Slow Sunday Scenes from the Village

With both the mountain biking Triple Crown series, as well as the SoCal Cross Prestige Series starting up next weekend, Saturdays and Sundays for the remainder of the year look pretty busy. Not quite full, but nearly, and so this seemed like a good one to keep slow and local. That meant checking all the comings and goings around the farmers' market in Claremont Village. It is mid-September, and though the dog days of August are a full half month off the back of our rear wheels, the hot summer days are, none-the-less, appearing rather endless to heat-glazed eyes. We will continue to take it in stride, not that there is any choice, but may spin our wheels out a little earlier in the morning when the air is just a bit cooler. We might walk into the Village from surrounding neighborhoods, or ride in from one a little further away, but do so knowing that dealing with a hot motor on a hot day is simply compounding a problem.

We look for little things to keep us cool - the shade beneath bent branches of venerable sycamores, the ice cold, fresh pressed apple juice from one vendors' stall, a smoothie from Podge's and a moment to sit and relax. Violin strings may be hot, but the notes strung together as jigs and reels are cool, as are the disparate pieces of a glass mosaic our fingertips glide along as we seek the edges of form. Coming and going, rounding curves of a green pear, tight circles of cherries, jagged folds of a pineapple. A still life on one hand, an active life on the other.

a couple violinists attracted the attention of riders arriving at the market

that's one cool camping van / team bus

sunflowers ever bright

shopping is done

dad and daughter

the Back Abbey

another arrival

comings and goings

sitting pretty on a classic Raleigh

all loaded up and headed for home

skateboards along the street

have guitar, will travel

Everett's

fresh gum balls

down from the hills

fresh fruit