I sometimes forget (and then I'm kicking myself for another whole week): Wednesday is Farmers' Market Day. In Newport, anyway. It's not a big deal, or a big Farmers' Market, but it's such a pleasure, from 2-6 pm along Memorial Boulevard under all those nice shady trees. It's also a welcome switch from the grocery store as a site to undergo that all-important daily contemplative process: What's for dinner??
So, last week — after I'd managed to remember it was Wednesday, thus Farmers' Market Day — I wandered up, with Darling Daughter and Grandma Betty, only to stumble into (onto) something even more exciting than super-fresh and/or organic veggies and cheeses and breads and flowers. I found the most remarkable game of hopscotch in full-swing. Or mid-hop.
I'd forgotten about hopscotch. Totally forgotten. I used to play endless rounds of hopscotch on sidewalks and driveways as a kid. Doing anything with chalk on sidewalks and driveways was amusing, at least for a while. And don't get me started on jump-roping and hula-hooping and footsie; I was the footsie champ (seriously). And these kids at the Farmers' Market were seriously into hopscotch, despite there being no semblance of rules. No pebble being thrown into Box 1, Box 2, Box 3, etc. No one caring or bickering about if someone had stepped on the lines. A big(gish) girl was drawing the course. She just kept drawing and drawing and drawing; she was up to Box 104 when I last looked. In some spots, one would have needed very small feet or very long legs or even three legs to follow the course as she drew it. But all the younger kids were jumping, all at the same time, with no regard whatsoever for lines or numbers ... but with great enthusiasm. And an even greater variety of footwear.
I was telling Nice Niece about it at dinner last night. We were at Pasta Beach, directly across from the Farmers' Market site on the other side of Memorial, with Grandma Betty and Darling Daughter, having an all-girls night out. I also told her how to play hopscotch "the right way" — all the while fearing I was ruining it. For the most part, I was just trying to remember it. Nice Niece made us promise to take her there today, being Wednesday, to see if hopscotch is going on again. Or still ...
