Seasonal Fruits and Great People

This was a cool week. We went to the Black Bear Diner in Tracy and they happened to have a bear carving demo. 5 men carved and could carve a bear in 3 hours. There were 6 already made, two sets of bear families, and this one in progress. They were holding a raffle to win one even. The girl shellacks them all.

 The San Jose Almaden market on Wednesday is really picking up. Colorful seasonal veggies and berries. The farmers are so creative the way they display it all.

 These are two actual sections of the Berlin Wall. My tax man's partner is German and somehow was able to obtain and bring back these historic pieces. The complex he works at is beautiful also with a waterfall a couple of asian style bridges and Koi. Unfortunately Google has bought the property and will destroy it all. Fortunately the Wall will be on display at the Mountain View Library.

 These flowers are gorgeous and the lady that sells them was not there at Almaden this week but her daughter was filling in for her. She was so nice and her flowers always sell out fast. At the end of the market she handed me this huge colorful bouquet and said she cut these specially for me because she like the music so much. I always try to make the vendors enjoy it the most because I see them every time and it is a cool community.

I was at the Milpitas market on Sunday and that market starts EARLY. People come as early as 6:30am to stand in line for fish. The guy sells out by 9 and the market technically starts at 8. This is one of the best and busiest markets for me. The people are all so generous and appreciative that one man loved the music so much he put in a twenty. The strawberry vendor across from me gave me three baskets of strawberries at the end he enjoyed it so much. None of this is to brag but to let you know that I have been told no so much that when people acknowledge they enjoy it it really does my heart good and gives me encouragement. I hope you enjoy it as well and remember I have free music downloads on my website. Eat well and I hope to see you at the markets. God bless

One Wacky Market

Now I have seen everything. A pink pony ride at a farmer's market! Adorable! This market in Salinas Northridge Mall has a little of everything. Flowers, honey, produce, asian toys and candy, food booths, carved wooden bears (which I bought two), churros, fish.
So cool to see such variety and a really nice area in the parking lot of a fairly new shopping mall right off main street. The weather I was not expecting. It was cold and overcast all day. I thought Salinas was hot like Gilroy and Watsonville but no. All the vendors said it was cold and overcast every time they come. This market is every Saturday all year round from 8am-2pm. The man selling the bears carves them himself and he is from Montana. They were so cute it was hard to choose. I got one in redwood and one in pine. Next stop Almaden on Wednesday in San Jose.

 Hope to see you at a market near you!
God bless

Midweek Music Post

Pretty cool couple of days at the markets. Wednesday was a 4-8pm market at Santa Clara and 14th street in San Jose. This is a new market across from the Valley Medical building in a vacant lot that has grass for the market. It was a lot of fun, people were very friendly and receptive to my music and sales were moderate overall for the vendors.  I played at Brisbane on 

 Thursday from 3-7pm. Such a beautiful location. In the park next to downtown with the hills and homes in the background. The park was quite full in the afternoon with families and kids playing ball and getting balloon hats. This is a new market for only a year now put on by West Coast Farmer's markets and the young man with the white polo Sharks shirt is the son of the owner. 

 He is really nice and very professional working his way through college for his dad. Great vendors, fresh nectarines and strawberries, honey, veggies and prepared foods like toffee.
It was quite windy and I did not put up a tent so got quite sunburned on my face. 
Next stop Saturday at Northpark Mall in Salinas from 9-2. I have never been to that one and am looking forward to seeing somewhere new. Hope to see you at the markets. God bless.

Music Weekend Update

 Such fun at San Mateo College Farmer's market Saturday. I had been selling my guitar pick earrings and hats there for a couple of years and know all the vendors and their great wares. Super good cupcakes in crazy good flavors like basil and 

lemon and toffee. My friend Shelly runs Precious Puch Doggie Bakery and she comes from San Leandro. Handcrafted cheeses from Petaluma. Fresh flowers and lots of produce. Really tasty sausages, she coincidentally lives across 

 the street from me. 
Beautiful handmade crystal style jewelry by Table Of Light dot com.
She is super sweet and will make special items and even repair your jewelry on the spot. Then there is Jennifer Carruthers silk flowers. So 

 beautiful I bought one of 
the violet flower pots for my mother-in-law for her birthday. It was great seeing all my friends and they cheered me on. Also if you like really quality handmade pottery the students at the college sell their pottery at one of the  

booths as well. I had
bought several pieces over the holidays for gifts.
The ultimate fun though is when Earnest from Sweet Potato Pies sings with me. He is so good and really enjoys it and we harmonize great.

 It was all fun and I will be back in September.
Sunday I was more local at Almaden Market in San Jose. Really great market with produce, prepared foods, kettle corn, jewelry and tupperware.Was a lot of fun I played across from the tables where 

 people eat and one lady enjoyed it so much and was applauding every song, of coarse I love that when people let me know they are enjoying it. The vendors next to me really enjoyed it as well and I played The Cure for the one vendor and Simon

and Garfunkle for the other. I also play there on some Wednesdays as well as Sundays. Today is tuesday and tomorrow I will be at Santa Clara and Thursday in Brisbane. Brisbane is beautiful, it is in a park surrounded by hills with the downtown right there as well. Take care hope to see you at a market near you! God bless.

Weekend Wrap Up

Another weekend come and gone. Was super hot Saturday in the 90s at 

De Anza college in Cupertino at the flea market. I played through most of the day but did leave an hour early because of the heat. My sunglasses kept sliding down because of the sweat. People enjoyed it and gave me lots of encouragement and took some free cds. I will be back there July. Sunday was great beautiful day.Started out cold and overcast then turned sunny and just right, no wind either. I gave away 9 cds, and people really enjoyed it. Another vendor, Ernest from Sweet Potato Pies came over near the end and sang You've got a friend while I played guitar. He was awesome and in a band of his own. Next time we will get more songs to sing together, he likes to harmonize. He is also at San Mateo College farmer's market where I will be on the 8th. I go back to Half Moon Bay in July and am there once a month on average. It was so cute too on Sunday. This boy about 9 or so was fascinated by my playing. I was playing my Martin Backpacker guitar which is a very small guitar with amazing sound quality and the only Martin guitar that I can afford. He came up to me after a song and said that I sound really good so I thanked him and gave him a cd and a free pick. When his mom came back from shopping he was telling her all about me, so cute! The kids are really the best at the markets. I love it when they stand mesmerized by my playing. I even put little Vans shoes on my drum to keep it from moving and when they ask why they are there I tell them "so when we leave he can walk back to the car" and they are so confused. The little girls are the best. I feel like a role model to them because there really are not that many women out there playing. They stand there the whole time watching me play while their parents go shopping. I like to play newer music for them like Pink or Christina Aguilara. I give them a cd and a pick, they leave so happy. I am going to try to update this every week. So next weekend San Mateo and Almaden in San Jose.

Hope to see you there!