ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 1, 1996 TAG: 9609030067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER
THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER may be gone, but residents are winding down with plenty to do amid beautiful weather and the hint of fall in the air.
After spending 40 years as a Virginia Cooperative Extension Service agent, P.B. Douglas knows his way around the vegetables at the Salem Farmers Market.
But 57 years of marriage have taught him to let his wife, Evelyn, do the shopping.
"She wanted me to go get the beans," he boomed in a baritone voice that cut through the Main Street hubbub Saturday morning as Bill Hamlett of Salem stood behind the counter weighing piles of green and October beans and pouring them into plastic bags. "You see what kind of trouble I'd been in if I'd got the wrong kind, don't you?"
"Keep him straight," Hamlett told Evelyn Douglas with a wink as he handed over the bags of beans.
"I'll hit him with this cane if I have to," she said, smiling from under a beige rain hat.
The Douglases have been regulars at the market this summer.
"There's nothing any nicer," Evelyn Douglas said. "We have tomatoes in our garden, but we don't have room for anything else."
Although the return of schoolchildren to the classrooms marks the end of summer for many Roanoke Valley residents, people enjoying the outdoors Saturday predicted warm weather will keep many of their favorite summertime activities alive for weeks to come.
Since the cooler, wetter summer delayed the ripening process for many vegetables, customers at the Salem market were all the more eager to stock up on beans, squash and peaches. Several customers said they planned to freeze at least some of the produce to enjoy this winter.
There were signs on the first day of the Labor Day weekend that autumn is on its way, however. In spite of the 80-degree weather, only one swimmer was enjoying the cool water early Saturday afternoon at the Washington Park pool. Most of seventh-grader Mark Millner's buddies were strapping on shoulder pads and helmets in a nearby field.
Paul Clark, manager of the pool, was optimistic that business would pick up after football practice.
"They've been coming by in their football uniforms asking 'Will the pool be open?''' he said.
More than 20 lifeguards answered appeals from Roanoke city officials for help this weekend - enough to keep the pools at Washington and Fallon parks open. Karen Peterson, who has worked three days a week at Washington Park all summer, had little to do but listen to the Bee Gees' "Staying Alive" blasting over the radio and watch Millner as he splashed water on another staff member.
"At least we're prepared," she said.
Although the summer of 1996 was short on 90-degree days, Peterson said she hasn't noticed a change in the crowds.
"I think it's been a pretty busy summer," she said. "I think people who love to swim are always going to come out."
And since Peterson teaches swim classes to schoolchildren in the fall, she wasn't suffering from end-of-the-summer blues.
Back at the Salem market, Clifford "Jack" Hawley had two one-gallon baskets of peaches remaining from the 25 bushels he'd trucked down from his 400-tree orchard on Strawberry Mountain.
A customer inspected the baskets and walked away, but another soon appeared and purchased both. The first woman, money in hand, returned and stared crestfallen at the empty counter.
"You should have been here earlier," said the 81-year-old Hawley, who wears a blue baseball cap with the words "Peach Man" embroidered on the front. "We had this thing loaded up with peaches."
"They say they'll come back, but you never know," he said with a shrug as she wandered off again. "You can't please everybody."
Hawley said he'll continue bringing loads of peaches to the market as long as they last. At the other end of the market shelter, the Douglases were ready to go, but they, too, will be back.
"We've got September and October to look to yet," said P.B. Douglas.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. 1. Evelyn and P.B. Douglas haveby CNBweathered many seasons together. They were shopping Saturday at the
Salem Farmers Market. color. 2. (headshots) Hawley.