In My Mind's Eye...Or...Fantasy and Farmer's Markets!

So.... in my mind's eye or in my own imagination that is, I have a romanticized view of myself as a farmer's market kind of girl, strolling with my eco -friendly bag, trying to decide what type of organically grown tomato to buy or smelling fresh peaches with the hope of making a delicious cobbler! The truth is....every local farmers market I've been to is extremely small with slim choices(always lots of zucchini, which I do love by the way!) . No fresh baked breads or artisanal cheeses, no homemade granola, no fresh flowers, just fruit flies.... and mostly zucchini! Not to mention the fact that I have NEVER made a homemade cobbler!
So... this morning my husband and I left our home rather early (for me) to head out to downtown Birmingham and the Pepper Place Farmer's Market. All the online pictures gave me hope of finding a real live, TV like, kind of market with all the bells and whistles. Now the weather didn't seem to care about our one hour drive, with pouring rain at times and dark clouds looming overhead! All along the drive there, we wondered if we should choose a more indoor type of destination, but seemingly clearer skies up ahead just egged us on.
Once we arrived, we found a cute Coffee Shop called O'Cafe where we got some pastries and coffee before strolling to the market area. Of course the clouds were like dark grey and looked as if they were about to burst forth, and we also noticed that many vendors were anxiously packing up, and muttering about more rain to come. We went forward anyway with just enough time to snap two photos and buy three whole items!! Beautiful sunflowers, swiss chard ( never had it before but it sure looked pretty!) and cherry tomatoes! That's it!!
Then a mad dash to the car just before the skies let loose! Thankfully, we found a nice antique store called "What's On Second" where I found a $3.00 old painting with birds, then had lunch at "Taj" one of our favorite Indian restaurants. The food there was just delicious!!
All that and we were back home by 1:30! We must be gettin' old!