One of the things I enjoy in the Spring and Summer is taking day trips around Vancouver Island. Many of those trips involve visiting markets.
One of our all-time favorites is the Old Country Market in Coombs a small village on the Alberni Highway, 5 and a half miles west of Parksville. It has several heritage buildings which have been converted into stores as well as new buildings. But what it is famous for is it’s goats, which graze on the roof of the Market store. Yes goats with horns, whispy whiskers and big bug eyes. They are cute ornery looking animals, well worth visiting. If you go to the market’s webpage you can watch live video streaming, but seeing the guys up close is much better. Here’s a video:

On Father’s day we went and checked out all the unique shops (think tie dye to antiques with lots of incense), went crazy in the book store which I’ll tell you about in a minute, bought fresh local produce at outrageously good prices and sipped tea with friends on the terrace of a beautiful Italian restaurant. Does life get any better?
The used book store, Cozy Corner Books,  recently celebrated its twenty fifth anniversary and is going strong. I think this is due to the bookseller. He has a friendly outgoing personality,and he knows books, better than anyone I’ve ever met. All books. You name an author and he’ll tell you five authors who are similar. He considers such groupings to be like sub-genres. It’s wonderful. You can say I like x and he’ll recommend a pile of books for you, and here’s the kicker, you’ll love them.
Yes, the fresh green onions I bought in the market were tasty, but visiting the used book store was magic. As you know, I’m working at getting rid of dead tree books, but I couldn’t resist a bag full.
We visited the museum for the first time and were welcomed by Beryl, a retired school teacher who grew up in Coombs and loves telling people about its history. She’s like the keeper of the books.  She told us about how the Salvation Army and the railway played major roles in the development of the village… and much more.
The first goat photo (i.e., the head shot) came from the Market website sited above. The last two photos were taken by PJ, my husband. Something about goats makes me smile and… feeds my muse.