"That was a really good day," said Aunt Charlotte.

And I, feeling a bit tired and ready for bed, could do little more than nod as the Aunts piled out of the truck with Grannie and headed for their rooms at the Bed and Breakfast. But here I am back at the house, sitting on my rent-a-couch (which is very convenient, but at night I notice a faint odor and I'm glad it's going back on Friday), and replaying the events of the day.

There are so many times when I go about my life here and think, "the Aunts would love this." Often I think specifically of Charlotte because we spent more time together last year and because her tendency to email me little comments after reading the blog has further educated me on Things Charlotte Likes. But the Aunts are birds of a feather in many regards and while they don't drink the same kind of wine or do the exact same crafts--they appreciate many of the same things.

When Charlotte first told me they were planning to visit here in April, one of my first thoughts was that I should take them to Belleville. There are a lot of Amish in the part of Indiana where the farm is located and Charlotte gets her eggs, and sometimes a chicken, from the Amish. Charlotte is mostly vegetarian and if she does eat anything animal instead of vegetable or mineral, she likes to know it lived a good life. So I felt they would want to go to Belleville not to see the AMISH, but because they know that where there are Amish there are hand-sewn quilts, good food, and that special feeling that comes with combining a complete lack of fear of work with a decidedly simpler lifestyle.

Charlotte liked the sound of the grocery auction and Caroline and Granny were willing to go along for the ride. So we went today, Wednesday, the morning once a week when the Belleville farmer's market is in full swing (although it's still not even at 50% capacity this time of year) and the grocery auction starts at 10:00 am. Caroline knew that I wanted eggs and that my cut-off price is 75 cents a dozen. I won't pay more than that for a dozen eggs at the grocery auction. So while I was parking the car she was getting grandma settled in a chair and eggs came up--and the price settled in at 75 cents a dozen--so she got me three dozen. I picked up another five dozen at 65 cents (but Caroline's eggs were better in that her cartons don't REEEEEK of cigarette smoke), two packages of Thomas' English Muffins for 65 cents each, a 5 lb bag of potatoes for $1, 3 bunches of green garlic for $1, and an apple turnover.

Green Garlic:



Charlotte found a woman selling rubarb plants and bought two for the farm's little garden. I bought a round of moon pies for everyone--then we hopped back in the truck and went over to Peight's for some shopping there. Charlotte pointed out a steam pot that she said would help me make tomato juice in the fall. I made note of that and we bought a bit of this and that including some peppered gravy that I'd said I'd use for biscuits and gravy one of these mornings. I think I'll save it for a treat after the next time Chris mows the lawn.

After Peight's we headed home--bought gas and robitussin on the way because Charlotte has a cough and a cold now. We had lunch, did some knitting--then it was time for Granny's nap and the Aunts went with her. I took Max to piano and we all regrouped back at my place around 5:30. We made dinner, which was simple but took longer than I imagined to finally get on the table. We had garlic bread using the garlic I'd bought and it was perfect.

I had promised Charlotte I wouldn't cast on until she did--so we sat down and cast on for the Finnish mittens, knit one row--and called it a night. From this point on we'll stay in touch about the mittens--well, we have to. We still don't have the thumbs translated and there are little errors in the directions as written (no, really--one color is referenced that doesn't exist in the kit and another color is never referenced even though you can clearly see that it's the second-largest quantity of yarn in the kit). I really like the yarn in the kit and I think the difficulty level on these mittens are more than manageable if we can get help getting the rest of it translated. I heard from a very sweet Finnish blogger who may be able to help us. I sure hope so.

At any rate, here we are at the end of a full and enjoyable day. Feels like bedtime. Tomorrow the Aunts and Grandma move on to Ann Arbor for baby Spencer's baby shower. I put my nose back to the grindstone and crank out a ton of work between tomorrow and Monday. But today was an Amish Moon Pie of a day. You can't beat that.