On orchard hillside
the sour cherries picked clean
bamboo distraction
On orchard hillside
the sour cherries picked clean
bamboo distraction
Steve and I left Chapel Hill at 6am and arrived at the Levering Orchard gate at 8. Already a line of cars waiting. Because of two freezes this spring the sour cherry picking is going to be scant, and with competition.
Found this box turtle hiding in one of the flower beds behind the back deck. Been a week of rainstorms so I suspect I’ll see other turtles hunting for worms.
Finished the project, then worked up a sweat cleaning out the hen house and used the chicken poop foe planting wildflower seeds in one of the backyard garden areas. Drank 2 Topo Chicos, now feeling better all around.
Sent my soon-to-expire passport in for renewal, and I feel uneasy and trapped. But maybe it was listening to On the Media explore cancel culture. Or maybe it’s this project I’ve not completed. Yet it’s also a U-curve. #saturdayennui
This novel belongs at the top of my Favorites and Re-reads page: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 📚
Still thinking about how much I enjoyed reading: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel on my vacation on St. Croix last month. 📚
Champions League final on the screen here in our room at the Elmar Boutique Hotel in Lauderdale by the Sea. Erin remains at the pool. We each have our priorities.
Juggling multiple work priorities today in preparation for weekend trip with Erin. Heard the alarmed squawking of the hens, rushed out to see a red fox headed their way.
Drove the red Ranger to Pittsboro for a cortado at Aromatic Roasters and garden supplies at Chatham Farm Supply. Back home I planted coneflower and black-eyed susans. Sitting on front porch with a cold beer.
Last day for this visit to St. Croix. In my hammock at our favorite, empty beach. So calm and peaceful. I relaxed. Needed this vacation. Will be rested for a work (and more) next week.
At Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge; gates are opened for a brief time so locals can go for an afternoon of fishing. Good to see the nest counts. I was here 37 years ago to watch a leatherback turtle drop her eggs into the sand. Amazing animals.
Just paged through the 1984 yearbook of The Good Hope School here on St. Croix. I was in the eighth grade (my younger brothers attended and my mother was a teacher). #memorylane
My step-brother Aaron is co-founder of Leatherback Brewing in The US Virgin Islands. He is looking for a manager of the St Thomas brewery/bar/restaurant. Great opportunity. Great beer. Beautiful beaches.
A beautiful sunset over the Caribbean Sea. Now, more than an hour later, the sky that way is glowing white, perhaps reflecting light from Puerto Rico. I don’t recall seeing this in past years.
Learning about the red-tailed boa on St. Croix, snakes on the loose.
My first beach read for this week on St. Croix was Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Read it fast, and enjoyed it, as eerie as it was to be reading a post-pandemic novel in the midst of a real pandemic.
Sprat Hall Beach, west end of St. Croix, U.S.V.I.
Waking up on St. Croix.
Went for a walk with the puppy in the woods yesterday, then pulled off another tick last night - lone star on my leg - so reading up again on tick-borne diseases and reminding the family to check themselves each night.
Got my nose plumbed for SARS-CoV-2 yesterday, and received a negative result by dinner, so I submitted my details to the USVI travel screening portal. Am excited to get back to St. Croix this weekend, visit family and my favorite beach, and walk through Frederiksted.
Oliver used some of his birthday cash to buy a Rubik’s cube. He’s already figured out how to solve it. In my youth I never once accomplished that. (YouTube and the wisdom of the crowd helped Oliver.)
Weekend activities:
Camping solo in the back woods tonight. Family walked out to join me around the fire. Now I am alone, full moon rising, air cooling. Soon will be time to climb into the hammock tent to sleep.