pretty sure I had already established it was really Wednesday.

Reluctantly I left the warm sunshine and headed back up the stairs to re-check my email.  When I opened my email, I saw that at 1:15 PM I had received a message about the vegetables arriving early.  The vegetables were in the Wellness office. I headed back down the stairs, back into the sunshine in search of vegetables.

As I filled my bag with the lovely fresh smell of cucumbers, sweet potatoes, jalapeno, squash and more I was smiling.

I didn’t forget my vegetables, I got more exercise by doing the stairs twice and I had some delicious vegetables to use as weights on the way back to my office.

Even the view outside my window looking at downtown Austin, TX looked just a little bit brighter.

Good Friends and Fresh Vegetables

On By DGThomaIn Food, Friends, Writing2 Comments

I participate in our local Farm to Work, a program of the Sustainable Food Center in Austin, TX.  As defined on their website, Farm to Work is an employee wellness and Farm Direct marketing program that delivers farm-fresh, locally grown produce right to employees at partner worksites.Fresh Vegetables

Every two weeks on Monday, we receive an email reminding us it’s time to order our produce.  Last week, my email was delivered, but my reminder notification didn’t display.  At 7:00 PM I was leaving the office for the day and remembered it was the week I needed to place my order.

Frantically searching I found my email and immediately realized I was too late.  The stated deadline to order was 5:00 PM.

Not willing to give up quite so easily, I replied to the email with a message asking if it was too late to order and included the explanation of how I missed the deadline.  I’m sure the order email is only monitored for payments and orders, so I received no response.

On Wednesday when the produce was delivered to our office building, I was feeling sad to have missed my vegetable delivery.  My sweet friend Nena stopped by my office.  She often has to remind me it’s time to pick up the order, so she asked me if I had picked up my vegetables.  Of course I had to share the whole story of how and why I missed the deadline.

Smiling she said, “I’ll share. I have extra.”  Responding that it was okay,  I explained I was going out-of-town and it was probably better that I hadn’t placed my order.

“No”, she explained, “I really have extras.  I was the last one to pick up and they gave me extra produce.   I told them I would share.”    Feeling blessed, I said, “Okay, I’ll take a bell pepper and maybe one zucchini.”

She sat her bag of vegetables on my desk and pulled out a zucchini and a pepper.  But then asked, “Do you like potatoes?”  When I replied yes, potatoes were added to my pile of veggies.  At this point the pile was getting large enough to require a bag to carry it.  As I searched for a bag, she added peaches, okra and a butternut squash.

I have to clarify.  When Nena said she got extra veggies, she actually picked up a few extra pieces of produce but not more of everything.

At this point, I have as many vegetables as she does if not more.  Honestly, it was like the biblical story of thee fishes and the loaves multiplying.

Although she did pick up a few extra vegetables, in truth she is really a dear friend who decided to share her vegetables with an absent-minded, forgetful friend who forgot to order timely.   Good friends and vegetables what a lovely way to brighten a day.