Apple Blossoms, Lilacs and Salty Air

Noon Sun at Low Tide by Kenneth Shopen, etching

The morning walks have been full of spring smells in recent weeks - from the fragrant apple blossoms that seem to be everywhere to sweet lilacs and salty, foggy air. The pace at the day job has reached its usual end-of-the-year frenzy and so my morning walks are recently more like zombie stomps, but maybe it's because I am moving a little more slowly in the morning (and the evening, too!) that I am smelling so much, so deeply. The light has been beautiful these past few mornings, coming across the water and hitting the east side of the little fish houses in Turbat's Creek. I think of my friend Carolyn often in the early mornings when I look across the inlet to the Blue Buoy and feel her presence at the creek; it's been 18 months since she passed, and the void she's left in the neighborhood is palpable. She is missed by many; it's a comfort to stand at the head of the Creek and look out to sea and sense her everywhere.

watercolor by carol jessen

The sheep are all doing well and keeping the field trimmed nicely. I am starting to actively look for new homes for some of the girls since wintering over ten was too much last year; plus, the field cannot really support that many mouths for too much longer. Finding myself feeding hay and grain still due to the numbers, and so I'm hoping that my idea of selling to vineyards and orchards will take off.
In the meantime, I'm enjoying watching my flock of fourteen move together and enjoy the good life they have at the little Salty Ewe Farmette.