We stopped to get coffee and muffins at Amy’s new Country Kitchen down the road – Amy is a lot of fun, she is great to talk to – and Maria and I got into your usual genial squabble about how many muffins to buy.

She always wants to buy one and share it, and I always want to buy two because I’m bigger than her and hungry and I want my own. I hope I’m not giving away any secrets, but my wife is cheap, tight as a tick as we say up here in the country.

She always gets annoyed when I say it, but it’s true.  She hates to spend money.

The corn muffins Amy sells are delicious, but they are small. I wanted my own. Besides, I told Amy, Maria will eat the whole thing before I get a bite in.

Maria protested that this was not true, she said  I always say I just want a bite, but I  get at least half, and sometimes more.

I protested,  I told Amy she eats like a mule and never gains an ounce. You don’t want to be around when she gets hungry.

I looked up and Amy was laughing and shaking her head.

“Oh, I know, I know, what’s really going on, “Amy said, “I’m not buying what he’s saying. I know.”

Ah, I asked, why is it that strong women always stick up for each other?

Because there are men like you, said Maria. But we did order two corn muffins, and I’m having one for lunch.

Strong women do stick up for one another, and it probably is true that this is because men are the way they are.

Amy’s country cooking wagon sits near the road down the hill from the Cambridge Livestock Auction, run by Amy and her husband. She’s fresh from the County Fair, her daughters came home with a bunch of ribbons.

Amy stays in a camera with her daughters right by their cows. She’s been lobbying for years to get an agricultural curriculum put into the local high school. No luck yet, but I wouldn’t want to bet against Amy over the long haul.