Like the farmer-vendors who sell at the Freedom Farmer’s Market at the Carter Center, I closely watch the weather, because books and water never mix. 

Before last Saturday’s popup, I checked the weather at the local television station paying particularly close attention to the possibilities of rain while checking for gin blossoms (not the band) on the meteorologist’s nose. (I have a personal theory that meteorologists tend to be heavy drinkers because they must combat the possibilities of being incorrect and ruining everyone’s weekend plans.)  His forecast: no rain until the afternoon.

Given the all clear, I was confident and wore my brimmed classic straw hat that breathes while keeping the sun out of my eyes, As you would expect, it is averse to rain like a table of paperbacks.

The market was excellent with clear skies until about 11:30 a.m. when Denise my partner in books and in life, pointed that the clouds rolling in were both dark and vertical (a bad sign).* I immediately started loading books into my plastic tubs with and placing them in the middle of the tent.  At 12:01 p.m. I began walking to retrieve my car to load up when the deluge hit. You know the kind of rain we’ve been having lately – veritable car washes.

Along with the Freedom Farmer’s volunteers and other vendors, I waited it out for about twenty minutes before heading home (where it hadn’t rained a drop).

But this wasn’t worst weather bookselling experience I’ve ever had but it did rival at Tucker farmers market a few years ago. A severe thunderstorm tornado-like cell swept through the market and had us running for our lives and automobiles– after securing my books in tubs. What priorities.

The most memorable experience with rain was a popup at Pepper Place in Birmingham (2021) that I went to with my younger daughter Bonnie. In Bham, I set everything up and then immediately had to toss the books back in tubs as it started to pour. For an hour the rain came down so hard and long that a river formed underneath our booths.  The water on top of the tents was so heavy that vendor tents collapsed under the weight.

These experiences remind me of the slight kinship I have with the farmers at these markets — watching the skies on a daily/hourly basis.

*Footnote: By coincidence, Heidi Julavits wrote “How to Predict the Weather in Our Era of Freakish Storms” article that appeared in the August 9, 2026 edition of The New York Times Magazine which mentions the dangers when clouds go vertical. Julavits was one of the founding editors of The Believer Magazine.