Jeepers, it was hot out there!

From whining about rainy Saturdays so that I can't go to market, now I'm complaining about such heat this morning at the FM that I couldn't stay for the duration.  I had my straw hat, I had my two super-sized mugs of iced water (more than half a gallon), I had my patio umbrella, there was a little breeze, I was thinking, okay, the worst of the heat won't hit until the afternoon.  By ten I began to fret.  The Mix-in-the-Pan Chocolate Cake, with the bag of chocolate chips and walnuts, was a casualty:  the chocolate chips had completely melted.  (Fortunately I only had one of these left.)  I was not getting sunburned -- I kept moving to stand under the umbrella's shadow -- but my skin was getting hot.  I packed up before eleven and headed home.  I couldn't stand the heat.  I went back to the kitchen.

But it was a good day!  I sold all the STBO bread, all the scones, all but one of the snackbreads, all the Rosemary Knots, all but one of the Savory Herbed Loaves.  I sold apricot honey and jars of baby carrots in sweet balsamic vinegar with red peppercorns.  I have no more dog biscuits!  I sold a scrub-and-soak set (left over from Mother's Day weekend), and Granola-to-Go Bars.  And all that's off the top of my overheated, aching head -- I haven't made an inventory yet.  I came home with much much less than I took.  I traded for gorgeous yellow squash and another of the vendors generously gave me her last bag of green beans before she left.  The people across the way sold out their zucchini before I could get over there to snag some.  They had potatoes, beautiful big onions, and peck baskets of green beans.  Eye-popping veggies -- and the gardens are only just starting to come in.

We had steady traffic all morning.  Maybe next Saturday the temperature will be a bit less oppressive, but I'm starting to think that I'm going to keep abbreviated hours out there, at least in high-summer conditions.  All my baked goods are wrapped, and as hot as it was today, they were sweating.  I'm concerned about compromising my products -- nice crusts go soft, for instance.  Yep, this is an experiment, all right.