The hippie in me.

There's an ongoing joke with a few other members in the lab that I can be a bit of a hippie. I just chuckle along but don't really see it. Yeah, sure, I went to Santa Cruz but that doesn't make me a hippie. So whatever.

So this morning, as Joey attends a Saturday workshop, I thought it would be fun for Kai and me to go to the year-round farmer's market in the university district. (Photo from seattlefarmersmarket.com) It's a little chilly out but the sun is shining through the clouds a bit and it's a great day for strolling around the different produce and vendor stands. We sample some chocolate bread, purchase some whole grain sourdough, buy some DELICIOUS salmon, and move on to the hippie honey people who joke with Kai and give us a sample of their yummy dark wildflower honey. I find myself chatting it up with them, exchanging relaxed friendly smiles, and walking away with a jar of honey and tips of where to find San Diego farmer's markets. Next we hop over a few small puddles to the flower stand where we check out the tulips and smell the hyancinths...mmmm. Oh good, there's a chicken farmer! "I'm looking for some grass-fed chicken eggs. Know where I can get any?" I ask, partly joking with the jolly grandpa aged man in overalls behind a table of towering chicken eggs. "Hmmm, let me see," he replies, playing along and looking around the market, "maybe I can help you." He then goes on to tell me about the difference between various eggs he carries and the pasture-fed ones others might. I nod along, not just to be polite but with genuine interest. Meanwhile, to entertain himself, Kai is doing some kind of karate-chop, robot dance between the table and me. I decide on grandpa's extra-large free-range chicken eggs and we move on. "Moooommy, can we go now?" Kai tugs at my leg towards the gate, "I want pho now." We head towards the gate and a variety of small carrots catch my eye, "look at these carrots Kai!" He's not impressed and continues pulling me, now using all his weight: "I waaaaaant pho!" I try to entertain him with the carrots: "look, there are orange, yellow, and PURPLE carrots!" I distract him enough with a yellow one that looks like it has 2 arms coming out of it and get a chance to ask the farmer about the carrots. He tells me how sweet they are, how he likes to cook them and shows me some crazy colored beets. Kai starts tugging again so I quickly decide to get a pound of the carrots and one crazy beet. "What are you doing down there little guy? You hiding those pretty brown eyes?" he says to Kai who shyly glances under his baseball cap, "Those ladies won't stand a chance with you will they?" Kai twists around looking at the ground, grinning meekly, and I pay the man, chuckling about the exchange.

Finally we head off to our favorite pho place. "That was fun, wasn't it Kai?" I say swinging hands with him as we walk. "Hee, hee, ya," he giggles; the kid is always happy when he gets to sample foods anywhere. "So, we got our bread and eggs and I can't wait to have some of that delicious wildflower honey--we could put it on rice cakes! Now it's time for pho and then we'll go home, have a nap and it's off to gymnastics!" I say adjusting the canvas grocery bag over my shoulder containing our farmer's market treasures. Right then and there a thought hits me, "I might as well be wearing birkenstocks and a mu-mu: my naturopath prescribes eggs that I just purchased at a farmer's market where we fluttered and hopped about like flower mom and flower child, my 4-year-old who's name literally translates to "ocean" pleads with me to have some eccentric lunch that is a routine meal for us, 'Ocean' has a gymastics class later today where he'll pretty much just roll around and dance to music and we're walking towards our Subaru, the car we decided to get not only because of its safety features but also because it's a great vehicle to pack our camping gear in when we head to the...forest. Okay, so maybe there is a little hippie in me.

Time to wake 'Ocean' (who sleeps in his sleeping bag that we use for camping) up from his nap so he can get to his tumbling class.

Peace and love all.