Waking up in the Siena Hotel in Chapel Hill, a staycation just few miles from our home, for our 25th anniversary. Erin surprised me with “We always wanted to go to Tuscany.” Dinner at Hawthorne & Wood, where we both had flounder in coconut broth, like our fav meal in Vanuatu.
The photo from @cheesemaker is better but inspired me to snap one of my own. Back at Gray Squirrel Coffee in Carrboro for a flat white and writing.
Finished reading: Exit West: A Novel by Mohsin Hamid. Very much enjoyed it, and found it thought provoking. 📚
The pear tree is heavy with fruit this year (we trimmed it way back a couple of years ago). I think these are kieffer pears so one of the weekend projects is to make preserves.
I had such a great vacation on St. Croix last month - swinging in my hammock - that I decided to make a sticker to remember it.
So glad to see the first of the ginger lily emerging.
This is great: The 25 Most Significant Works of Postwar Architecture - The New York Times
Started the day making hot sauce, cooking the mash outside on a wood-burning stove so the house doesn’t fill with the fumes. Serrano peppers from my garden and other chiles from the Carrboro Farmers Market.
I had neglected the garden and the weeds had overtaken the spaces between the boxes, so this morning I cleared and will soon be spreading a new layer of wood chips. This little box turtle was among the weeds and will get to stay.
I read Little Eyes: A Novel by Samanta Schweblin on my island vacation last week. I found the novel, about a technology-toy that connects people in different locations, engaging, slightly alarming, and thought provoking enough. 📚
45 minutes before it is time to pack up and head home to North Carolina? No worries, mon. 2 min to drive down the hill to the beach and 37 seconds to string up the hammock. Which leaves 35 to enjoy heaven beneath the sea grape tree.
Last full day on St. Croix has begun with more great weather, stunning views, cooing doves and crowing roosters, gentle breezes, and the promise of relaxation at the beach.
Christiansted, St. Croix, USVI. Alexander Hamilton walked here.
Dorsch Beach, St Croix, the water and view as relaxing and beautiful as ever.
Spider at the sea grape tree, Sprat Hall Beach.
Back on St. Croix. Island is green, temperature is pleasant, air is hazy with Saharan dust.
Sitting beside my family and 200 others underneath the big shade tree in front of Carrboro Town Hall for the annual reading of the Frederick Douglass speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”
Second day in a row, another female eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) at our doorstep - this one appearing to be much older.
More rains this morning and, yes, turtles. Usually I find them out in the woods or down the gravel drive. Erin found this one at the doorstep!
