Visitors!!

My mom and one of my godmothers arrived yesterday and I am really glad to see them! (And yes, I have two godmothers. Slightly confusing, I grant you.) The last time my mom was here was when I moved in, and my godmother has never been, so it has been fun showing them the sights, especially since I'm better (sorta) at navigating now. They came bearing chocolate chip cookies, Wegmans products (pasta sauce, Dinosaur BBQ sauce, peanut butter, and salsa), and early birthday presents! I opened my main one, which is a really rockin' digital camera. After 6 years of faithful service, my Kodak bit it a few months ago, and the new one is a Canon. I'm pretty smitten. So here, photographically, is what we did today.*
The Farmer's Market meets every Saturday morning from April until October-November-ish, so today was the first day of the new season! There wasn't a ton of produce yet, except some good looking sweet potatoes, and herbs in pots, baby lettuce, honey, cheese, maple syrup, and random other houseplants. My visitors got seeds and coffee beans, and got me pussy willows to jazz up my place. There were musicians (see above) and a magician and some politicians. And lots of babies in cute hats.
This is also in the same Farmer's Market area, down by City Hall. Pretty cool, right?

After that we went to a craft fair a few streets away, this time indoors. A lot of neat things, especially the jewelery and soap, but we didn't get anything. We had lunch at Turkuaz, which (if I had to pick) is my favorite restaurant here. It is Turkish and the staff is lovely, and we sat on the floor on large pillows, and each got a pide (flat breadboat with deliciousness in it, we had eggplant and garlic/cheese), which comes with a cup of spicy, garlic-y lentil soup, and three little salads--couscous, tomato and cucumber, and cabbage. I take all my guests there, it is that fabulous.

We mostly wanted to take a nap on the floor after that, but instead headed back to the square to poke around the eclectic stores there--they have used bookstores, boardgames and puzzles, fancy lady clothes, you name it! The best, I think, is the free trade store, which is where we spent the most time. My godmother (as an early birthday present) told me she would buy me a scarf in there, so we all got scarves! I picked this one:It's almost a shawl, really, and far and away the most expensive scarf I've ever owned, but all 3 of us really liked it, and agreed that it was a perfect present. It's Indian, and marvelously soft and flowy. I'm wearing it now, with my pajamas. If this makes me a hedonist, then so be it.

More walking in store, we went over to campus to see my major haunts--namely, the plaza with the rare books library, art museum, fine arts buildings, and auditorium. They got to meet some of my more studious friends, who were being good and were in the library. Here are the visitors, with some Indiana limestone:
This is over by this little chapel, which is randomly by the student union. And lest you were concerned about the weather, you can rest assured that it was really nice out! Flowers are blooming, even!We had dinner at the Mikado, a Japanese restaurant on my side of town. All the food was good, as per usual, but the best part was actually dessert. We each got a different ice cream and then shared--mango, green tea, and red bean. The red bean was indescribable (sort of vanilla-like, but as my mom pointed out, it almost reminded you more of a fragrance than a flavor, with red bean pieces in it), but I think that was our favorite.
And now I'm back in my apartment, admiring my pussy willows. (Please take note of the adorable photo of my sister and me with Groucho Marx noses on, the Philadelphia Story DVD, and the Van Gogh Sunflowers which my cousin quilted for me for Christmas a few years ago.) Tomorrow my mom is taking me grocery shopping (what a good mom!) and we are doing some other things, while my godmother meets up with her brother and nieces and nephew for some hiking. Visitors are the best, especially as otherwise I would have been chained to my carrel all weekend (this is the last weekend I am allowed to have fun for the rest of the semester, by the way). So, visitors welcome! I mean it.

*I didn't open the camera until later last night, so there is no photographic evidence of yesterday, but here is what we did: wandered the square, met up with some people for First Friday, which is when the downtown galleries open up at night and there are snacks, got dinner at the Trojan Horse, a Greek place downtown that I've never been to, and hung out in my apartment. By the way, the Trojan Horse is great. We got a pitcher of local wheat beer and had fairly small meals, since we were full of snacks. Mine was a grilled sandwich of brie, baby spinach, and apricot jam. Awesome!