This morning’s a bit hazy with high overcast. The wind out here on the deck is a bit cool but it’s nice and it’s keeping the bugs away. Yesterday morning the flies and gnats were getting a bit intense and I certainly didn’t want to get bitten, especially not by a fly! It looks like the antibiotic is already getting to work because my offending digit is much less red. I don’t see any improvement in my ankles yet but that may take another day or so.

The plan for today is to track down some thin leather cord and maybe some fresh peaches. Fredericksburg peaches are beginning to roll into the markets and I still want to check out that little fruit stand out on 2722. Maybe I’ll drag Leyna with me and we can drive out there and then swing back into town for the cording. I DON’T want to go to Hobby Lobby, I told myself I would never darken their door again but dang it, it’s the only place in town that has a decent selection of beading supplies. Joanns is hit or miss and I don’t want to drive all the way to Selma to go to Michaels. Ugh… Wouldn’t it be great if there was a little shop here in town that catered to beaders/jewelers and carried semi-precious beads as well as findings. *SIGH*😔

Mission accomplished! Leyna and I drove out to the farm stand, called Stahlman’s, and loaded up on peaches, asparagus and heirloom tomatoes. Omg, the farm stand’s adorable! It reminds me very strongly of the roadside stands we would encounter driving out to Santa Paula. There’s a small shop with a wide front porch that shelters tables full of peaches and strawberries. Inside, there are more veggies as well as a nice selection of olive oils, vinegars, and some staples, as well as a refrigerated section. I didn’t do a complete circuit of the inside because, well, Leyna was breathing down my neck, but the drive out there isn’t bad and I fully intend to keep going there this summer. They even have a barbecue shack! Folks were lining up for that, so I can only assume that it’s pretty good. There’s an open field next to the barbecue shack that houses a small herd of grazing cattle. Maybe they’re advertising that their beef is 100% grass fed…?

So I sliced up a peach for Lauren. It was so sweet – she held the small bowl up to her nose, inhaled the scent of the peach, then looked at me with this wistful expression on her face and said that she’d forgotten just how good a peach could smell and it reminded her of the peaches we would buy at the Burbank farmers market. Needless to say, that peach didn’t last for long. These Fredericksburg peaches may be small but WOW are they good! I’ve already had three and I haven’t even bothered to slice them. Leyna thinks I’m barbaric but honestly, that’s the only decent way to eat what some people call a “trash can peach”, fruit so drippingly succulent that you can really only lean over either the kitchen sink or a trash can while biting into it because it WILL get everywhere.😄❤️