f-r-e-e-d-u-m-b

Yay for late Spring! We joined a CSA this year for our veggies. Our second box came today with lots of greens, plus a few herb seedlings to grow on our own:















I stopped at the Co-op to get some mushrooms & sat outside for a few minutes with a smoothie to enjoy the sunshine while it lasted. Across from me sat an aging hippy wearing a bright orange safety vest. He kind of just started talking, and I took note of the following points from the conversation, though I was only rarely able to get a word in edgewise.

• He was an ex-con back in the seventies
• Upon his release from prison, he was immediately drafted. Essentially, he could go to war or go back to prison.
• He had trouble getting a job when he returned from Vietnam, "because all the veterans were treated like criminals!!" [I thought, "all the veterans? Or just the ex-con veterans?" Though I know that was generally true back then. ]
• In this country, we have no rights. And, "freedom is spelled f-r-e-e-d-u-m-b"!!
• He was once married by common-law without realizing it and was later ordered to pay child support for a child who may or may not be his.
• His wife left him for a woman, and his son, at age 16, escaped from a mental institution and came straight to Madison to find his dad. The young fellow had a tatoo that said "I kill hippies", as well as a nazi symbol tatoo and some metal spikes embedded in his head. He wanted his father to buy him beer.
  
• He appends "the Bike" to the end of his name (which rhymes with bike), because he fixes people's bicycles. In fact, his bicycle has a large wagon hitched to the back containing other bicycles that he's working on.
  

He was interested to know when I usually hung out at the co-op so we could catch up again. So I did enjoy listening to the guy. But based on his reaction to a reference I made to my husband ("Well, I guess this conversation is over!"), I'll probably keep my distance from the co-op on Saturday mornings for a little while.