Tea at Trianon: Interview at the Farmer's Market

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, July 8, 2016

Interview at the Farmer's Market

A visit to the Farmer's Market in Abingdon,Virginia. From my sister's blog:

I eat a lot of eggs. Omelets, hard-boiled, scrambled. I hated them as a child and now I can’t get enough. Figures. I’m particular about my eggs, too, and knowing where they come from is important to me. And where do my eggs come from, you ask? From Venus and Louis Watson of Watson Greenhouse and Produce. There’s something light-hearted about these folks that makes me feel at home every time I walk up . You’ll recognize them because they haul their produce in a retired yellow school bus, and it’s the best thing ever.

With a friend by their side, I asked if I could take a few photographs of the flowers and a few shots of them. I asked their names, because even after all this time I haven’t put names to most of the faces I see around town each week. It’s funny how your world becomes a lot more meaningful once there’s a name and a story attached to it.

We didn’t talk a whole lot about produce (as you’ll see below), but we laughed about taking beauty portraits on that humid day. When I asked the couple about how long they had been married, Louis replied in regards to Venus, “When I first met her, I thought she was from outer space.”

Get it?

That was really all I needed to make my morning.

Anyways, some other lovely items you can find at their booth include cabbage, walnuts, greens, flowers and herbs, green onions, potatoes, and a bit more that comes seasonally. Tuesdays and Saturdays at the Farmer’s Market Pavilion! (Read more.)