It’s mercado day on VFYT! Above, a shot from my niece Hannah, who is wrapping up her summer vacation in Barcelona. She and her friend Catherine went to the mercado on Las Ramblas yesterday. “Fresh fruit, fresh everything!” she said. Nice.

A reader in San Antonio had a similar idea:

She writes:

Fresh fruit cup at the Mercado near downtown San Antonio. One of the best parts about the long hot summers here. Typically taken with a dusting of lime, salt, chili powder, and tamarind. But you can get one straight up, if that’s your preference!

Finally, a reader in Tucson visited his local mercado and got supplied for the fireworks:

Savory chicken crepe w/basil pesto, mushrooms, goat cheese, cilantro, tomatoes. Crepe bought from the Planet of the Crepes taco truck, at the “taco truck court” gathered for the 4th of July celebration at el Mercado San Agustin.

Photo taken from raised table facing the base of Sentinel Peak, aka “A Mountain”, where the Tucson municipal fireworks show is launched each year.

Launch is in one hour, at 9p Arizona time. (Fun fact: the state of Arizona has consistently refused to enact daylight savings time, every time it comes up for a vote, because this would move the 100+ degree peak of each day of summer heat into rush hour.)

Well, good for you all. I spent the Fourth of July bunkered down with two kids and two bottles of Dimetapp. Hellacious summer colds. Meanwhile, Julie and Lucas gallivanted at a glacier on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, and had fresh halibut for dinner. Such is life.