Wednesday, August 12, 2015

City Views, Country Dreams

Good evening from New York.

Yesterday's rain yielded us a brilliant sunny summer morning, without too much of the humidity that can sap our energy.

I got up early and dealt with laundry requirements in my apartment building's basement laundry room.  I was glad to see that almost all the washing and drying machines were functioning, and that I seemed to be the only tenant making use of the room

This is the sort of opportunity that can give a city dweller's day a fine start.  Once that laundry was dried, folded and stowed away, I was ready to take the subway downtown to Union Square.


This is definitely prime tomato season.  Yes, I do dream of having a garden and being able to grow my own tomatoes, but...when I see what Kernan Farms grow in nearby New Jersey, I know I must put those dreams to the side, and select some lovely ripe tomatoes from this stand and take them home.


This same stand is known for its marvelous peaches.  I did not resist their sweet and colorful call.


It is usually tricky when visiting the farmers market to know just how much to buy.  The entire idea is to be able to savor fresh produce.  I live alone, and know just about how much fresh produce I might consume before my next market visit.


Ahh, but I can admire the beautiful eggplants, and the many varieties of tomatoes, squash, and so forth.


I love the large signs around this stand proclaiming the source of their fabulous fruit and veg.


Another nearby stand was championing radishes, and a colorful variety of carrots.  I didn't buy these, but did purchase some of this farm's delicious and beautiful Lollo Rosso lettuce.  It became part of tonight's supper salad.


Do make note of that clear blue sky.  The following photograph shows just one aisle of one of my favorite plant stands.  I loved seeing this mom getting plant selection assistance from her two children.


Here's another view of the same stand showing some of their fine selection of cacti.  Sometimes there is a guitarist standing nearby serenading the plants.


Many of the flower and plant stands are now featuring sunflowers, in many varieties.  My little apartment does not have enough room to provide proper sunflower showcasing.


Now, please see how these varieties of plums shine in the almost midday sunlight.  I will perhaps get some plums on my next visit.


The colors of the bouquets for sale at a nearby stand sort of echo the colors of the plums.


It is not unusual for me to encounter some friends or acquaintances while strolling through the farmers market, but I have to admit being surprised to spy Santa at this fruit juice stand.  


It seemed a bit early in the year to let Santa know about my Christmas wish list, or to assure him of my good behavior.  

Instead, I was glad to be able have gathered several heavy bags of fresh fruit and veg before noon, and to make my way back home via subway.


This afternoon, I made more progress on my current fair isle jacket projects, had a late lunch while getting caught up with today's global financial news, did a little reading, and as the tune goes, "fell into a dream."  Isn't an afternoon nap a wonderful luxury?

I woke up to the sound of a phone call, from a person trying to conduct a political poll.  I declined.

It was almost time to prepare tonight's salad.  I thought before gathering together the various salad components, I would take a photo of the pretty peaches I bought this morning.  Aren't they lovely?  

Blueberries finished tonight's supper.  One of these peaches might take that role tomorrow evening.

Thank you all for your visits and comments.  It is so interesting to learn how our summertime months are progressing.

48 comments:

  1. Frances...What a wonderful day! The fruits and vegetables look so luscious and tempting. The vegetables here are waning in the heat of August. I have a few green tomatoes on my vines and a bell pepper or two. The zinnias are making their last stand. Enjoy your Summer in the city!

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    1. Susan, I am hoping that your garden has given you lots of delicious produce this summer before beginning its winding down. Aren't zinnias grand in all their colorways!

      xo

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  2. Dear Frances, how I would have liked to admire with you all these delights on your farmer's market. It must be the place where you can recharge your colour batteries or whatever this might be called. I loved your expression of the guitarist serenading the plants. Now that is something I will put in my memory book, thank you for that :-). And I am totally in awe that a day with the laundry machine to oneself can be a good start :-O! I shall remember that one also when I am in that privileged situation next time ;-). If life was not that busy right now, I would have had time to blog but just managing and planning another trip to the UK,yeah!

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    1. Oh bayou, I am honored to have contributed to your memory book! It's fun to slip in some little city observations to go along with the photographs.

      I am envying you the upcoming UK trip. Autumn's a lovely time over there. xo

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  3. Frances, the array of colours in the markets would bring me to a halt, just to admire. They are so beautifully and temptingly set out, one could not resist!
    I love the thought of a guitarist serenading the plants. It is said that plants respond to music. who knows wht a difference he is making to their well being!

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    1. Elizabeth, it's always good to try to get to the farmers market early in the day, when there is an amazing array of produce on display, and before the heat of the day might have lessened their appealing freshness. The Union Sq market is set up every day except Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. I think that Wednesday and Saturday are the best...but Monday and Friday have much to offer, too.

      If I see/hear that guitarist again, I will ask him if I might take his picture. xo

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  4. What a wonderful market! I know I would find it hard to resist such a wonderful array of fruits and vegetables. I have a peach lined up for my supper today too.

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    1. It slowly dawns on me, Gina, that on some future farmers market visit, I should take some photographs of the many stands featuring Baked Goods. Breads, cakes, pies and more, of many types, pleasing each and every dietary requirement. Promise, I won't forget. xo

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  5. Ah! Heaven on earth as ever!
    This is surely the top time of year for Union Square's delights.
    I was up there yesterday and bought some herbs -
    tarragon, lemon balm and ....stevia (meant to be sweet or something?) I'm a sucker for any new herb!
    See you soon.

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    1. Sorry not to have seen you yesterday...I made a very quick visit...even the subway system cooperated.

      I know the name stevia, but am not sure I've actually ever tested out its scent.

      Hope to see you next week. xo

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  6. Frances, I do believe I would give up gardening if I had a fruit stand like that nearby. And grown nearby too. What wonderful opportunities you benefit from living in a city. Santa?

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    1. Donna, the various daily farmers markets around greater NYC do give us city folks some compensation for other less joyful aspect of our daily lives.

      I hope that your own garden will be treated much more kindly in its next seasonal cycle than it was in summer 2015. Over the months and years, I have gotten to a chatting acquaintance with several farmers at this marvelous Union Square market. It's such a treat to learn just how many more weeks of asparagus might be on offer, or if the lack of rain is messing up that forecast. Every year the main question for me is ... when will the garden grown (not greenhouse grown) tomatoes appear.

      Ahh, about that Santa, who suddenly appeared surrounded by green-tshirt-clad elves...I think he was promoting something, but I rebelled at finding out exactly what. Santa needs to be Santa. It was lovely to see him allowing himself to be photographed with the little boy, part of a visiting tourist family.

      All I know. xo

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  7. What a vibrant and interesting city you live in Frances - that market looks amazing. So much colour and life.

    I love your pretty plate in the peach photo and have some very like it - blue and white china is a passion. Blue Onion I think?

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    1. Marianne, there is always lots going on in NYC, with enough variety to appeal to almost all of us, season to season.

      Thanks for your comment about the little scalloped edge saucer under my prize peaches. It is actually part of a group of cups and saucers given me by a friend who was doing a clear out. It is "Nordic" a vintage J&G Meakin pattern. Red, white and blue alway make a nice combo.

      xo

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  8. Beautiful fruit, vegetables, plants and a hint of Christmas to come - with none of the work, Frances. What's not to like?
    I absolutely adore nectarines and peaches and almost live on them during their relatively short season on the markets over here. They are already coming to an end.

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    1. Thank you for your comment, Weaver. I agree with you...only having to collect prize produce specimens from abundant farmers stands is a true pleasure.

      Nectarines and peaches are also amongst my favorite summer fruits. I like both yellow and white peaches...are both those varieties grown in your area?

      Thank you also for providing me a link to another wonderful site...that of Cro Magnon.

      xo

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  9. Hi Frances,

    What a lovely market you visit. You don't need a garden at all with so many delicious fruits and vegetables for sale ;-), but I know what you mean! It's fun to work in your own garden and grow it yourself. Hope you will find your allotment garden one day.

    Have a happy weekend!

    Madelief x

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    1. Madelief, I thank you for your comment. You do completely understand what I am missing...even with the rather easy access to such an amazing market...only a subway ride away to the best one at Union Square. When I find myself with a Sunday off from my own work, I also do love visiting the smaller neighborhood farmers market.

      Yes...perhaps someday my wish for an allotment or even back yard garden will come true. Preferably before any arthritis sets in! x0

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  10. what a lovely market and such a range of fruit and veg.Can we see your knitting project soon?Barbara

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    1. Barbara. thank you so much for your comment. Yes, more photographs of the fair isle jacket soon. I am now finding my way some of the trickier bits involving both armhole and neckline shaping. I need to have my wits about me to do the preparatory math before subtracting or adding a stitch to the mix. All lots of fun!

      xo

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  11. I wish we had a market as lovely as that - but seriously, what was Father Christmas doing there? That was quite disturbing. It will be time for your Hallowe'en round up soon enough!

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    1. Lucille, the Union Square farmers market is the granddaddy of all the NYC farmers markets and still remains the best of them all...or so I think.

      Now about that fellow dressed up as Santa. He arrived at the market walking at a brisk pace, surrounded by a bunch of young folks (elves) wearing green t-shirts with some sort of message I did not properly note.

      Yes, as with many such NYC appearances, they were promoting some sort of start up dot something. I just thought it very kind of the Santa fellow to take time off from the rest of the procession to allow a young tourist boy to be part of a dual photo taken by mom.

      (Not far away from Santa, I did spy a rather famed performer with his wife visiting with another farm stand. This couple had been my customers years ago. I didn't want to intrude on their "day off" and kept my camera clicked off. I hope Mise would be pleased by my discretion.)

      xo

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  12. Oh, what beautiful produce! We enjoyed some peach slices this evening on mixed salad greens with a little vinaigrette. Such a pleasure to have so much fresh stuff available. I had a little afternoon snooze today myself -- luxury!

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    1. Oh Vicki, aren't ripe peaches wonderful! I do treasure this time of the year. Thanks for giving me the idea of peaches in a salad. Lovely colors, interesting textures and yummy flavor.

      I'll be on the late shift today...12:20 to 8:30, so I better be able to withstand any notion of a nap. xo

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  13. I am picturing you in your laundry room making an early start. I do the same for my mum who lives in sheltered accommodation so I can identify with the elation you get when you find free machines. Glad to see you had blue skies, does the heart good. x

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    1. Val, elation is a good word for that discovery that the Laundry Room is Yours! I am fortunate to have days off from work mid-week, when there's a bit less competition...although many fellow tenants have weekly housekeepers who take care of their laundry...they don't usually appear in the laundry room until about 9...so it's vital to get an earlier start.

      Isn't it funny to be writing about laundry ... another side of city life to share. xo

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  14. A lovely and happy post from you! Santa Claus and tomatoes - love it Frances!
    Have a great weekend in your beautiful big city...
    Titti

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    1. Titti, the farmers' garden glories are always the stars of the market show, but it was amusing to see Santa try to take a bit of the stage. i still don't actually know what the fellow in the outfit was trying to promote.

      I'm working all this weekend, but it is still a lovely time in the city. xo

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  15. The fruits you show us look so tempting! I bought beautiful blueberries yesterday and am going to make spiced blueberry jam with them tomorrow. We have traveled much this summer so far, Key West, Alameda and San Francisco for me, then with husband in Nashville. My main computer kept crashing when I came back so I have only returned to the computer in the last couple of days. I read your past posts and you choice of books – an interesting choice. After returning from the West I started reading some books from my husband’s collection – about the journey westward in wagons in the mid 1850s which brought me to reading on the Indian Removal – I have still several books to read but I find it so very sad. Although I am learning a lot as not much of this history was taught in my school.
    The weather here in Georgia this year seems the reverse of others – we have had warm but not hot weather (in the 80s) with low humidity and some rain which is quite unusual. Our plants lived through our travels unlike in past years and had grown while we were away with our basil plant looking beautiful. Your knitting is progressing very nicely – I am always in awe of your talent for such intricate designs.

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    1. Vagabonde, thank you so much for this comment. I know that you and yours have been traveling quite a bit this summer, and think that I do owe you an email or two.

      What a crummy welcome upon returning home to Georgia to have your computer acting up.

      Hoping that as August begins its transition into September, your computer will behave better, and that Georgia's weather will continue its aspects that are friendly to plants and folks.

      Promise to email you. xo

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  16. What a fantastic colourful market. I'm looking forward to seeking out some markets while on holiday next month.
    Meanwhile my own rather neglected kitchen garden is slow to produce ripened fruits and we will probably be away when they do eventually ripen.

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    1. Celia, the market really is remarkable throughout the year, but around this time of year, its offerings are truly fantastic.

      I'm hoping you'll discover lots of wonderful markets on your upcoming holiday...and also that your own garden puts on its own productive show Before you leave home. xo

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  17. I have seen many things at the farmers' markets I go to, but never Santa Claus!
    For some reason I'm always startled to see the wonderful produce available in the heart of a city. We spend part of our time in Portland, Oregon, where I have indulged myself in wonderful blueberries and peaches for the past month. Now we're back in Alaska where the produce is different. Yesterday I found myself buying beets, squash, carrots, potatoes, and lovely greens. It's much cooler here than in the "lower 48," so I came home and made myself some vegetable soup. But I do miss those peaches. Yours are lovely!

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    1. Carol, one of these market mornings, I hope to get up early enough to actually watch the farmers' trucks arrive from New Jersey and "upstate" New York, and set up their stands.

      Must remember to ask about just which hour that might be....

      Yes, I'm sure the growing season and crops are very different up in Alaska.

      Aren't peaches incredible, when they are tree ripened? xo

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  18. Frances, A fantastic farmers market. It's like walking through a cottage garden when everything is in bloom, only better! Those vibrant colors and shapes give me a thrill, is that silly?! I am seriously in love with cacti, they are to me, the funniest plants in the world and I have a small collection of them growing in pots and placed on a slope. As for tomatoes, we live in a county famous for ours and each year there is a Festival here to honor the famous Grainger County Tomato. And you know, they really do taste better than any in the grocers.

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  19. Jeri, no indeed, I don't think it's silly to get a thrill from gorgeous displays of perfectly ripe summer produce. I always get great pleasure from walking through the market. Glad to learn that you are also a cactus fan...such an amazing variety of sculptural shapes.

    I think I would love your Grainger County Tomato Festival. Yummy possibilities! xo

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  20. Hello my friend, it has been a while since I have had a chance to visit your lovely blog; and as always it is a treat to brighten up a foggy day. After four days of summer sunshine we have been dogged today with a thick fog rolling in from the bay. Love the fruits, and OH is inspired by the idea of a guitarist serenading the fruit...the poor man can't play the guitar and sings in the key of M...maybe he will have to do as an elderly neighbour did in my childhood. She had one of those phonographs with the large horn as she called it. Mario Lanza and Count John McCormack were, according to her, the best for fruit with Noel Coward for the sweet pea. Yes.
    I have been busy making use of the gooseberries and rhubarb in our veggie plot. I like to add a little to my jams, so we had gooseberry and a dash of clove, and rhubarb and a dash of cinnamon. OH is addicted!
    Thank you so much for this lovely trip through the market. xx

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  21. Dear Irish Eyes, I absolutely love this comment and am so glad you enjoyed visiting my market posts.

    It does seem possible to me that plants appreciate music, whether it is bird song, Mario Lanza, or perhaps a whistling gardener.

    Your customized jam spicing sounds quite delicious to me. OH is a fortunate man...as I think he knows very well.

    xo

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  22. What a wonderful market to visit and just a subway ride away too. As an allotment grower I have a deep respect for the farmers who produce such wonderful fruits. Right now I'm eating ripe Victoria plums straight from the tree and for the first time in many years I have red tomatoes to pick straight from the vine. But who needs a garden when you have such bounty on your doorstep?

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    1. Sarah, I very much appreciate your comment. Yes, the Union Square market is pretty splendid...even during winter, when it's mostly apples and root veg. But even better, I think, would be having the possibility of picking a ripe Victoria plum and red tomatoes from your own garden. Cheers!

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  23. What wonderful pictures of the amazing market...all those stunning colours and shapes! I love how you observe the extra details, too, and capture them for us. Hope you have a lovely time this coming weekend too, in your beautiful city surroundings, dear Frances.
    Helen xox

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    1. Helen, thank you so much for your kind words. This week, my days off were scheduled for mid-week days...I'll be returning to work tomorrow, continuing Sat, Sun and Mon, before my next break. Hoping our weather cools off just a bit for those work days...the subway platforms are hot, hot, hot. xo

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  24. I have a garden & try to grow tomatoes. They're not ready yet. Farmers markets are great places to buy fruit & veg and dream of what we would grow if we could. I will only have enough tomatoes for a couple of meals for my family of 6. Love your tours around NY & looking forward to seeing your knitting. Do you ever crochet?

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    1. Thanks so much for your visit and comment, Katharine. The last time I had a garden was when I lived in Brooklyn, way back in the 1970s. I actually grew tomatoes, zucchini and green peppers from seeds.

      I should have a knitting update soon. And yes, I do also enjoy crocheting...it certainly moves along faster than knitting! xo

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  25. What a lovely day. I love pictures of markets. I used to grow tomatoes but I found that they all ripened at the same time, and tomatoes where cheap and plentiful at the local market. But I have to admit that a ripe sweet sunkissed tommyatto straight from the garden is a treat not to be missed.

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    1. Thank you for your visit. Aren't ripe tomatoes fantastic!

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  26. What a lovely day! I do so love a farmer's market and find it hard to resist it's many temptations. So, I give myself a spending limit and once I'm out of dollars I head home :) Those peaches look amazing!

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  27. I so agree with you about the difficulty of resisting the temptations of fresh produce. I usually take an initial promenade around the entire span of farmers' stands, and then do my puchasing on the second sweep. Even on a rainy day, this can be so much fun! xo

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