Saturday at the Market

Saturday morning.

6:20 am.  Alarm goes off.  Hit Snooze. 

6:27 am.  Alarm goes off.  Hit Snooze. 

6:34 am.  Alarm goes off.  Hit Off.  Tell myself they don’t need me.  Remind myself it’s Saturday. Persuade myself that I don’t need to get there until 8:00; the market doesn’t open until 8:30, and so on. 

6:36 am.  Get up.  Shower, etc. 

*

7:40 am—I pull into the parking lot.  Pam from Redwood Community Healthcare Coalition, is waiting in her car.  I park and get out, and she is out of her car before I can make it around to the passenger side to get my stuff.  “Where are we setting up?” she says. 

“I, uh. . .” I look around and spot Paula.  I point.  “We need to talk to Paula.” 

“Okay, I’ll get my stuff.”  She takes a few steps toward her car, then turns, smiling.  “And, I should have said, ‘Good morning!  How are you?’ I’m what you might call task-oriented.”

*

 8:06—Elliot, who works with Pam, and I carry white plastic buckets to the Vets Building kitchen to get water for the cooking demonstration.  One of the other vendors is there, doing the same thing.  She and Elliot talk in Spanish for a few minutes; she tells him about Matteo’s Yucatan tacos.  As we fill our buckets, Elliot says, “Yes, but six dollars for a taco?  Sounds expensive.” 

I say, “Think of it as a super-taco.” 

8:13—I go to Hector’s booth (of Hector’s Honey) to buy honey sticks to put into the prize/grab bags for the children.  Hector asks what I want 40 of them for, and when I tell him, he sells them to me for half price.

 8:17—Pam and I are waiting by our stuff.  Mark, one of the helpers, has gone to get us more tables; tables for Dr Kohatsu’s cooking demonstration, tables for the children’s booth and a table that Pam will share with the Vista Clinic residents.  Pam says watching the vendors set up reminded her of a trip she took to Mexico, where they built a school.  They set up their own tents, including a large tent kitchen, in a rock quarry.  She said they used bag showers, filling the bag and leaving them on the hood of the cars all day, so that you had some hot water at night. 

8:19—a man with a brown hat, towing a dolly loaded with three boxes, approaches us.  He asks if we know where they children’s books go, and I tell him this is the place.  He has brown eyes that match his hat.  He works with Friends of the Library.  Many of the books, he tells us, still have library stuff-the marks, the envelopes and the cards, inside, but one whole box of books is from a donation and book sale.  I look through the boxes quickly.  The books range from Early Readers all the way up to Young Adult. 

8:22—Hasna stops by to say “hello.”  She can’t stay because she has to head home to set up a Wellness Fair.  She says Paula asked her to assemble the cook-stove for Dr Kohatsu.  “Paula said it’s really simple.”  Pam laughs outright and I snort.  We agree that there three things we hate to hear:

  • It’s spelled just like it sounds
  • You can’t miss it.
  • It’s really simple.

8:40—Dr Kohatsu arrives.  Hurray!  She begins setting up her tables. 

8:45—Carole, a volunteer I know from work, arrives and starts to help Dr Kohatsu set up.  

8:50—Paula suggests that I have Carole help me blow up balloons for the kids’ booth.  I approach Carole and ask if she can blow up balloons.  “No,” she says.  Seeing my surprise, she says, “Marion, helloo.  Twenty-five-year smoker, remember?” 

8:57—I’m light-headed and decide I don’t like balloons.

9:07—The VOICES guys show up.  I immediate delegate the balloons.  Several of them are smokers, unfortunately, but it hasn’t cut their wind yet and they do great. 

9:11—Pam and Elliot have set up their own card table next to the kids’ table, and are setting out brochures and bottles of bubble stuff.  Pam apparently figured out what was going on sooner than I did.  Because one of the things they want to talk about is health coverage for children, it seems like a good location. 

9:15—Asia is set up on the other side of the kids’ booth.  She says she loves this market, it’s the best one.  “I went to the Sebastopol market,” she said.  “I didn’t like it; it’s just not a very good market.  It’s a bunch of old hippies and they won’t buy anything.” 

I say, “That’s my market.  I’m one of the old hippies.”

*

 9:19—Lorna and her two grand-daughters show up.  Lorna helps me set out books.  The books are a huge draw! 

 9:30—Dr Wendy is sautéing greens, this time with raisins, walnuts and something called smoked brown sugar, which I have never heard of.  The residents, who now have their own “Food is Medicine; Doctors in the Market” sandwich sign, have laid out a number of books.  Pam added some of her Healthy Eating fliers to their table.

10:31—I buy eggs at Hector’s.

10:33—I buy a coffee drink at Run Around Brew, and some mandarin oranges from the three women who have the citrus booth.  I leave a tip for the guitar player and walk back down the length of the market to see how the booths are doing.  A little boy sits on the ground, leafing through a picture book, while his parents flank him, smiling.  Mom says, “Are you ready now? Ready to go?”  He gets to his feet, wobbling, then whirls, says, “Book!”  and toddles back to get another one.

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