The Farm Market Is Now In Session

Started out a hot but breezy day with this week's Farm Market run. Today was also the day of Collingswood's City-Wide Yard Sale event. I passed by three yard sales alone heading for the farm market, though I didn't buy anything at that point.

Good thing, too, because I bought a ton at the Farm Market. The Farm Market was really busy when I got in around 9:30-10ish, though I could get around well enough. Strawberries and asparagus were gone, but I saw the first blueberries, cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini, and black and red raspberries of the season. In addition to the blueberries, yellow squash, black raspberries, and two cucumbers, I bought cherries, leeks, an onion, spinach, and two grapefruit.

I rode up and down the streets of Collingswood, checking out all the yard sales. Most of them turned out to be not that interesting, but I did find a few big ones with some good items. I picked up a large Playful Heart Monkey Care Bear Cousin stuffed animal and two CDs (Elton John's Greatest Hits Vol III and the first WOGL Ultimate Christmas Album) from one large multi-family yard sale in Collingswood. Another multi-family sale around the corner from me on Kendall Boulevard yielded two classic Winnie the Pooh golden books, Winnie the Pooh Meets Gopher (based after Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree), and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too.

I was so tired after riding around all morning, I spent most of the afternoon inside. I added my new DVD finds to the inventory, messed around online, and watched Night Court episodes.

I was a little young for Night Court during it's 80s-early 90s heyday (and we didn't watch a lot of NBC anyway), but I got into it when it re-ran on A&E during my college years and early years in Wildwood. Judge Harry Stone is the unorthodox, joke-loving judge in New York's wee-hours courtrooms who tries a wide variety of wacky oddballs. Bull Shannon is his huge, hulking baliff. Selma's the older one who makes wisecracks about her age. Mac's his assistant. Dan Fielding is the defending lawyer, and he's 80s stereotype #4 - the slick sleazeball, this one with a heart of very tarnished gold somewhere under the fancy suit. Billie Young is the other attorney in season two, but she was gone by season three, replaced by Christine Sullivan (who turns up in one episode early in this season).

The show's first full season isn't quite as wacky as the show would be later, but there's some fun episodes. I loved the one about Harry and the madam holding lots of secrets of New York's wealthy and powerful.

By around 3:30, I was bored. I decided to ride out to the Haddon Lake Dell amphitheater and take a look at that concert that was advertised there yesterday. After a few wrong turns, I finally heard country-esque music and made my way back to the hill where the small stadium-style theater is found.

Turns out the concert was JerseyJam 4. Local bands, singers, and songwriters show off their wares to support Multiple Scoleosis charities. The concert was free to enter, but they had a booth with food, JerseyJam t-shirts, and CDs from the groups and singers involved. I'd spent a lot of money at the Farm Market this morning and just ended up buying a bottle of water.

I'm glad I went to the concert. The crowd was mostly families, the relatives of the musicians, and people who happened to be walking through the park anyway, but it was still nice to be outside, hearing live, local music. The ampitheater is pretty nice, too. The red wood and stone seats aren't the most comfortable, but they're nice and sturdy, and most of them have a great view of the stage. I don't really remember any of the bands' names. The one I caught when I came in was playing country music. The second was a woman who apparently hadn't been writing music for very long - she'd trained as a nurse of some kind - but she had some nice, dark Sarah McLaughlin-esque ballads. The third band played long jazz jams. Another young woman sang one nice rock ballad before I headed out.

The hills around Haddon Lake Park are a bit steeper than the ones in Newton River Park. I was trying to ride up a very steep hill, but I wasn't getting far. I stopped to get off...but the bike just kept going! I tried to jump off, but the bike and I ended up tumbling on my left side into the grass.

My first thought (after I got over the shock of falling), was to check my knees. Thankfully, other than some minor scrapes on the side of my left knee, they and my legs were moving just fine. They were a little shaky, but besides my left thigh feeling a bit sore, nothing was really hurt. I think I pulled a muscle on and under my left shoulder and re-aggravated my sore elbow, but it's moving fine, and nothing appears to be broken. The bike didn't even get that hurt. I walked through the rest of the park, but once I hit Haddon Heights, I was able to ride home with no more trouble.

I had dinner when I got home and watched more Night Court. My beef stir fry came out very well, thanks to all those summer veggies I bought today.