A post in which it is a lovely Sunday

I woke up last night, even after taking sleeping pills, but was able to go back to sleep. When of course I had a nightmare, as has happened the last couple of times. I dreamed that the Anderson Jockey Lot was closing, the land having been sold for a development project. I was down there for the last weekend with my dad. As we were walking around, we came across the owner of the flea market (who in real life I wouldn't know from Adam's housecat). He was obviously regretting his decision, and sitting on the steps of one of the buildings in full "Otis-the-town-drunk" regalia. As we went by, I stopped to speak to him, and commiserate with him on his loss. He was obviously regretting selling the land. "Greed is the road to all grief." He prophetically and mournfully intoned. On that somber note, I awoke.

As usual on Sundays at Lee and Clayton's house, I got up and we were lazy. Clayton had coffee made. I made some breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen a bit while we waited for Lee to get up.

I got to go to a new flea market! The last time I came up, I had mentioned to Lee that surely Charlotte had a decent flea market, and that I'd like to go. Lee doesn't like old stuff. He told me that there was a large one at the Metrolina Expo Center, but that it wasn't every weekend, was expensive (you have to pay admission), and was full of dealers. That pretty much quashed me. But this time, he decided to indulge me, after some begging, by taking me over to the "small, junky" flea market near their house. It turns out there is a nice-sized Barnyard flea market (there are a chain of Barnyard markets) right off South Boulevard. I was delighted!

Despite our late arrival (almost 11:30am), the place was packed. But the weather was beautiful and everyone wanted to be out in it. Almost right away, I scored. I walked up to a table with a Green Knife and Fork dinner plate. The woman wanted $5 for it, and I knew it was worth that. She was my favorite kind of seller. She knew it was something, but mainly just wanted it to go to someone who would value it, as she had had it for a long time. I told her what the pattern name was, and we talked a bit about it. She had been saving the plate for her daughter, but after packing and moving it three times, and after her daughter showing no interest at all in it, she was ready to let it go. When we got to the car, I looked up the piece and was shocked to find that the book value on it was $55!! That's quite a score.

We had a great time walking all around the flea market, looking at the people and talking. Lee and Clayton refused to let me take their picture, since they weren't fluffed and perfectly quaffed. I think even Lee had a good time, even though flea markets aren't his thing.

Afterwards we went to lunch. I wanted to go for Mexican, and had some excellent fish tacos. The tilapia in them a was fat, succulent, and perfectly prepared. Then we went to Black Lion, a store that sells designer close-outs, and one of Lee's favorite places. Lots of new stuff, but it was interesting. They did have some lithographs by a local artist I kind of liked, and I thought about buying one for the bathroom; but Lee didn't like it and I decided against it.

When we were done there, we dropped Clayton at the house for a nap, and went on to Kohl's. I had a gift card from there I got for Christmas. They don't have any pants I can wear, usually, but Justin likes it. I had thought I might get some sheets, but they had a sheet sale going on, and the shelves had been pretty much picked clean. I ended up getting some new really nice dish towels (I love them, but am too cheap to buy nice ones usually), a shirt for work, a new mat for my keyboard, and a new pepper grinder.

The grinder I have is one Michael gave me for Christmas one year, and he told me it was very expensive, but the gears seem to be going wonky and it squeaks something awful. I think I have just worn it out. I had been needing to replace it, but putting it off for sentimental reasons. The one I got is really nice if it works as well as the one that was on display. Plus it was on sale for 60% off. So that worked out. Nicely. By the time we got back, it was about 2:30 and I decided to head on home.

Russ called as I got close to the house, and asked me out to dinner. I had just been thinking it would be nice to go to dinner with someone. I got home, got cleaned up, and scampered on over to his place. We talked and visited for a bit, and then decided on Chinese buffet. I had been wanting to try the new place over on Woodruff Road. It opened in the old Bob Evan's building after they went bust. I was wondering if it would be like all the others. Boy was I wrong! In addition to the food being notably better than the other buffets in town, they had an extensive sushi selection. Most of them just have a couple of token things out, like CA roll and tuna nigiri; but this place had a sushi chef on duty who was turning out a variety of specialty maki, and offering to do custom things if there was something special we wanted. It was WELL worth the extra three bucks they charged, and Russ and I pretty much ate until we couldn't move.

We ate so much that when we got back to his place, we were too full to really visit. We just decided to go on to bed, and I went home and passed out watching Shrek.