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with my bff at a buffet that's Asian food and American food*. Honestly, the quality of the food seems to depend on the day; I've been there when it's great and I've been there when it...wasn't. But bff loves it and I can always find something to eat there. Fortunately, today was one of the "great" days.

* this is the place where bff once had a birthday dinner and was presented with a small chocolate cake, iced with something akin to Cool Whip and topped with what we thought were cherries cut in half. Instead, the cherries turned out to be cherry tomatoes. It was kind of hilarious (and since the buffet already had a ton of dessert options, it was also not really necessary).

Before I left, I noticed Dad had stuck $20 on the table next to my purse. I asked him what he wanted me to pick up for him and he told me nothing--lunch for bff and me was "on him today". Awwww. I suspect it was some of the $$$ he got for Father's Day from both Sis and me. It was enough to cover the meal but not enough for beverages but that was OK. I also gave bff a 2024 rooster calendar I'd picked up at Joann Fabric in the clearance aisle. Her kitchen is decorated in roosters (in a cute way, not a tacky way <g>), and she'd made a holder for her aluminum wrap, plastic wrap and wax paper out of an oversized cereal box that she covered with paper. She wanted a rooster sticker for the front but couldn't find one anywhere. *I* couldn't find one anywhere, except on Amazon where they wanted $7 for one that I wasn't sure would be big enough. So when I saw the rooster calendar, I had to get it. There were 12 pages, plus the cover, of beautiful roosters; I figured bff could choose one, cut it out and paste it on her box. Best of all, when both the cashier and I couldn't find a price anywhere on the calendar, she told me to just take it. It was apparently left over from some sale at the end of last year. Bff LOOOOOOOVED the calendar and all its choices.

Afterwards, I went a few places; my last stop was the farmer's market that pops up in that town every Friday in summer. I wasn't sure if they'd have it today--not a lot of produce ready to be sold yet--but they did. There's a woman who sells the most delicious ube cookies, so I got some of those, then I followed an adorable (and very friendly!) golden retriever over to a booth selling sunflowers. It was a father and two teenage boys; they had bouquets for $20 and individual "mini" sunflowers 7 for $10. I didn't need flowers...I really shouldn't have bought the cookies (trying to tighten the ol' belt even further, both figuratively and literally) so I asked how much for just one flower. The dad smiled, waved at the bucket of flowers and said "eh, just take one. Or take a few--I'm not bringing them home with me". The farmer's market was unusually deserted today, likely because of the heat and it being early in the "farmer's market" season, so I suspect he didn't make a ton of sales today. I thanked him profusely and took two, promising to come back later in the season. Next time, I'll buy a bouquet to thank him again for his act of kindness today.