Flea Market Shopping

Eager to find some good bargains on interesting pieces of furniture for our new place, Jon and I took off with Liam to Traders Village, the largest weekend flea market in Texas. (http://www.tradersvillage.com/en/grandprairie) We heard that everything is bigger in Texas, and it's true, for this experience anyway. It spreads over 120 acres (with, it seemed, as much space again for parking!).

We decided to go in the late morning in order to best accomodate Liam's schedule (evening would have been cooler but he goes to bed fairly early these days). We arrived at 11:30 and stayed until 2:00, which turned out to be the hottest period of the day at around 97 degrees!

One interesting food find was a frozen pickle juice popsicle! Maybe some of you have heard of this new phenomenon in the media but since we just recently arrived from Canada, it was our first encounter. Check it out: http://bobspicklepops.com/index.htm As a lifelong pickle-lover, I had to try one and convinced Jon to join me. I have always loved eating pickles and drinking the juice from pickle jars, a habit for which I was often teased by roommates over the years. But I was not prepared for this... it wasn't bad but it certainly wasn't refreshing on a day like today in the middle of 120 acres of asphalt.

Another interesting discovery was the Spam Mobile, with the slogan "Jammin' con Spam." ("Jammin' with Spam") It was a little kiosk on wheels playing music and handing out free samples of spam burgers. http://www.spam.com/mobile/ Of course, this got Jon and I started on quoting sections of Monty Python's spam skit ("Haven't you got anything without spam in it?!"), and we couldn't pass up the opportunity for a sampling. Jon enjoyed it but I found it a bit odd-tasting. Go figure.

This was my first time to a flea market and even though I expected to see lots of stuff I wouldn't buy, I was still amazed at the acres of junk! The classic flea market items that you see at almost every other booth seemed to include tacky t-shirts of all kinds (raunchy, death-metal, hideous, religious kitch, and just plain rude), knock-off sunglasses, knock-off sports shoes, and cheap plastic toys of the dollar store variety. There were also acres of booths covered with cheap bras and panties, jewelry, and yard ornaments. I was surprised to come across quite a few pet shops as well, all of them air conditioned. They were selling parrots and iguanas as well as the classic pets.

Jon and I were looking for some interesting furniture pieces, and we did find some, just not ones we would ever own. Our favorites were a bed with a large Texas star carved on the headboard and footboard, a blue suede couch with the Dallas cowboys logo right in the middle, and another couch covered in gold fringe. It just so turns out that the Texas lone star is a favorite motif for household decor around here.

Liam did well despite the heat. His favorite thing was the metal table we ate lunch on in the shade. He loved the texture and hitting it with various objects like my metal bracelet and his sippie cup. He also giggled quite a bit over the paper that was used to wrap our burritos. Why spend money on expensive toys when the kid gets a kick out of a table and paper?

New to the Lone Star State

Funny how we had never been to Texas in our lives before this year, and here we are living in the Big D, as Dallas is known, wondering what adventures lie ahead.

We had heard about the incredibly hot summers from several people, but as a southerner from Tennessee, I thought it would be a breeze as long as we had some sweet iced tea and the A/C. Little did I know... Most days, it reaches the upper 90's farenheit and sometimes goes above 100. The humidity is unbelievable (I thought Texas was supposed to be dry!) and people don't really go out much in July, except at dusk, but that's when you become prey to the ravenous mosquitoes. We had often left our windows open in Montreal throughout the summer months, but in Dallas, you basically have to batten down the hatches and thank God for the invention of air conditioning. A brief walk from the house to the car and you're covered in sweat. Needless to say, our ice cream expenditure has dramatically increased since our arrival.

One thing we have enjoyed about being here is the friendliness of the people. In Montreal, making eye contact with a fellow pedestrian on the street leads to a stare-down, causing both people to wonder, "What does that strange person want from me?" Here, people usually smile and say, "How're ya doin'?" or "Good mornin'." Customer service has been outstanding (except for the electricity service providers and water services- we had a bad experience our first week leading to a day without water and a day and half without power). In general, it makes the big adjustments much more bearable for us.

Liam, our 8-month old, has been amazing through all the changes. What a great baby we have! He travelled well from Montreal to Chattanooga, Tennessee by plane and then from Chattanooga to Dallas by car, which took two full days of driving. He didn't seem to mind all the chaotic boxes and piles of stuff around him as we packed up in Montreal and then unpacked it all in Dallas. He loves to spend his time on his tummy, reaching for objects, and pivoting around. He loves animal sounds, balls, and anything he can use to make noise. He often babbles on to his stuffed animals and has a fantastic laugh. Earlier this week, I was shopping at Target with him, and he got a little ticklish. His hilarious laugh was contagious and as I pushed the cart past several aisles giggling myself, I spotted at least three or four other shoppers who couldn't contain themselves in response. What a delight he is!