"My Famers Market Fella"

Ever since moving to Auburn, I have loved being able to go to the Farmer's Market on Saturday. It has quickly evolved into my weekly date with my son, Ezra (age 3). He is my "Farmer's Market Fella". We get there sometime in the morning, not to early, as it is a Saturday, and we hold hands and browse the open square.

There are so many troves of treasures just waiting for a little boy to explore and observe. The first thing that assails us as we descend into the fray is the sounds Simon and Garfunkel sung by a troupe of local musicians. Their cheerful smiles and happy songs are hummed by more than one passerby. We smile as we pass them, thankful for the music they provide.

The colors are everywhere. A kind lady hands "my fella" a sprig of lavender, which he promptly holds inside his nose. At another stall, the vibrant red of the succulent raspberries is contrasted with the pungent green of the basil and soft orange of the nectarines. We are so overcome with color and scent that it takes us quite a while to choose which of these lovelies will accompany us home to grace our table.


We have the pleasure of meeting "Winston," the local pet emu. She allows Ez to pet her, and then shows us how she can go to sleep in an instant, rolling her eyes back to expose only the whites of her eyes. She is very well behaved and ladylike, for an emu.

No "date" is complete without coffee, not even with my "fella". We always end our morning at the "Courthouse Coffee Shop" where we each get a treat: my fella gets his hot cocoa, and I get my soy white mocha. We sit outside and watch the dragonflies play in the local fauna. Finally, we gather up our treasure and troop back to the car, happy in the company kept and the experienced shared. After all, what are little boys for?