Saturday Market

There are less than a dozen vendors at the Westport
Saturday market, which takes place on the banks
of the Carrowbeg River. Two of the vendors live just up
the road from us: Carrowholly Cheese (the nettle cheese
is our favorite), produce from Liam and baked breads
from his wife Lilly. It's all a bit sleepy and very relaxed.
Easy. A couple of jewelers, a man stamping leather for
belts and keychains, a collection of birdhouses, someone
selling salmon, another vendor selling garden plants.
All the root vegetables appropriately mucky.

The butcher at McCormick's stuffed a pork tenderloin
for me and tried to talk me into some lamb, and I'm
hesitant but willing to give it a try. He said the soil
here in County Mayo has a lot of limestone in it, which
gives the lamb a unique flavor. I've never been one for
gamey meats, ever since my older brother came home
from hunting when I was about twelve with a deer/elk
strapped to the bumper of his pick-up, and my mother
proclaimed, "well, there's our meat for the winter!"