Farmers’ Market Chicken Dinner

 

Photos © 2026 mae sander

At the Farmer’s Market

Before shopping for produce we stopped at the indoor market

nextdoor to the Farmer’s Market for a coffee. 

Someone had left the newspaper on the table.

The market wasn’t very busy.  Although it’s late in the season, there were
still many late-harvest tomatoes.

Photos © 2026 mae sander

What to eat?

Lunch Outdoors

Maybe the last time this year

Dinners and More Lunches

Shrimp with pomegranate-sriracha sauce and our frequent favorite: 
potatoes with oil and parsley.

Using up leftovers: A pot of soup with chicken about to be added.

Trader Joe’s Soup

Caprese salad made by Alice

Breakfasts

French toast with apples

Bagels toasting

Waffles toasting

Photos © 2026 mae sander for maefood.blogspot.com

Halloween is Coming Soon

Our Neighbors Take Halloween Seriously!

Walking around the block today we saw many houses with dramatic holiday decorations. It’s definitely going to get more exciting as Halloween approaches!

Photos © 2026 mae sander

The Gnawsons Are Back and Other Stories

 

For several years, a busy beaver team has been building and rebuilding a dam and a beaver lodge at the local Botanical Gardens. We took a walk there recently as shown in the photos. Their original dam doesn’t seem to be in use now, but a few more beaver structures have been constructed along the way, as shown above.

Walking in the Garden

Fungus on a log. Is that poison ivy behind the log? Probably not but I wouldn’t touch it.

Indigenous Peoples Day

A sign in the gardens in appreciation of local indigenous people.

A native American wood carving from a trip to the Pacific Northwest a few years ago.

From a trip a few years ago: the opinion of the people of Alert Bay of the salmon farms in their waters.

Paul Kane, “Interior of a Chinook Lodge,” 1847. Illustration from 
Lewis and Clark among the Indians by James P. Ronda

Reflecting the News

It’s hard to entertain guests in one’s home

From The Guardian today.

My table set for guests earlier this week. Len’s bread, sliced cheese & ham, and a pleasant atmosphere.

Bigger is Better

Not far from our house: numerous displays of skeletons both large and small.
This is only one example! There are also 10 foot tall inflatable displays of scary figures.
I will add Halloween photos throughout the month of October.

Nobel Prize Winner is Local

The Nobel Prize today was awarded to poet Anne Carson. She was Professor of Classical Studies, Comparative Literature, and English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan from 2003 to 2009. Her husband was also a faculty member until recently, and they lived near a friend of ours. Reported in the news:

Blog post © 2026 mae sander

Home Economy

 

I’ve been reading the book Gouged: The End of a Fair Price and What That Means for Your Wallet (published 2026). Author Lindsay Owens describes the numerous and ruthless ways that products and services are designed to wring every penny out of consumers. He begins with some history: the type of pricing that most mainstream merchants use now, based on a price assigned to each entity they sell, isn’t really all that ancient: it dates to the late 19th century — “Fixed prices eventually gave rise to the price tag—first used, by many accounts, by John Wanamaker in the 1870s at his department store in Philadelphia.” (p. 14)

Once you have bought something, clearly, you want to make maximum use of it. This isn’t necessarily to a seller’s advantage. Obviously, when something wears out or breaks down, the person who purchased it would usually like to repair or recondition it, while the merchant normally would like to see it discarded and replaced by the purchase of a new one. 

This results in a variety of policies and commercial behaviors — can you buy replacement parts? Is there a manual that explains how to fix the product? Can you even open it up (or does it have tricky ways to keep you out of the insides of your device)? Does tinkering invalidate a warranty or violate a license or purchase agreement? The book provides a number of examples of the ways that sellers and buyers have different interests in whether you can repair your item or whether you’ll be forced to buy a new one.

Another way that sellers improve their profits is to charge higher prices. There’s also the trick of licensing the functionality, the most famous for its cynical greediness being the self-rocking cradle called a Snoo that only worked when the manufacturer allowed it to work (that is, when you paid a continuing fee for service). Yet another form of pricing for higher returns is to have the prices vary according to demand: for example, a restaurant whose prices are higher during peak mealtimes, and lower at off-hours.

When many sales situations moved from brick-and-mortar stores to online commerce, a variety of new strategies emerged, as you surely know. Uber’s pricing strategy for increasing the price when demand goes up is one example, and there are others. The book documents a variety of schemes that enable higher prices to take effect when the opportunity arises. In other words: gouging works great online.

Can a person do anything about this? The author warns: “The truth is that when the whole system is rotten to the core, no one individual can fix it. Outsmarting price gouging on your own is like trying to solve climate change by yourself. The problem is just too big for one person to tackle alone.” (p. 150)

A number of examples of cynical and honorable behavior are very revealing. One of my favorite businesses, Costco, is among the most honorable and idealistic, with fixed goals for profitability even when higher prices/profits could easily work.

From the conclusion: “You’re not imagining it. Prices aren’t just higher—they’re sneakier, more volatile, and sometimes even illegal. If you’ve felt gaslit, I hope this book makes you feel seen. But I also hope it shows that we can fight back—and win.” (p. 175)

Book review © 2026 mae sander.

Who Was Edward Gorey?

 

My new book by Edward Gorey (1925-2000)

Selected. books by Gorey that I do not own.

A long time ago we had a friend who worked hard at being eccentric. He often succeeded. One of his habits was collecting books by Edward Gorey. If he still has them they are worth a lot of money! I was looking at Edward Gorey books in the bookstore the other day, and I bought the anthology of his works to read for old time’s sake. I remember them well (but not too well). 

Do you have a somewhat strange sense of humor? These old books might be for you. 

Autumn Saturday

 

Freshly-made cider and donuts.

Saturday morning visit to the Dexter Cider Mill. A favorite place to go in autun.

Pumpkins and mums for sale.

After a ride in the countryside: Browsing at Schuler Books.

We had dinner at Alice’s apartment.

photos © 2026 mae sander

Week in Review

 Friday with Family

Souvenirs

Two people brought us a souvenir from the famous Wall Drug after a drive cross-country.

Taco Dinner

We ate dinner at a downtown restaurant called TAQ.

Classics (Earlier in the Week)

Black beans with cheese and tortillas

Cheeseburger on a bun.

As always: Kellogg’s Red Berry Cereal for breakfast.

Inedible but Pretty

A little white mushroom. Can you tell it’s been raining a lot here?

Photos © 2026 mae sander

On TV

“The 2026 BritBox adaptation of Agatha Christie's Tommy & Tuppence follows former college sweethearts and ex-lovers who reunite at a high-end wedding and get drawn into an amateur detective partnership.”