Rambling Around South Hadley to Find Flowers

I took a ride out into the country, exploring the village of South Hadley Falls, where I saw that one of the only thriving businesses are roadside bars. Many of the old style bars had their doors open, soaking in a bit of sunshine in their dark insides. I passed through the center of South Hadley, saw crowds of Mt Holokers getting acquainted with their new school and then drove down Pearl St.

A man had two bikes for sale, and I pulled over, interested in one for my son Sam. A man with only a few teeth came out, and told me that it was a valuable collector’s item, a 5-speed Mossberg “It was built in New York,” he said. I asked him if there was a farmstand around here. “Atkins, down in Amherst,” he said. “No, a farm, a stand you know. “Ohhh, well, we get our corn from Olga.

Olga turned out be a white-haired grandmother who speaks Polish, as I heard when a trio of Polish speaking customers were ahead of me. I asked her about flowers, and she handed me a sharp little knife. I headed out to the field to select stems amidst buzzing friendly bees.

I passed another house with a sign out front that said Turkeys…now taking Holiday orders. I took a few photos of the turkeys enjoying the sun and crowding around their water dispenser. It was a lovely September day, and this part of the world looked beautiful.