Part Three: How to become a Farm Chicks groupie

the rules:

First, you must shop like a maniac and not let one white or cream chippy painted object go by without a good look-see.

Second, you must spread it all out on the Spokane fairgrounds lawn for a quick show-and-tell before loading it into the wagon to head for home.

(Go ahead, don't be shy, dump the contents of your wheeled market baskets and brown paper bags into big 'ol heaps, right there on the ground.)

Finally, you must whip out your trusty camera and proceed to document...er, incriminate yourself with... the loot.

We followed the rules.

(Can you believe it?)

Do you wanna take a peak?

Don't you just love vignettes?

Sometimes I wish life was a vignette.

We tried to convince these little darlings to crawl into our suitcases (vintage, of course...okay, not really...does 1985 count?) and come back to Idaho with us.

For some strange reason their mothers vetoed that idea.

Go figure.

We met these super sweet ladies on the lawn during show-and-tell.

They too, declined our invitation to tag along with us to Idaho.

Something about a cute little store to run...

Loaded and ready for the trek home.

Giddy-up.

"Would you rather live in the summer or the country?"

 That is the question my sweet grandpa used to ask when I was a little girl and would climb up on his knee for a bounce. I'm certain it was the perplexed look on my face that would make him smile and raise his grey bushy eyebrows at me while he waited for my answer. I remember considering his question very carefully and weighing the advantages and disadvantages of both, unsure of which would be the best answer. In the end I usually replied, "The summer," at which he would nod and smile broadly, making me feel as if I had answered correctly and would somehow help him make his own choice between the two.

My sweet grandpa has long since passed on, but I still sometimes think about his question and wonder what he would say if I would greedily answer, "Both!"

I'm not sure why, but there is something about the sight of my boys in blue jeans, leather gloves, and work boots (which my kids call "pig boots" because we bought them the summer we raised 4-H pigs)

 that just makes me smile. 

So yes, I would rather live in the summer AND the country.