Holding Onto Leaves

Do you ever wonder how tenaciously a tree holds onto its leaves? Are some weak and ready for winter, and throw them off eagerly? Here's a beauty still holding on.

This pair of trees are pretty each year.

Two days ago this tree was a brilliant yellow. Alas, I waited too long to capture its radiance, and now it's a fallen crown in the grass.

I like them in a row along a quiet street with a strip of sidewalk.

This is a sparse crepe myrtle, but the orange-red against the blue paint of the Oriental Food Emporium is striking.

We have a few zippy reds this year around town.

I found this stray leaf in our yard and rescued it. Now it sits atop the piano, and soon I'll lay it between the pages of a book. Will I find it again, or will somebody else in a few decades? We're moving books these days to the new house, and I find myself wondering when in the world I'll ever read all these books again. If I have 30 years left, and I read several each year, I still won't get through them all. And I have new ones I want to buy! Oh, dear. I hold onto my leaves tenaciously too.

In the Deep South, as I've noted before, we have winter bloomers, and camellias are a favorite. Some apparently bloom early, in November, and others wait until January. How obliging of them!

You should know that the vast majority of our forest landscape is green, much of it year round. We have pines everywhere of many varieties, and other evergreens. So our bright yellows, oranges, and reds are a real treat.

My friend Pom from Colorado says her trees are all bare now. How thankful I am to still see this color around us here in coastal Carolina.

This fellow is still struggling to let go of his green and change clothes for the season. Hurry up!

And as soon as the red jacket is put on ... poof!! It falls away. But how brilliant its moment of wonder!

Some Things New

Bartering is new to me. Should we just call it "swapping"? A lady in town makes these deliciously soothing "eye pillows." She came to my market table and loved a pair of smittens; she wore them for a few minutes, and I could tell she wanted them. "May I set them aside for you?" I asked. "Noooo," she said, disappointed, "maybe later." Then I said, "You make those wonderful eye pillows, don't you?" And quickly a swap was arranged.

Both items sell for $12. Her pillows are filled with organic flax seed, lavender blossoms, and lavender essential oil. It's the best eye pillow I've ever tried. Zap it in the microwave for 30 seconds, and it's warm and aromatic ~~ perfect for weary eyes before bed.
And I love the turtle design on the fabric! This fabric is only an outer slip cover. Inside, is a white cotton/muslin pouch, holding the seeds and lavender.

New boats? Why yes, we always have new boats! I was driving downtown yesterday, late for a singing engagement, and saw this boat just pulling up at the town dock. I screeched to a halt, jumped out of the van, and took a few photos as the boat owner tied up.

It's a beautiful wooden boat from Maine. I think he has a slew of boys on board. I saw one teen and a couple of younger boys. Taking your over-active, sit-in-front-of-a-screen boys on a few months of ocean sailing will knock the energy right out of 'em, I'm telling you! Anyone who has the means to do so, should try it. I'm convinced a year of sailing and living aboard would improve the disposition of any troubled boy. Boys need lots to do, and things to be in charge of.

And the last new thing is a house. A new house for us! We're moving from our duplex, which is often a bit snug (especially when the older kids are home), into a real house with THREE bedrooms, across town. It's a small, small house. The bedrooms are tiny. But what counts is that there are THREE of them - yay! Plus a little den. It will be an improvement, I think. So, here's the house:

And here's a larger photo that shows what's on the side of the house. Yes, that's right. This is Oriental, and the double bay garage is larger than the house is.

That's because in Oriental, we all know what's really important in life ~~ the BOATS!!  These are not car garages. (Notice the absence of pavement in front of them.) Sigh ... only in Oriental! Yes, I do think even the Christiansens can put all our junk in those garages, with room to spare :) Plus, the boats.

All Roads Lead to the Bean

Sunday afternoon was so glorious, so balmy and breezy and perfect. I took a bike ride.

The river sky put on a show.

How many different kinds of cloud can you see?

I pedaled to the park to find Adam and the puppies.

He sat in a chair, and had pulled another one up for me. He was waiting.

I became chilly, and he offered me his sweater. Then he asked, "Do you want to get something warm to drink at the Bean?"  The Coffee Bean. The local watering hole. The only coffee shop in our little town. So we did. We sat on their elevated porch (elevated because of regular flooding), and watched the town harbor and town dock, across the road.

There's always something happening at the town dock. Boats have free 48 hour stays at the town dock. It's a popular place for cruisers.

One boat had puppies on board that barked at everyone walking by.

Almost immediately this catamaran cruised in, but turned about and left. I think there was not room enough for him.

But then another new boat came in, a boat from Quebec with two women aboard. Adam dashed over to help them tie on to the dock.

Then he stood and chatted with his buddy, Jim.

Soon another power boat backed into a slip at the marina.

And then another power boat. This marina is popular on the weekend. Adam and I chatted quite a bit with a couple at the Bean. They'd been living aboard for three weeks, and had come down the ICW and were in Oriental until they repaired their engine. They were sailors with a view to the long haul, having sold everything in St. Louis, left their jobs, and headed out to sea.

Here are the three sailboats tied up at the town dock (well, two on the dock, and one on the side). They are neighbors for a day. Sailors are friendly and rely on each other. In only a few minutes, this is what we saw on the dock:

They will chat, swap stories, beer, wine, food, meet pets, help with repairs, give advice, and exchange email addresses. When your home is in a state of constant motion, it's good to make ready friends. A dock like this is a temporary neighborhood, and sooner or later, they all come to the Bean for coffee.

Shipping Soap

Goodness! Is it Monday, and have I not yet done my daily post for November? Eek! Well, here's just one thing that kept me busy today: shipping soap for Christmas!

I made a batch of soap last week -- "Warm Cider" scented soap, "Christmas Tree" scented soap, plus lavender, sandalwood, and tea tree oil. I especially like how the Warm Cider turned out. That's a picture of it, above. The swirls are simply parts of the liquid soap that had more (or less) cocoa powder stirred in.

So I sat down with my cut soap and my scale, and started packaging.

My soap is about $1/ounce. It's a good deal for handmade scented soap. So many people tell me how gentle it is on their skin, and how skin irritations/itching/redness/dryness goes away when they stop using commercial soaps and begin using homemade soap.

Making soap is lots of fun. I love having a fine product to offer, I love having little gifts on hand when I need them, and I love never, ever having to buy a bar of soap -- ever! Yay!

People are shopping for Christmas. Have you started?

Our Politics in Perspective

My attitude toward politics has changed a lot since 1994. In 1994, the Republicans took back a huge portion of the U.S. government under their control, and all the Christians thought our nation was being saved.
We were wrong. Only God saves. And neither the Republican party nor the Democratic party, nor any political group or person, is God. Indeed, political fighting, rather than bringing any increased godliness, seems only to make things worse.

My reading from God's word these days reminded me of God's perspective on the great matters of state that so many Christians spend so much energy studying.

"Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,

And marked off the heavens by the span,

And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,

And weighed the mountains in a balance,

And the hills in a pair of scales?

Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, 

Or as His counselor has informed Him?

With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding?

And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge,

And informed Him of the way of understanding?

Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;

All the nations are as nothing before Him,

They are regarded by him as less than nothing

and meaningless."

"He it is who reduces rulers to nothing,

Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.

Scarcely have they been planted,

Scarcely have they been sown,

Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth

But He merely blows on them, and they wither

And the storm carries them away like stubble."

Isa. 40:12-17, 23-24

Since Christians already have a King, and a kingdom, and a citizenship in another country, why do we expend so much energy and allegiance on kings, nations, and citizenship that God has said are meaningless? Our only concern for our worldly leaders should be that they be like the real King, to be godly. And as Isaiah also says, when God sits in judgment as a king, the result is the salvation of the humble, the vindication of the poor.

I am saddened when I see Christian friends whose focus is so much on earthly matters that they are of little heavenly good. Let's keep our worldly politics in eternal perspective. 

A Perfect Autumn Day

If you live in a colder climate, our coastal North Carolina weather might be a puzzle to you. Our coldest winter day would seem only an autumn day to you. Thus, our autumn days, even in late November, often feel a bit like the end of summer. Today was such a day. It began with rain, just a little. This moistens the air.

Our air is generally moist. This dampness is humidity in the summer, but in the winter it lends the Deep South a certain warm, friendly quality that beckons you outside. Rather than winter feeling dead and cold, here winter feels alive and wet just beneath the soil's surface. With a jacket, all the outdoors are quite welcome in our winter.
I write this on Saturday. Today we vendors met early at the market and set up our tents. The holidays are coming, and we have two rows of vendors and lots of fun shopping for customers to enjoy. The thermometer reached 70º today!

One new lady makes little Christmas ornaments. It's fun to celebrate Christmas without freezing to death. As a child, I felt quite deprived, living every winter without snow, ice, sleet, and all its attending joys. But six years in Iowa filled all my pent up need for snow, and now I'm fine to live without it for the rest of my life.

And, in Oriental, you simply never know what will drive up in a truck next to you. This is what arrived today.

Yes, that's a water buffalo's head, shot in Zimbabwe by a local man. The taxidermist was delivering it to his office.

This has nothing to do with a perfect autumn day; it was too bizarre not to share, however.
Of course, it drew a crowd. Generally, I'm not happy to see dead animals on display, but others were quite impressed.

About 4:00 I realized I simply had to take a bike ride to the river on such a day. I asked Adam, "Is it colder outside?" And he said, "no" (silly man). Of course it was chillier! I wore a pair of Keds, no socks, a long-sleeved t-shirt, and a pair of stretchy dance pants. It was brisk, but very fun.

Earlier this afternoon a dozen or so sailboats took advantage of the day's perfection and met in the Neuse for some sort of race. You can spot a race because the boats cluster together around a marker.  One last sail leaned with the wind on its way home.

It's no wonder so many retirees here come from Connecticut, Long Island, Jersey, and Pittsburgh. None of them misses the shoveling. If you're looking for a place to come for blissful winter days (or even just very-late-fall days), Oriental is a fine choice! Come visit!

My Own Personal Chef

Dinner last night -- goodness, gracious me! I am such a spoiled wife!

On this plate: baked butternut squash in butter, brown sugar, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger; baked asparagus with sauce (mayo, mustard, vinegar, olive oil) and grated Parmesan; rice pilaf with carrots, cilantro, celery, onion, garlic, start anise, turmeric, cumin; baked sweet potato with butter; onion bread

Cilantro gave a brightness to this rice dish.

We usually include pineapple in the squash, but had none last night in the cupboard.  It was lovely anyway.

I'm the sweet potato lover in the family. I'm cutting way back on the butter; usually it's swimming.

The asparagus was a hit! This sauce, a Hollandaise variation, is like a cole slaw sauce without sugar -- very zippy and bright.
Thank you, Adam, my dear, for an excellent, filling vegetarian meal!