Port Royal Farmers' Market

There were a few new vendors when we went to the market this morning. It was nice to see that all our old favorites were there, but having new things to try is always fun.

This guy had a table of chanterelles--wild golden mushrooms, which he said were not cultivated. I had no idea that these "very French" mushrooms actually grew in South Carolina. We bought a pint for a very reasonable price of $6. 

Another vendor had a booth of nothing but freshly-made gazpacho. He was offering tastings and when we tried it we both agreed that my gazpacho, using Joe's fresh garden veggies, is much better. Still, for people who do not know about gazpacho, it's a great, healthy food choice worth discovering.

This very cute Italian "truck" made by the Vespa company was selling homemade gelato in many exciting flavors. I don't typically eat gelato in the morning, but I enjoyed seeing the antique truck kitted out in such a capricious way.

The raptor ladies were there, demonstrating their rescued birds and seeking donations for their rehabilitation after accidents in the wild. This petite screech owl named Odin was so unbelievably small--he only weighed about 6 ounces--but looked as serious and unflappable as his much larger rehab mates.

Done for the day . . . Sheesh!

It's just after noontime and I have already had it with Beaufort. 

We arrived last night around ten to discover a house filled with dead bugs. Palmetto bugs (aka big roaches), flies, silverfish and many other shriveled up and mostly unrecognizable dead things. They were on every floor, windowsill and countertop--even in the bathtub. Thus, we began our vacation with broom, dust pan and vacuum. Before going to bed, I rolled all the covers back to see what was in the bed. Luckily nothing so I went to sleep, but woke every ten minutes thinking I heard buzzing, maybe laughing.

This morning, we realized the second floor air conditioning was not working so we called our guy Sammy, who came in half an hour and studied the situation. Looks like we have a leaking coil, which will cost about $1,500 to fix. He'll have his estimate to us later today.

Then, I made a list of things we needed at Publix and opened the garage door to get out my Saab, which has not been driven since May. I opened the door to find fuzzy white mold on all the plastic parts--door, steering wheel, console, radio. Yuck, just yuck. I closed the door and took the rental.

Then I went to Publix and was nearly hit--twice--by very agressive drivers. The agression did not stop when I got into the store as people were operating their shopping carts as if it was a roller derby rink instead of a suburban supermarket. I was looking at the blueberries and a woman stood behind me and loudly said "Excuuuuuuuuusse-Meeee." I thought I was blocking her path, but turned around to see that she had plenty of room to pass me. But nooooooo, she wanted to be in the exact spot where I was standing. "I want to look at the blueberries," she snapped. Honestly!!

Then, I paid for my groceries, headed home and was unpacking the car in the driveway. Joe came out to help, but on my second load from the car I dropped a pack of napkins on the asphalt, which split open and blew all over the driveway. Two hundred fifty of them. So, in the 90 degree heat, on the hot driveway, when I HAD IT UP TO HERE already, I ran around chasing napkins.

Now I am sitting in my favorite chair in my office and I plan on sitting here the rest of the day or until my luck turns around--whichever comes first.

Ugh!

ADDENDUM:

So, when I finally got up the nerve to leave my chair, I headed outside to wash the mold off my car. I backed it out of the garage, got a bucket of disinfecting floor cleaner and a sponge, and started wiping down all the affected surfaces. This took about 30 minutes, and when I was done I opened all the windows to dry the car out. 

Well, it started to get dark and thunder. I went outside to close the windows in the car and it was DEAD. Dead as in four open windows, no power, lots of rain. Joe was on the golf course so he came home and we were able (with the help of Greg our big, strong, handsome neighbor) to push the car back into the garage where it can grow all manner of molds and MUSHROOMS as it sees fit.

Ugh!