I met Gale Gand at the market yesterday. She looked relaxed and happy.

She often buys from us but gets it delivered. Peter introduced me to her. "This is Dan. He's a travel and food writer." This is, strictly speaking, true. He didn't say I was a successful travel and food writer.

She turned to me and smiled. "Hi, I'm Gale."

"I know!" I said. Did I giggle? I might have giggled.

"Oh! Am I wearing a name tag?" She looked down at herself.

"No. I just know."

Then I had to go sell someone some fruit. Later I said to Peter: "You'll have to introduce me again sometime. We didn't get beyond the introduction."

"She doesn't really come to the market much," he said. "You'll never see her again."

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

* * *

I hear a lot about people's food memories. The cherry tree in the backyard. The wild strawberries in the field next to gramma's house. Some stories I hear more than once — sometimes from the same person, sometimes from different people. I try to be a good listener.

Standing in front of the raspberries, one woman told me about the black raspberry patch she had growing up. Most of the bushes eventually died, she said. She switched to another story: Her grandfather sold produce on a cart downtown just before the Depression. She went on for a little while about this before wrapping up with "But you don't really want to hear it."

"It's OK," I said. "I listen to people talk about fruit all day."

It's not the ones you wish would stop talking who are self-aware enough to offer to stop.

Ever.

I was selling cherries and blueberries to Customer No. 1. She was talking to me the whole time. I couldn't tell you about what. Not about fruit. She wanted everything bagged separately and little pieces of paper placed in each bag with the total for each.

No problem.

Customer No. 2 reached in front of her to grab some cherries.

Customer No. 1 leaned over, winked, and said to me, inches from my face: "Hey, I'm not that friendly! This woman is trying to touch my crotch!"

Problem.

If I never hear the word "crotch" at the market again, it will be too soon.