Ford Excursions

Cheesy, yes I know.

In case anyone was worried, Hotel de Ford is back in full swing after a sweet little lull right at the close of the summer season. As mentioned before, we kicked it back off with the Giusti family escaping the heat of their AC-less house and getting in one last footloose jaunt before the booger picker, I mean, Mason started Kindergarten. (I am wrestling with whether or not I should re-word the previous sentence because I could potentially make my sister cry for two different reasons in-between that capital letter and period containing only thirty-five words. Well, if she's going to cry anyway, might as well leave it.)

This past weekend Matt and Heather, the married ones, made the eight hour trek from Savannah to come and spend a way-too-short weekend with us. This was their first time to our house (Matt came last summer to the first house we lived in at camp, remember, the big one.) and we were so glad they came up. The funny thing with them is that we go long periods of time without seeing each other, like since Christmas, and then it seems like we see each other a few times close together, like in two weeks in Tallahassee.

We ventured out to the Market Square Farmer's Market on Saturday morning, admittedly our first time going since we've moved here, and let me just say, I may have found my heaven on earth - or at least my heaven in Tennessee.

Fruits, vegetables, fresh bread, jellies and jams, handmade goods, hippies, diaper-clad bathing beauties, and sideshow-Joes galore. Heaven. We even got on "the list" to join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in the spring! We could have joined now for the rest of the year, but we decided that we would save up our cash and join next May - $17/week for a half-box containing 5-7 variations of farm-fresh goodness. I wish I could remember the name of the farm, but crazy enough, I didn't write it down or take a picture of their stand - come next May, say good riddance to Kroger's produce aisle.

The five of us grabbed lunch at Tomato Heads which happens to be right in the middle of Market Square - how convenient. And delicious. They are all about the local, in season, and fresh - music to my ears.
Our pizza was phenomenal and a victory all in one - it's not very often you find ONE pizza that all four folks, especially with me around, will agree on and love. And that's saying a lot considering I typically pick off at least one topping on every pizza I eat, but when you know it's so fresh and local it's hard to disregard the hours of love that have been put into that mushroom and olive.

Matt, Chris, Heather & Noah at the Market

Accordionist on stilts and his lovely lady.Noah and his daddy playing in the water.

Next year he will be one of the naked babes running around.This kid loves the water. Loves.

You would think after being surrounded by food galore we wouldn't be able to eat for at least a week. For us, this is not so. In Ten Mile fashion, we had to take Matt and Heather to eat at the Marina - it's a must if you stay with us for more than one day. And the Braves game was on - bonus!

Noah is trying out new smiles these days.
I am partial to this one.

The gang outside the Marina.Matt & Heather at Watts Bar Lake.

Sadly, or not so sadly depending on how you look at it, the more I educate myself about food, our food industry, where it comes from, where it doesn't come from, I find myself more and more picky about what I eat. Maybe not so much picky as I expect food to look good, taste good, and that I feel good about eating it. For me, this was not so with my selection at the marina. Breaks my heart because I love the little place, but it opens up a whole world of questions about the quality that they are serving when I can visually see the problem - makes me wonder what I can't see.

Anyway, that's for another post.

We had a briskly wonderful weekend with the married Uncle Matt and Aunt Heather...they have to come back when they can stay longer.

Oh... and one more thing:

Happy Birthday to my mama!
She had me 26 years ago so that makes her at least 37.

Here's to a year full of blessings and bliss!