Breaking News, Blogosphere!!

What, in your wildest dreams, do you think Ben & Meg stumbled upon, completely unwittingly, today?

We'll provide some photos to help you guess.
Wait, is that a bovine statue placed near shopping carts?


Could it really be???

That's right, folks. Directly off Rt. 64 in Short Pump, Virginia, we found TOM Leonard's!!

As those of you who were blessed to spend time with us during our last summer weeks in New England already know, we're Stew Leonard's obsessed. We love the shtick, the camp, the produce, the livestock, the live television feeds to livestock, even the sticky-lipped children with cotton candy-flavored soft serve running around the firework displays. The beginnings of our obsession with this wonderful farmer's/dairy market were pre-blog, but we made plenty of people visit various Connecticut locations with us over the summer. We sang along to the "Welcome to Stew Leonard's" song in the produce aisles, and watched the monkeys swinging over the bananas. We bought spice rubs and canvas bags. We just love that place.

And now, we can also love Tom Leonard's, only 1/16th the size of the original stores in Connecticut but with 100% of the charm. Apparently, when Stew Jr. took over the business, his brother Tom moved to Richmond and opened a very similar shop. Complete with automatronic livestock singing about the store. We didn't take any photos inside, of course, because last time we were in one of the stores, outside of Hartford with BD and Dave, we were hassled by the employees for using cameras inside. Who has the nerve to yell at BD for taking photos, anyway?! It's been a sore spot with us, so Ben was very quick to find the customer loyalty rock out front as a reminder of how we were wronged. The soft serve sort of *righted* the situation and BD still send us prints of the incident ... but it's about the principle!


Despite the persnickety teenagers in Hartford, we loved finding a Tom Leonard's where we least expected it, so we're listening to them and telling our friends. You should be happy to know that we contributed $5.11 to the economy in the form of two oranges, two grapefruit, and a container of garlic croutons. We'll think of you fondly, Leonard's chains, while we eat them.

This is also a perfect opportunity to make a public acknowledgement of how right Sue was when she told us that Short Pump was terrific. It was! Aside from farmer's markets, we also went into the fabulously large Whole Foods, saw Trader Joe's, considered waiting far too long in line at the Cheesecake Factory (which we will some day eventually patronize), shopped for formal MCCC Dinner-Dance outfits, and generally avoided the sticks for the afternoon. Short Pump is a tiny miracle only an hour away. We'll be back before you know it, Richmond!

News from the Southern lands:

1) Ben got a great Northface jacket finally, at an absurdly low cost, by shopping end-of-season sales. Of course, we only went out shopping after the big ice storms, though winter doesn't seem to be fading just yet, even in Virginia... Here he is braving the wind yesterday while we walked in Keswick.

2) Before introducing Don to MarioKart, we spent some time paling around with our local canine, who didn't seem to mind the wind. When a ball is involved, everything is better for Doogie. After our afternoon playing and after some dinner-scrap-begging, he slept the evening away on the couch, probably dreaming of uncovering weird scents and chasing squirrels.

And 3) Curtains! Ben hung, as best he could given our walls and rental prohibitions, Ikea curtains my mom donated. The lighting situation in the apartment is much improved. Plus, prying neighborly eyes are diverted and our plants seem to enjoy the change. All in all, a terrific addition.

Thanks, all, for your prayers and good thoughts last week; Ben's grandfather had successful surgery on Thursday and is recovering in the hospital. Apparently, everything went well and, from the photo Ben's mom sent, it seems that everyone is getting rest and hanging in there.