PEACHFRONT SPEAKS

the kenya cloth under the rosemary vase says, in swahili, "today is today"

2009-11-25 - 10:56 a.m.

photos © 2009 by elaine radford

Peachfront's Note: Check out my October 2009 Bolivia "Bird of Prey" trek: To start with Part 1, please click right here. If you missed any previous installments, well, here's Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and the thrilling conclusion, Part 6. Or check out my bird trip list with over 50 new life species.

A beautiful day but I must spend it cooking and cleaning -- although I'll step out from time to time, as I just did, to pluck garlic chives and rosemary from the garden. Yesterday when I stepped out on a similar mission, the yard was decorated with a large flock of Northern Cardinals, like the flocks you see hiding in the swamps sometime in the winter. They don't feel the same need to go two by two that seizes them when they're nesting. What lovely ornaments the scarlet males made in the trees.

I spent hours cleaning the front dining room yesterday as I waited for the UPS guy. From that room, I couldn't miss seeing him. I think he was a bit startled that he'd barely descended from his truck before I was running out to meet him. Anyway, as I was finding, dusting, re-arranging so many decorative objects, I would also find memories -- the days when we used to haunt the garage sales, a flea market in rural Pennsylvania, a charity sale in rural Maine, an award Roger won in the glory days, all the marvelous shells from the time a storm prevented the evil beach cleaner machines from cleaning the beach at Atlantic City. The time I said I wanted a stuffed crab, and the pit boss laughed and said I was in the wrong place -- they didn't have an Emeril's or any decent restaurant in those days -- and then I said "plush" crab and he laughed and fetched me a stuffed toy from the gift shop. Silly stuff. Memories that would never come again if you lost everything in the flood. Which is why, even though everyone is brave and says, "well, you can always replace things," it still marks people who have lost everything. Because you can't really. The new things won't have the old memories. Those are gone forever...

Every year without another storm is a Thanksgiving for us.

I found a cloth too beautiful to use that I bought in Kenya and decided, what the hell, I will use it for our tablecloth this year. I found a mosaic vase from back in those pre-Bill days when I made mosaics, and I cut a lot of fresh rosemary and added some kind of burnt red-orange weed, and then tied a bit of gold ribbon leftover from some casino gift. Now the dining room smells like rosemary.

later

So cute. As I was getting the mail, a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet landed in the red-leafed tallow tree near the mailbox and looked me in the eye.

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