In which I went out and did things like a real girl.

Saturday I slept in until ten, and then took Bindu and walked down town to the final Farmer’s Market of the year. There was a band, lots of veggies, lots of people with dogs, and food. I ordered a tostada-like item from a little Mexican food booth and sat on a bench to eat it and people-watch.

Years ago, when Truck got married, I was a bride’s maid and had to make a floor-length, eggplant-purple, six-panel strappy dress with diaphanous sleeves. I still have the dress because it’s actually kinda cool, and discovered last week that I have a V-necked, 3/4 sleeve length tee that matches it! I’d cut the drapey sleeves off of the dress a few years ago (to wear it to another wedding), so now it’s just a long dress, snug through the bodice and with a spin of well over a yard. With a tee-shirt over it, it’s just a long purple skirt. I was wearing the skirt and tee with a green fleece vest, and had the blue dog on a purple leash with her green rabies tag (we totally matched so awesome) and a photographer followed us for a little way through the crowd. (Everybody loves purple, yo.) Maybe we’ll end up in the paper or something!

I walked past a booth and ended up chatting with two girls who are working toward starting a co-op grocery; they’re looking for investors and shares are only $150. If I should find that I have any ready cash in the next few months, I’ll probably buy a share or two because Walla Walla doesn’t yet have its own trendy, crunchy grocery store: people apparently have to drive to College Place to buy from the Adventists, who are, apparently, a vegetarian or mostly-vegetarian sect. Who knew.

Saturday afternoon I raked leaves out of the yard. I made ten piles of leaves, hauled four of them to the street in a wheelbarrow, and left the remaining ones to be dealt with the next day.

Saturday night my aunt and uncle picked me up and took me with them to the corn maze, which is a privately-run farm that plants a big crazy maze out of maize every year and lets people get lost in it. It’s like a haunted house, with people dressed up in scary costumes jumping out of the corn at you every so often, and a bridge to find and cross and a culvert to find and walk through, and lots of piped-in scary music and herds of squealing people, some of whom are tripping high school students locked arm-in-arm, stumbling and muttering, “Dude, I feel really fucking weird, man.”

It took about an hour to get through the whole maze, and it was really surprisingly fun. The moon was newly full, and there was lots of giggling and squealing from the people in the maze. When we got out, there was a huge crowd waiting to get in. It was like a Halloween Dead show or something.

After we got out of the maze, we all went to ‘the blue,’ aka the Blue Mountain Casino, which is a bar with some dice and card tables in it. We had sandwiches and chatted about local restaurants – apparently the sushi bar is really good – and had a couple of drinks. Afterwards I was dropped at home, where Gramma was watching TV with her dog in her lap.

Sunday Gramma and I raked the piles of leaves onto a plastic tarp and dragged them to the street (the city picks them up). It was a gorgeous, perfect Fall day and the work was nice. The yard looks much nicer now.

Sunday evening Gramma and I made dinner together. I made fettuccine alfredo, she made steak and creamed cabbage, and then we sat to have a nice relaxing meal together. Afterwards, we watched The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard on Masterpiece Theatre.

All in all – despite the poverty and the uterus monster – I had a really wonderful weekend!