62. All in All a Lovely Sunday

Bob and I  both have had cabin fever lately.  Living so far out has a few disadvantages one of them being that we tend to be hermits and just stay home.  Most of the time that is fine but after a while we get grumpy and just a little sad for seemingly no reason.  Finances usually enter in to the equation.  Fixed income is a little crummy and I know we should have planned better, but we didn't so we pay the price.  Seventeen miles to town is only a problem when we want to just get out for no particular reason.  Gas is an issue even though our little PT Cruiser (which we LOVE) gets 22 miles to the gallon.

Well, this morning, (and Sunday is always my funky day) I got the bright idea to go to the swap meet.  We haven't been to the swap meet or even a morning of going to yard sales for literally years.  Well,  Bob is always up for most anything so we ate quickly and hit the road.  We drove clear up to San Luis Obispo which takes about an hour.  There are ones closer but our nine year old grandson, Preston, had left his Game Boy and his favorite quilt in our car yesterday so we had to drive almost that far to return them any way. 

When we arrived there was really a nice crowd. I guess because the weather was lovely and it is a three day weekend.  At any rate we browsed a couple of aisles and I found a lovely hand crocheted table cloth.  It is a cream color and my lazy Susan that Bob made for me fits perfectly in the middle.  It was the rare price of four dollars!  On the next aisle a fellow was selling several used cast iron skillets.  I have three, I think, one from my mom that is a huge chicken fryer.  It will hold two cut up chickens.  I love it and treasure it because it belonged to her.  I go back and forth from using cast iron to teflon and right now I'm in favor of cast iron.  I can't find any teflon that doesn't give out on you.  I even spent a fortune on Calphalon and it still separated. 

Any way I had a six inch cast iron skillet that I had inherited from my grandmother.  It was perfect for frying two eggs.  I loved that skillet!  It left my company purely by accident, I think in the oven of a motor home that we sold.  I was broken hearted.  I have been on the look out for one ever since.  It's not that cast iron is hard to find, it's that little six inch cast iron skillets are hard to find.  Well, by golly, this man had one.  Another four dollars and that puppy was mine!  You can't cook meat in cast iron that you want to cook eggs in though. For some reason it makes the eggs stick and it takes a complete re-seasoning for future egg success. So this little gem is off limits for meat.

There were a few other things I could have bought but decided I didn't really need them, but it was so

nice just to stroll along with Bob and share an ear of corn prepared Mexican style.  They brush a little mayonnaise on the corn, roll it in a Parmesan like cheese and sprinkle it with chili powder.  Sounds a little odd, but it was very tasty.  Our first experience, but I'm sure we will have it again.  Turns out it is one more thing to like.

As we drove home through the vineyards we told each other how much we loved living in the country and that all in all it was a lovely Sunday.  We decided that next time we get the bug we would try the Santa Maria Swap Meet, that is if they still have them when we get around to going again!  Sitting there contentedly looking at my new found treasures, it occurs to me that, you know what?  It might sound silly, but what if this is my grandmother's little cast iron skillet, finally making it's way back home to me.  Well, now that makes me grin!