Living The Solitude Life
Greetings from the island everyone. I hope all of you are doing well and had a wonderful day with mom on Mothers Day, whether in person or visiting with her in heaven.
I braved the weekend mainland chaos and ventured in to attend church with mom and the family, and then out to lunch at Baytown Seafood. The food is pretty dang good there. And a big Thank You to Rex and Mittie for treating everyone.
People often ask me if I get lonely living alone on this barrier island. I honestly rarely get lonely out here. I tell them there is a huge difference in being alone and being lonely. There have been a few instances during past harsh winters, when I was only able to venture outside for a few minutes each day, that I felt a little lonely. But as with most all negative things, those feelings passed, and the sun began shining brighter. And I’m of the opinion that the bright sun, short of overdoing it, is a most wonderful thing to bask in and enjoy.
I’ve made sure the past few years to stock up on books to read throughout those winter times that I was stuck inside. Thank you to those that have provided me recommendations on books that I might like to read. I have honed my writing skills over the years, primarily from the benefit of reading books. Books are good!
When I first stepped foot on this island over 16 years ago, searching for a spot to build, my intentions were to eventually seclude myself from most everyone. Having worked in police work for many years, let’s be honest, you don’t deal with the cream of the crop in regards to people. But after living out here full time for over 10 years now, my outlook has somewhat changed. True, I still prefer my solitude and occasional hermit ways, but I have also discovered that there are many good and decent people that I have had the privilege to meet and now call my friends. I’ve had to take baby steps in looking beyond my past dealings with people, to realize the goodness of others. Admittedly, I have a ways to go, but I’m getting there. Thank you to those good friends that have made a difference. Okay, enough of that!
My 20 tomato plants are doing fair, but I can recognize that there is still an issue with the contaminated horses manure that I unknowingly mixed into my soil last year. I had read that it takes several years for the weed killer tainted manure to dissipate completely, and I’m finding that to be true. A word to the wise. . DO NOT use horse manure in your garden, especially with tomato plants!
On the positive side, the watermelon and cantaloupe and pepper plants are doing just fine. The planting beds for these did not have horse manure added to them last year, thank goodness. I’ve got four varieties each of watermelon and cantaloupes, and hoping for a good crop this summer. Not much better than a sweet cold watermelon on a hot sultry summer day.
The hummers and assorted migrating colorful birds have been abundant on the island this Spring. I love sitting and watching the beautiful Baltimore Orioles as they try to get the sweet sugar water out of the hummer feeders. I researched and found that they love oranges, so next year I will have a feeding area ready for them with pieces of oranges. One of God’s beautiful nature creations, gotta love that.
Well that’s it from the island for now, everyone take care and have a most wonderful day.
