James had to work today, but his hours were so much pushed back that we were able to get up only a few minutes earlier and go to the Farmer's Market as always. It was much spread about today, out to the railroad tracks, because there were also more than a dozen art booths, the usual jewelry/paintings/crafts and even someone with mostly children's furniture for the yard. We still had tomatoes and cucumbers, so bought two more ears of corn, more fresh strawberries, chicken salad, some double fudge cookies for this week's desserts, dog cookies, something from the bakery for breakfast, and I got two containers of Greek yogurt and James got some jalapeno cheese and a cup of boiled peanuts.

We still had enough time to go home by Bernhard's and get a couple of desserts each for this week, and I bought two of what they call "Portuguese rolls." When we went to the bakery when I was a kid, we called these "buns." They look like miniature loaves of Italian bread, and Bernhard's are delicious, crispy crust on the outside and light as a feather inside.

Well, as we were leaving we noticed that Weinerz, the butcher shop next door, was open! They haven't been open on weekends for almost a year. Now they are going to be open the first Saturday of each month. They don't have pork schnitzel anymore, but we got fresh Italian sausage and also bratwurst, and I got some salami for lunches.

Then we were home and James went off to work, and I collected my coupons and went off to Town Center. I ended up listening to Car Talk on the way there. I know this show has a lot of fans, but I've never quite cottoned to it. I suppose I should listen to it, as it's the closest I'm ever going to get again to the spirit of Ask the Manager.

My first stop was the new Michaels that they transferred from the shopping center down the road closer to Town Center Mall and put into the old Linens'n'Things location. Everything is all fresh and new, and I was able to find something I needed for a Christmas/birthday gift project.

Next I popped next door (and I do mean next door, as the Michaels is now one shopping center over from the JoAnn—not to mention that there's a Hobby Lobby just down the road, separated from both of them by only two restaurants; it's crafter's heaven) to JoAnn, and got three more parts for the project, the new "Just Cross-Stitch," a couple of decorations for Memorial Day, a blue jay on a rock to join the menagerie of small stone/resin animals outside, spare bulbs for the hospitality candles, and an organizational book.

A few months ago, when the news of Borders' Chapter 13 went around, someone compiled a list of alternative, independent book stores in each state. I wanted to find at least two of them today. So "Tinker" the Trusty Droid was pressed into service.

I found Book Exchange fairly easily, although it was a mess in the parking lot from a Boy Scout yard sale. I parked near and was flabbergasted to see an identical copy of the entertainment center we had years ago (without a back, but it was the same one). This was a nice little used bookstore, from which I bought Tales from Watership Down and an old Ginnie Gordon Whitman book.

I was going to stop at another store on the way, on Shallowford Road, but the left turn lane I needed to use was so backed up that I waited there for five minutes and only advanced five cars when the light changed. It would take me another twenty minutes to turn left at that rate; I didn't want to waste the gas.

I did stop at another cute little bookstore right on Roswell Road, near Robinson Road, Bookmiser. I did see a book that looked interesting, about living in Italy, but did not purchase it. Also stopped at the comic book store for Free Comic Book Day, but there was nothing of interest. I was hoping there was another "Owly" comic.

Traveled home and had one of the rolls and fresh salami for lunch. I had the film I Capture the Castle on the DVR and watched that. This is based on a book that is much raved about by its readers, so I bought it several years ago. I loved the protagonist, Cassandra Mortmain, age 17, and her eccentric family was occasionally amusing, but I didn't enjoy it as much as some did. The film captured the central plot well (Cassandra's enchanting sister Rose trying to marry into money to help the impoverished family, with two American brothers vying for her) but was much grimmer than the book. Romola Garai was a wonderful Cassandra, but the filmed story as a whole was rather depressing. Later I watched Julie & Julia, which paralleled blogger Julie Powell's yearly project to cook all the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking with the life of Julia Child herself, from bored housewife in postwar Paris who decides to learn cordon blu cooking to the publication of her first book. Amy Adams was Julie and was quite cute in the role; I had a peek at the original blog and the real Julie was rather profane! Meryl Streep did a great job of portraying Julia Child, but I loved Stanley Tucci as Paul Child. He was the highlight of the movie for me.

James was supposed to be home by 8:30, but he was on a late call. So I put on The Velveteen Rabbit, based on the little book by Margery Williams. I usually like sweet little things of this type, but I'm sorry, this was a mess. Williams' charming allegorical book about a toy that becomes real due to the love of a child was padded, as it had to be to fill a movie time slot, with the story of a humorless grandmother and a repressed son/father. This would have been fine—although the additional story really smacked of The House Without a Christmas Tree—if insipid animation hadn't been added to it. Watercolor-like British animation (like that used in Miss Potter) might not have been so bad, but this was Saturday-cartoon type stuff. I thought at first that the setting was England, but there was a mishmash of accents, and the cartoon animals voices were terrible, especially that of the rabbit, who had a squeaky kids' voice. It could have been quite charming.

Ironically, when this was finished James was home, and I started Doctor Who...which featured a kid named Toby—Toby was the name of the small boy in The Velveteen Rabbit, too.

Labels: crafts, food, movies, shopping

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