Flea Market

Oh, the treasures you can find at a flea market! Locally, at least within a 45 minute drive from our house, there is a great flea market, held three times a year; Memorial Day weekend, the weekend for 4th of July and Labor Day. Last year we didn't have the greatest luck with the weather. Spring and early summer in this part of the state are quite unpredictable when it comes to weather. It can change at a moments notice sometimes and end up making the weather forecasts look more like comic strips. Since this has sort of become a yearly tradition for my husband and I, we dressed warm, and headed out. We had worked for 12 days straight and needed to spend our weekend doing something fun. The previous day we went to the theater to see a movie, which is something we don't do often enough. We are incredibly fortunate to have a wonderful historic theater right downtown. After seeing movies there for the last five years, it would be incredibly difficult to go back to the big city and view a movie in one of their megaplexes. Yesterday was flea market day. We decided that we'd take our dog. She needs the socialization and many folks bring their four legged friends along. This flea market is held in a small mountain town, where snowmobiles and four- wheelers are king. Vendors come from all over, bringing all sorts of treasures to sell. As we peruse the many tables and stands filled with items, I need to remember that one man's trash is another man's treasure. I'm always on the lookout for vintage or rare cookbooks to add to my ever increasing collection. Luckily, I found two. Rock Creek Hubby never has anything in particular in mind. He always says that he'll know it when he sees it. He found a used skill saw for $5.00 which we both thought was a pretty good deal. I've never seen it as crowded as it was yesterday. I love to see local events grow, it's good for the community. Sometimes we can see things we'd like but don't need, then we play that wonderful mental game of either talking ourselves out of buying it or convincing ourselves that we definitely do not need that particular item. I really enjoy watching other folks shop. Everyone is on a mission of some sort. Some of the things that I wouldn't give a second look to seem to interest others to no end. And the men....oh my goodness. They either appear interested, as if they actually want to be there, or they look very out of place and uncomfortable. I'll have to admit, just the experience of it all is fun and entertaining.
I can't recall ever going to a flea market as I was growing up. Grandma and Grandpa weren't really the yard sale type. They attended a Christian Camp up in the mountains and the camp would hold a yearly auction and yard sale. They brought back interesting things each time. I did go to a few swap meets that were held in the parking lot of closed down drive-in theater. But now that I've been to a flea market, and know what fun they can be, I think I'll continue going each and every year. The food alone is entertainment! How often do we have the opportunity to eat fresh Kettle Corn, deep fried pickles and Twinkies or roasted corn on the cob? Every single food vendor that we passed had a line of people. It was pure excitement. How do you choose which treat to enjoy? And watching our diet on a day like this? Where is the fun in that? 
I love that there is a good mixture of new, used and antique items. It makes for a really interesting day. I wonder what Grandma and Grandpa would have thought of the menagerie of items and people? I think they would have enjoyed it just as much as I did.