Today is Labor Day, the last official holiday of the summer. Ironically I am spending it by making more Halloween goodies for the shoppes. But I am ready for summer to be over, ready to move into a new season and all that it holds. 
This summer was truly busy. Wonderful but busy. Friday night was the last “hurrah” of the summer, with a combo Bon Voyage/Happy Trails party for some very dear friends who are moving; one family to Holland and one family to Oklahoma.
I was put in charge of decorating for this Around the World in 80 Days themed party, and it was a lot of fun. I got to use my vintage globe collection as centerpieces, hand drawn flags to mark the country of origin for each dish brought, and maps of Holland and Oklahoma were the tablecloths.
All in all it was fun night; we had good food, good wine and great friends. Even though we are sad to see our friends go, we are happy for their new adventures and wish them all the best. And many trips back home.
The next morning we celebrated the end of summer by hitting our local Farmer’s Market downtown. It was Tracy’s last day and we wanted to take her to the market and one of our favorite restaurants for lunch where she could try Catfish for the first time, (which she liked it by the way.) This is a picture of my favorite stand at the market – K. Hall and Sons. I love the teenage boys that help out. They are so polite and funny, and when I was taking pictures, they had been tossing cabbages or melons back and forth, from one end of the stand to the other and everyone watching was getting a kick out of it. You can see the laughter on the guy and girl standing at the end of their stand.
Being the fruit lover that she is, Tracy picked up some yummy juicy peaches. Usually we have fresh fruit in the house, but for some reason last week we didn’t. I had no idea she was such a fruit lover until we went to the Farmer’s Market. Next time I will do better to have “crunchy juice” around.
Next on the agenda was Mushrooms. Wylie and Nathan are wild about mushrooms, and I admit that I really love to eat them, any way you cook them. But they love to smell them, to get their noses down there and smell the earthiness and pick which ones they want. I think Wylie went with the ones on the left. We ate them last night, drenched in butter, and boy were they good…
Another southern food we felt compelled to serve while Tracy was here was purple hull peas. I love the color of their pods, and how your fingers turn purple when you shuck them. Makes me wonder if anyone ever made ink or dye out of them.
The final stop at the market was for some mint and cilantro to make a chutney Nathan had been craving. I love that I live with a man who can put Purple Hull Peas and Mint Chutney on a plate together and make it all seem natural. One day I am going to convince him to open a restaurant.
Now summer is over. We have sent our last house guest back north, and bid farewell to good friends. We have started school, and started on Halloween Merchandise and the Razorbacks have played their first game. Tomorrow a new season begins for me, (even if the official start of fall is still 2 weeks away) and I am ready. Goodbye Summer! See you next year!
That seems like a very cool party. I love the flags!
when I get my bed-and-breakfast opened (in 100 years…), I will be in need of a chef – hint, hint 😉one of the projects I managed to complete over the long weekend was getting the craft table out of my bedroom. If you are still interested, let me know. If not, that is ok… I will find it a good home somewhere!
Hi:I love your blog. Interesting to say the least!!! You have a great Etsy shop too.I hope the boys are felling better.Peacecarole
Your banners are really fun–I had to go and look at each of them. I bet you have some great Halloween ideas, I’m at a loss when it comes to the holiday.
thanks for the great visit & the great food! Adam thinks he’s going to be a trend-setter with regards to the “crunchy juice” 🙂
You did a beautiful job on the party!!Love all of your great pictures.It sounds like you have been extra busy. Me too!I was working on Halloween today too.Have a great day!Rosemary
I havent been to the farmer’s market all summer. How did I let that happen? Your party looked fabulous, I love your style!
LOOKS LIKE YOU WENT TO A LOT OF WORK AND A GREAT PARTY… I LOVE THE FARMERS MARKET. YOU HAVE A GREATBLOG 🙂
of course i love all the river market pictures! it is always so beautiful. and the breeze down there saturday just made me smile…missed you at yoga!!
Looks like a great party and any excuse to use all of your globes, huh? Good bye summer, indeed. And good riddance!
I love your table arrangement. Very cute and inspiring.