Autumn rekindles a desire to write

Where you may ask have I been?  Forgive me readers, it has been 6 weeks since my last blog post.  I'm not a Catholic but feel like I'm here to make a confession.  I've been asking myself the same thing, where have I been?  The simple answer is, after nearly a month on vacation, I've been playing catch-up on work, chores and life in general.

The more complicated answer is that it was one of the hardest summers I've seen in terms of drought, heat and general discontent with the world.  All the things that give me fodder for writing and inspiration to get up and keep going day to day were in jeopardy.  The creek was dry from June to September, if David had not been standing behind the hose a couple of hours a day most everything in the yard would have surely died and even with his yeomans effort most plants were looking mighty pitiful by mid-August.

I think I lost my spark and certainly have been searching for my muse the past 6 months.  With this post I'm hoping to turn over a new leaf, I think it will be a dogwood, red with yellow veins and edges, they are bursting into flame about now. 

I've still got a long list of fall chores before me but with the cool crisp weather and leaves finally offering some colorful cheer, I am feeling more able to get moving with some joy in my heart.  The world is still a mess and who knows what the elections tomorrow will bring, but I've got to buck up and get on with it.

The hearts a'bustin (Eonymous americanus) seem an apt analogy to how I've been feeling, they've been putting on a major show the past month, absolutely loaded with purple and orange seed pods.

 

Now- on to the days to do's, laundry, soup to cook, peppers to process, oh the peppers, will they ever end?  Deer fence to mend, windows to wash, long walk in the woods to take....

In the mouth of the gator

Cell phone photos leave a bit to be desired, but that's me in the mouth of a giant gator that is the entrance to one of the beach chachki shops here at Topsail.  We have been having a splendid time. I've been taking long morning swims before the sea picks up, lots of walks on the beach, daily afternoon naps, fabulous seafood nightly for dinner.  Last night we had grilled Mahi Mahi tacos, tonight; fish soup with shrimp, scallops and more mahi is on the menu, tomorrow-crab. This is living brother.

Days are spent watching dolphins rolling through the swells, flocks of pelicans cruising overhead, schools of silver fish small and large sparkling through the waves all around us as we swim.  Fortunately, the biting flies dissappeared.  A couple of days ago the Topsail turtle hospital released about 6 sea turtles right out in front of our house.

They were ready to go

Gently released into the waves, set free to swim again in the wide green sea

At The Beach

After an amazing 8 day trip to Alaska, (more on that in a later post perhaps), we spent 3 days watering our parched garden and doing laundry, re-packed our stuff, this time into the car and headed to the beach!  

Last night we celebrated the birthday of my sister-in-law C Kay with this bodacious chocolate cake and amazing lilies grown by another one of my awesome S-I-L's - Betsy.

For dinner we baked this monster piece of grouper with home grown peppers and onions, taters and haricot verts from our garden.  The only downside at the moment is biting black flies forcing us off the beach, but currently folks are reading, playing guitar, making biscuits, chilling.  I think we'll survive the flies.

I'm thinking of heading down for a marathon swim before the seas pick-up.

It's Pepper Time

Oh Boy, the peppers really ripened up this week so today we roasted about 15 whole to peel and freeze and I chopped up another 2 quarts to freeze raw for soups etc. this winter.  There will be more and we have already been eating them daily for the past few weeks as they have ripened up.  Having a monster bowl full of sweet red peppers is one of those things that makes gardening worthwhile.  I can't really tally the value, considering we started the plants from seed, raised them 2 months in the house, then in the garden for another two months before they started to bear ripe fruit, we have a fair amount of time invested in them.  But they will put on now until frost and at a couple bucks a piece at the store or market, I guess we probably raise the equivalent of over $150 worth in the end.  Abundance.

We're off to Alaska tomorrow and not a minute too soon. The forecast here is for another week in the 90's and a hurricane is bearing down on the east coast. I am really looking forward to some highs in the 50's and don't even mind that it's supposed to rain.  Haven't seen a drop around here in weeks.

I am not taking the computer - really feeling a need to unplug, so look for a dispatch about the great north country in a couple of weeks.  Adios amigos.

Can't Sleep

I don't want to become one of those folks that can't sleep so they mess on the computer all night long, but here I am.  Been awake since about 3:30 and finally got out of bed around 5, all hope of actually going back to sleep dashed.

We leave Tuesday for vacation in Alaska and I guess I've got lots on my mind to wrap up and take care of before we go.  Blogging at 5:45 am is not one of those items on the list but here I am.  I must say I couldn't be more ready to go away and just get a true vacay as haven't really had one yet this summer and despite the fact that the forecast for where we are going is rain every single day, I'm still pretty excited about seeing someplace so wild and new.

I really wish I was in my bed sleeping.

Starry Night

I woke up aroud 4:00 this morning, needing to pee.  I remembered it was the peak night for the Perseid meteor shower so I stumbled out onto the deck to check it out.  The sky was clear and within a few minutes I had seen 2 shooters, one of good size, so I wandered back inside, grabbed the camping mats and a couple of sheets and whispered softly to David. "Come with me and bring the pillows."  He grumbled but staggered out onto the porch with me and helped make our little pallet.  We lay there watching the sky and chatting, soaking up the brilliance of all those stars.  We said to each other "How long has it been since we looked up at the stars?"  Too long.  The night sounds were all around us, barred owls called, the chickens were clucking and murmuring up on the farm, coyotes howled off in the distance, a fox barked down at the pond.  Around 4:30 we heard the bassets sound their alarm as our neighbor headed out to start milking the cows.  We saw several more shooting stars before we dropped back to sleep and the next thing we knew it was morning, but what a delightful interlude that was, snuggling together in the coolish night air, taking in the vastness of the universe.

Atlanta Botanical Garden- ACGA Part 2

A highlight of the ACGA conference was a visit to the Atlanta Botanical Garden. This is a spectacular garden that shows what cities with money and a big tax and donor base can do if they work at it. There was a canopy walk; a broad steel walkway that wandered through the tree tops, we didn’t get that far but maybe next time. A huge conservatory holds a tropical house and 3 greenhouses of orchids from 3 different climate zones, tropical to mountain.

There were rare frogs that looked like jewels, water gardens and various plant collections. Colorful glass sculptures by the artist Dale Chilhuly adorned fountains and pools.

They used walls for plantings in several areas, an interesting concept for creating greenspace in narrow or small areas.  Here is an herb wall growing in the edible gardens.

The ACGA sponsored the evening visit, so we had the whole park to ourselves. There was a showing of the film Dirt, an interesting documentary about the soul of soil and how we are degrading the planet by letting our dirt slip away. It was discouraging but also had a hopeful ending, if we will all work to preserve land, and treat dirt as an important component of life on the planet as we know it, instead of just letting it wash down into rivers and blow away, creating deserts and polluting the air and oceans.

Here I am with Kelly in one entrance to the Japanese garden

Home for 3 days now and finally starting to feel back to normal, the go, go, go of Atlanta and the conference took its toll and left me feeling pretty tapped out. I decided this morning I might be suffering from a reverse form of SAD; Seasonal Affect Disorder, a depression normally brought on by short days and the lack of sunshine, I think I’m down from the hot days and lack of energy and/or desire to do anything outside….

There is hope- I see the forecast has highs in the 80’s for next week, perhaps we will see a break from the relentless series of 90 degree days, today made the 61st day over 90 degrees we have experienced this summer. All I can say is-Phew.