Delicious.

Today was my first foray to the local Farmers' Market. At seven thirty this morning. It. Was.Wonderful. 

Seven-thirty was completely worth it. I was one of the first people there. I wish I had brought my camera! It was colorful, well organized, beautiful, and all the offerings were spectacular. 

There are about fifteen or so vendors, but each of them offer a staggering array of items. I stopped at a bakery stand, and found that it is the baker whose bread I buy at the food co-op! I purchased a few orange-chocolate-pecan scones for breakfast tomorrow. I skipped the Amish pies, local honey, cut flowers and homemade jams. A girl needs to stick to her budget, right? But I hit the jackpot when it came to produce! The haul included:

• 2 zucchini
• 2 yellow squash
• about two pounds of patty pan and other squashes
• a japanese zucchini
• 3 small heirloom eggplants
• a pint of blackberries
• a large bundle of basil
• a pint of heirloom grape-sized tomatoes
• a pound of heirloom tomatoes
• half a pound of spinach
• half a pound of green beans

I also discovered a fruit heretofore unknown by me... the ground cherry!

 It looks a little like a super tiny tomatillo. It's yellow, sweet and just lovely. 

I rounded out my groceries with some cereal, yogurt, bulk almond dish soap, crackers, bananas, bulk vegetable farfalle, and bulk hummus mix. I did all our shopping for less than fifty bucks! And we will be good for at least a week... until the next Farmers' Market!

The Nona... Part Deux

I'm trying to be better about this blogging business, so please bear with us. 

Things we have accomplished:

1. All the laundry is finally done. (The moving truck leaked, and quite a few textile items got wet. Every thing we washed in the laundry here smelled funny, and the washing machines left rust on some of our things. We had to find another laundromat.)

2. The kitchen, bathrooms, closets and den/office are finished. ALL the books are off of the floor! Yay!

3. We made a few improvements here and there: a new showerhead; some organization and storage solutions; a bar in the kitchen with baskets that hang; two small cabinets forming a little sideboard in the dining area; etc.

4. B has been getting tons of work done.

5. K has been looking for work and obsessively organizing and re-organizing things.

6. Twin Cities Ikea trip number 2!

7. Spending lots of time together, just hanging out. Things are going to get pretty crazy in the next few weeks, so we are just trying to enjoy this quiet(er) time as much as we can.

8. Wedding Thank You notes!

9. Matilda (the car) needed a new battery. As much as we don't like Wal-Mart, we really like that we can buy the battery and they put it in. Total time... about fifteen minutes. 

Also good news... no rattlesnakes. Wahoo!

The Nona.

While He is on a work trip  to Northern(er), Snowta, She will be posting all by Her lonesome. Le sigh.

Winona is a lovely little place. We are surrounded by bluffs, all the way around. The Mississippi is the border between us and Wisconsin. It's not often cloudy, and the sky seems huge because there are no tall buildings. It's really strange for me to stand near the Lake and be able to see the other side! 

Winona is different enough from Cleveland to not be familiar just yet, but not so different that I'm entirely uncomfortable. I haven't really figured my way around this place yet, but I am able to get to Target, the Post Office, the Bank and His office. Pretty much everything else remains a mystery. 

Once I unpack my camera cord, I will be able to post photos of Winona, the campus, and the Homestead. It's coming together pretty well. We've had to be creative with storage, but it is starting to look like home (!).