Root's Country Market & Auction

Today we headed out to Root's Country Market & Auction. Or, as the locals call it - Root's. You'd think you would pronounce that like you would a tree root or a 70s movie starring Levar Burton, but no. You'll quickly learn around here that it's one of the peculiarities among the locals that things are not always pronounced as they seem. For instance, you can always tell a local from a tourist by the way they say "Lancaster". You can spot the locals rolling their eyes as outsiders butcher the pronunciation - saying it as you would Burt Lancaster's last name. If you're ever in town, just so you know... it's LANK-as-ter. I still don't think I say Root's quite the right way. It's something like Ruhtz but apparently I need a little more practice.

Anyhooo... we headed out to Root's or Ruhtz or however you say it on a quest for items to put in our new house. Unfortunately the extreme heat was driving most of the vendors away just as we arrived. It was barely 11AM and people were already packing up their tables and heading for cooler temps. At one booth I spotted a tray of pretty baubles I wanted to sort through but just as I walked up to the table the lady behind it started waving her hands and shouting "Vámonos!" Geez. OK, lady! No need to be so rude about it!

Since I was specifically looking for old fruit crates for storage I made a quick sweep through the flea market stands but came up empty handed. Well, not quite empty handed. Instead of fruit crates I ended up with a old folding measuring tape, a vintage button card and a little pair of clip-on shoe bows (that need a good cleaning now that I'm looking at these photos). After picking up those tid-bits I quickly found an indoor corner with a fan and promptly melted into a puddle on the floor.