Manic Saturday

So often our Saturdays start slowly and sort of putter along.  Today, though, has been non-stop activity.

We made our usual visit to the Farmers' Market in the morning.  From there, straight on to the annual Day of Simple Giving at St Sophia's Church, where we made gift bags out of unwanted T-shirts and very much enjoyed assembling packets of bean soup ingredients - the Man claims he could have done it all day.

However, we didn't have all day.  We next had to rush along to a Winter Sports Mart run by a Boy Scout troop at the local High School.  Though we'd never been before, it's clearly a much anticipated event - just before opening time we joined a queue to get in that snaked all around the school corridors.

We made a few bargain purchases (ski goggles and socks, a hoodie for the Girl and a secondhand bike for the Boy).  But then we had to dash along to get the Girl to a skating session, cramming in a quick trip to the library en route to pick videos for later viewing.  And then the Boy claimed an urgent need to shop for balloons, and by the time we'd done that the Girl was ready to be picked up again...

And then, even before we got home, loads of the Boy's friends started turning up at the house (the Girl had a mass sleepover a couple of weeks ago, and now it's her brother's turn).  As they crashed around as only ten year old boys can do, blowing up and bursting balloons, the Man slipped out and attended the NY's Capital Region Vegetarian Expo.  Here he encountered more than sixty exhibitors, from veggie food vendors to environmental activists and committed animal rights campaigners.  Products and literature were actually more vegan than vegetarian, and the final speaker was a strong proponent of the health benefits of an entirely plant-based diet.