This summer I have been making a bit of an effort to get up on Sunday and visit the San Rafael Farmers Market. I have nothing personal against the large grocery stores, but when Safeway claims they "check their fruits and vegetables 5 times..." in their radio ads, leaving what exactly they check for to the imagination, my mind immediately fills in the blank with "...that our produce has not somehow become flavorful." In a weird way I am impressed at the consistency of making Apples, Plums, Nectarines, Peaches, Tomatoes, and Tap Water all taste the same. At other times, I get motivated to make a separate shopping trip on Sunday mornings with no cart or credit cards.

The tomatoes are melted sunshine in your mouth, a bite of peach yields firm sweetness with the unmistakable follow on tart twist to the taste buds, apples have an aroma and sometimes a worm, and you have never tasted a sweet pepper until you have eaten one the of the colored varieties from Happy Quail Farms. I like watching the ebb and flow of the products, too. Early in the summer the cherries came on hard, then the peaches and nectarines. Right now the tomatoes have a lot of flavor. The apricots never tasted good, perhaps a victim of the late rains. It adds a certain realism to the food, having it mark the passage of time and changing seasons. Makes the food more a part of life.

I suppose the same could be said of fashion, in that symmetrical, yin/yang, opposite sides of the coin, kind of way. Fashion marks the time and seasons in a way that adds a certain unrealism to clothes. I should show pity for the poor tag line manager at Macy's; but ridicule is so much more entertaining. I imagine a creative type coming up with the slogan, "What inspires you?", then finishing the question strongly with some Macy’s clothing line like "...World Traveler, Urban Chic, Distressed Denim." The manager thinks that is great, but does not quite get the subtly needed in applying the tag line in general.

The ultimate result can be seen in the display board I snapped a picture of in the womens department of the San Rafael Macy's. What do you want to bet he likes the taste of the fruit at Safeway.