Paradise

Another beautiful day in paradise, that sums up today.

I woke up to the sun not quite risen, yet the sky was brightening. I looked over and saw 3 fuzzy faces in varying states of upside down (yes, 3... Aggie is separated for a few days, I'll explain in another entry). They stretched. I stretched. We got out of bed pretty much the same time. Its nice this time of year. I like it much better than in wintertime when I wake up in the pitch black, which continues while I'm baking and cooking... feels like the middle of the night when that happens.

By the time breakfast was ready and over, I had decided I was going to take a break. I walked out the back door to investigate my garden and see what's going on out there. My amaryllis is in full bloom for the 2nd time in as many weeks. Its the first blooms since it was given to me about 4 years ago. Its beautiful. On my way back through the garden, I stopped at some orchids also in bloom. I can smell them over the fence in my driveway, they're that fragrant. As long as I leave them alone, they do fine. I try not to mess with things in the garden very much. I have what I call a black thumb. When I was a member of a gardening club up north, I used to take a fair amount of ribbing for my "what died in the garden this time" stories. They were frequent. The key to successful gardening in my world is to leave well enough alone.

So, now I've investigated my garden, I'm about to go back in the house when I see a newborn fawn on the property. I watch her for a while, she's new here and she's pretty nervous. I watch from upstairs, I won't make any effort at all to go near her, its for her own well being. Finally, I'm back in the house. Chores beckon, I'm making a half-hearted effort, but I'm not in the mood to work. Instead, I go back outside, this time onto the beach. The tide is coming in. Its really interesting, sometimes the tide comes in very quietly, but other times, I'll be sitting out back, hear a pretty loud "whoosh" and the tide begins rushing in. Its when I hear that "whoosh" I stop and watch as long as I can. Its beautiful. So now I'm watching the tide come in, and taking note of all the things running around. There's teeny crabs popping up out of holes in the sand, small and large shore birds standing in the water fishing, bees & dragonflies swirling around, and lots of birds offshore flying high in the sky. During my reflection, a very large helicopter flew by too, then a few minutes later I saw a small private plane buzzing low across the ocean checking out the view. Pretty cool view at that I would imagine. There's boats scattered about too, they sparkle against the vivid turquoise of the water. All this happens as I sit lazily under the shade of a rustling coconut palm tree.

Now I'm back inside the house for more chores.... things are plodding along, but I'm just not feeling work today. I go outside to check the mail. Lo and behold the current issue of Vegetarian Times arrives, and Deer Run B&B is in it. Nice, check it out, and you also get a recipe of ours. I think I'll talk more about that in a later post too. So I sit on my porch with a fresh fruit smoothie reading my magazine. Work is calling... I really must get something accomplished.

I get inside, finish chores as best I can, and then pop the cork on some sparkling wine. I take it back on the porch as I prepare tomorrow's menu board. A couple glasses later I've decided the work day is done, and I head to the back of the house to watch the sunset as a huge fireball in the sky. As night begins to descend, I go back onto the beach to watch the palm trees become silhouettes against the night sky. I love when the sky is just light enough to make everything else around look like looming black shifting shapes.

As I settle in for the night, I am profoundly grateful that I really do live in Paradise.