Lunch break critter #2: admittedly cute raccoon, fluffy white belly, in the chicken run but hadn’t yet stolen the 2 eggs, scampered out and up 60 feet of tall oak tree. (Must finish wire top to the run!)

Lunch break critter #2: admittedly cute raccoon, fluffy white belly, in the chicken run but hadn’t yet stolen the 2 eggs, scampered out and up 60 feet of tall oak tree. (Must finish wire top to the run!)
Lunch break critter #1: black snake near rock pile.
I’m not in UNC’s Kenan Stadium tonight for Mexico vs Turkiye but I am watching the stream. I see so many empty seats. I wanted to attend, but ticket prices were too high, and I’ll be watching football in Dublin soon enough.
Today’s news and views had me feeling a bit blue, so I’ve ended the day by rewatching that great audition scene in Coda, where Ruby sings Joni Mitchell (Both Sides Now ) and signs love to her family in the balcony above. So sweet.
I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It’s cloud illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all
My installation of Feedland is working well for me, although I’ve encountered a couple of glitches to troubleshoot: For my main account, I’m not receiving the login email notification, and an RSS feed of a blog I read isn’t updating. For the first, I got in by getting the code in the database.
Oliver joined me for Sunday pick-up soccer. He’s got a driver’s permit so he took the whel of the red truck. The summer humidity had me sweating heavily, but I played well, and suprised everyone when I received the ball in midfield, then spun and shot on an empty net. Goaaaal! Great feeling.
Scrolling the feeds in my river this morning and I came upon this article. I swam with a dugong on Epi Island, and we often saw them swimming near the north end of Paama.
Saving the Sea Cows of Vanuatu atlasobscura.com
Another turtle down the way, this one met by my brother-in-law Michael. Might be same turtle Ginni saw yesterday.
Done with work, I walk from Studio B to the house and notice this robin’s egg at the base of a big pine tree.
Yesterday Oliver and his cousins came across these turtles at their house (200 yards down the gravel drive from our own). Ginny has a new iPhone and her shot is a winner! Oliver captured two busy in the corner.
A second turtle! Walking on the gravel drive at about the same spot I saw a different turtle last week. The design on this one’s head is stunning.
Was just about to get in the shower but I looked out the bedroom window and noticed this Eastern box turtle walking across the flower bed so I ran out to snap a photo.
Sunlight on the result of Sunday’s cherry picking and yesterday’s pitting: five jars of pie filling.
Happy to have snagged 2 tickets to Bohemian FC vs Shamrock Rovers FC in Dublin later this month. ⚽️🇮🇪
Today, my annual pilgrimage to Levering Orchard in SW Virginia to pick sour cherries with a friend, Steve. My son Oliver joined us and even drove most of the way home (on his learner’s permit). I got home and immediately went to play soccer. Home now, 17 pounds of cherries ready to be processed.
On my walk to the studio office, this healthy, shiny turtle was on the gravel driveway. (Been a rainy week.)
Hatching a plan for a return visit to Austin in November to hang with my brothers, attend the UT football game, and catch The Beths.
Failed experiment: I’ve had the page for the Tudor Pelagos FXD GMT open for months but Tudor has not sent me a free watch or even a discount coupon. I guess browser cookies are worthless.
The New Yorker is celebrating 100 years. I’ve been reading that magazine for nearly a third of that run. I retrieved the very first issue I bought (Dec. 6, 1993), reread the single investigative piece that issue featured, and blogged my take on the piece and how it began my 30-year subscription.
Gentle morning rain
Dry wood burning in fireplace
Cup of tea in hand.