July 2023 Island Trip – Day 5

This Farmer/Rockstar life is interfering with my downtime 😂! I got home late last night, to bed after midnight, and up again this morning at 7:45, and then launched into the day. Yeah, not all that bad a night, but it’s the energy output surrounding the sleep (singing used to keep me in shape!) that’s taking some getting used to.

This morning’s finish: The plum tree is now protected by a temporary electric fence that runs on a solar powered battery energizer. After making all the connections this morning, I turned on the energizer and shielded it from the sun in order to see if it’s indicator light was on. While doing so, my palm brushed against the lead that goes out to the fence. Bzzzzz. Take that raccoons!! I am also watering this tree… with a rolling dump cart at my AN suggestion. I figure it’s getting 15-gallons with each slow watering. This is all I can do… Ima praying for a crop.

I happily put my tools away, upgraded my clothes to jeans and a nice shirt (and stepped up my game by wearing earrings!), gathered foodie things to take to Rusty’s, paused to load my tenant’s camp chairs (that they graciously offered me for this evening’s gathering), and headed back to Rusty’s.

The Pros: We hung out, shot the shit, had a great lunch, played music for and hour and a half, yelled at today’s drummer (the guitarist’s keyboard 😂), and actually sounded passable on a few song (zero self-rehearsal for any of us, ‘cause zero planning). The Struggles: Oh wait, no planning 😏. We spent 4 hours there and finished up 3.5 hours before our gathering at the beach for our fallen band member. I had hoped to spend more time on music. 🎶

I headed back to town and:

• Visited the county museum for the first time. There where three exhibits. Two were artists who paint. Both were lovely and gave me pause for different reasons. The first being their medium (egg tempura) and the translucent quality of the work. The second artist did large works in oils and the colors were like the best moment of light you’ve ever witnessed grace a house, or garden, or landscape. Vivid and ethereal. The third work was a large and thought provoking installation regarding climate change. It’s too complicated to convey in a few sentences, and it was well executed and important.
• After the museum, somehow, Margaret Atwood’s latest book leapt into my hand at the bookstore 🤷🏼‍♀️. I took a 30-minute walk about town, paused at the grocery to pick up a few things for the gathering, and then headed to a barely known gem of a restaurant (unadvertised, seats 35) for a glass of wine. I took Margaret with me.

The gathering at the beach was really, really good. They say that folks get together for funerals and weddings. While this wasn’t a funeral, it served the same purpose for a select group of our friend’s friends. I kicked the gathering off via Facebook, and others grabbed and ran with it. Our friend’s son and daughter in law came to the Island for the gathering and to play music with us tomorrow. They were enveloped in love and support by a crew of people who loved their dad, most of whom they’d never met. 💕