Today was a wonderful day because my beloved Time Market has reopened, and I picked up a framed print from Bob and Wade at Deadwood Framing.

I’ve missed the Time Market terribly. A few times a week, I would order a salad and a slice of pizza, and sit in the picture window people-watching, and thinking that I’m lucky to be able to afford high-quality, local food. For years, it’s been a handy, home-like place to pick up a bottle of wine, exotic produce, or scratch-baked cinnamon rolls to feed a team working through the weekend.

They sold groceries and takeout a few weeks into the shutdown, then closed abruptly. More and more, economists have been saying that if a business hasn’t reopened by now, they probably never will. I kept stopping by and checking their website, and this morning I saw that they’re back in business. I raced over there and ordered takeout, and got to eat a beet-pistachio salad and caprese sandwich for the first time in months. It was heaven.

I bought two bags of thoroughly pretentious groceries, too: everything from fresh-baked walnut bread to imported artichoke-tomato sauce. Just before they closed I’d been eyeing an artisan pasta called farfalline zebra, which is a black-and-white striped bowtie pasta made with squid ink. Reader, I bought a package. I will cook it and post a picture.

I’ve been planning to make a summer fruit tart once the temperature topped 105 F again. Towards that end, I bought peaches, apricots, black Mission figs, and mascarpone cheese from Italy. I will bake and photograph that, too.

Once I’d stowed the groceries and scarfed my salad, I drove over to pick up a Daniel Martin Diaz print that I’d dropped off a few weeks ago. It always does my heart good to see Bob and Wade. Bob introduced me to one of my favorite local restaurants, Tumerico; he’s also introduced me to some very talented artists, and helped me to secure studio visits. We had a good gossip, and blew kisses at each other. They’re working by appointment only and are requiring masks and social distancing in the store. They seem to be thriving, and I’m glad. They’re pillars of a thriving arts scene.

The framed print is even more beautiful than I’d hoped. It’s below, with the most recent numbers from The Covid Tracking Project.

Confirmed Covid-19 cases in Arizona, as of 7/30: 170,798
Current hospitalizations: 2,348
Deaths: 3,626