Sunday, January 29, 2012

Sleeping House / Writing House

It's a breathtaking mile through bedroom of deer, playground of chickadee—past bored trunk of woodpecker, occasional glimpse of marsh—under sky of hawk, silhouette of palm—beneath hang of Spanish moss, canopy of pine and oak—to deck of "cool-dude" bluejay.
Bedroom of white-tailed deer


Playground of Carolina chickadee
Trunk of downy woodpecker

Glimpse of marsh
Sky of red-tailed hawk











Silhouette of Palm
Hang of Spanish moss
Here a moss, there a moss, everywhere a moss moss

Oak canopy
Deck of bluejay














































































 


















































 It's my daily walk on Fripp Island from the sleeping house to the writing house, and it reminds me how lucky I am to have such good and generous friends. Sheila and Barbara and I are sharing a house on the island for the month of January—Sheila to work on photography, watercolor, and the spiritual art of being, maybe even a bit of poetry (SHE should be a blogger—you should see her stuff—but she'll not be talked into it)—I to coax the 9th draft out of the 8th—and Barbara to read and cook, yes, cook.  I'm not talking the kind of cooking I do.  I'm talking the ART of cooking—the spiritual pleasure of food and wine.
One foggy morning
Morning path
Chef Extraordinaire Barbara
The Spirit of Sheila

As if that's not enough, I am the daytime guest in the vacation home of my good walking yaya, Peggy, whom you've met before. Peggy and her husband Bill are salt of the earth kind of people, the kind who make the world a better place to be. Peggy and I have walked together since before our babies were born. It's the sort of friendship that enriches life in ways you don't see coming until you discover you have a history of 30-plus years of sharing each other's good and bad times. Then. Then you know.


And when the sun goes down beyond the marsh, I walk again that deep-breathing mile, through the dusk and deer who have come out to feed, away from the blaze of sunset, back to the reading and eating and sleeping house, there to discover what fine food and wine we will share at the table. Last night it was poached flounder, arugula and radish salad, and this wine.

I may have said it before. Those Kiwis know how to ferment a grape. dkm

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, Deb, this is beautiful. I eagerly awaited the photos. And they are gorgeous. Made me all emotional for goodness sake! hehe. It looks so romantic. I love the moss and bark and especially the seat looking out over the marsh.

We haven't seen that wine before. Will have to give it a try :)

Jane Robertson said...

Me too (dittoing Niki's comments) - both the setting and the wine. The month sounds idyllic. I love the separation of eating, reading, sleeping and writing with a special walk between.

The wine is new to me to. We have access to lots of Marlborough wines in ChCh so will have to look out for it.

Enjoy it all!!

Unknown said...

Awesome to have such good friends.
And the places are simply double awesome, wow!

Peggy said...

I can comment again...Yea!!!...You are a great walking buddy, yaya, and true friend and I'm glad you enjoyed our "writing" house. Your photos are gorgeous and make me want to be there!!

dkm said...

Yay! Welcome! Me too. I wanna go back soon.