Happy Earth Day!
If this was all there was, the full magic of nature here on earth, I would still be amazed and over-the-moon grateful for the gift.
But it isn’t, it’s only the barest beginning, because we are lucky enough to share the planet with a million other miracles besides ourselves and daffodils.
Earth Day is my second favorite holiday after Valentine’s Day. (Not counting Christmas and Thanksgiving!) What makes more sense for us to celebrate than this blessed ground we walk on that gives us all we need to survive? ♥
The sky takes my breath away almost every day . . . when it’s clear, I feel like I can see depths to the ends of eternity.
The sound of the seagulls, the lapping of water at the shore turns my eyes to heaven and fills them with tears of gratitude, because I am truly, deeply, madly
Does this not just touch your heart? There is no other pink like this. This is why the word “delicate” had to be invented, for cherry blossoms. Did you know that Japan gave America 3,000 cherry trees and they are all planted together in Washington, DC? They are, click HERE to see them. Did I hear someone say, “road trip?”
Which is what we took yesterday, a mini road trip when Joe came to me, smooshed into the couch, smothered in blankets and kitty fur and said, “Don’t you think you need an airing?” (I love it that he calls it an airing.) It’s been a long time since I’ve been out of the house, still getting better from this cold, but I couldn’t quite get up fast enough, get my jacket and scarf and camera and run to the door panting with joy while he got into his hat and coat. We stopped for coffee at the Scottish Bakehouse, we looked at fruit trees in bloom at Vineyard Gardens nursery and then we went to Squibnocket Beach, where we sat for a while to watch the seagulls and the waves.
We drove under the leafless trees, past the greening meadows along roadsides clustered with bunches of daffodils, puttering along, enjoying the way the curving land brought us close to small harbors, little boats, and water views, heading up-island to Menemsha, a tiny fishing village you might recognize if you saw the movie Jaws.
This is it . . . a sleepy little fishing village.
We wandered around, walked out to the end of the pier, watched boats come and go, checked out the deserted beach, taking pictures of little things … like this boat full of lobster traps.
And this fishing-shack window where someone keeps his lures. (Lots of reflections in the window.)
And this pile of scallop shells outside another old shack with the Menemsha fishing fleet in the background.
Thoughts of lobster and scallops made us hungry. We stopped in the miniature half-block-long village to choose something for dinner at the fish market (the one that used to be Poole’s, for you island regulars), the freshest fish in the world I would guess, since the boats pull right up at the pier outside that back door.
Here’s their menu … you can buy the fish raw, take it home and cook it yourself, or they will cook it for you. The reason they call their lobster dinners the “Sunset Special” ….
… is because of this. Menemsha Fish Markets are popular in the summer because they’re within walking distance of the beach where you can take your steamed lobsters and clams, raw oysters and cold slaw (bring your own salad, strawberries and wine) and have dinner on the beach, watch the kids skip rocks into the water, swim to remove lobster juices, and watch one of the prettiest sunsets anywhere.
It’s a regular summer pastime here, this gift from God. For my dad’s 65th birthday, we came here for sunset, brought a table and chairs, and had a feast.
A little too chilly for us on the beach last night so we brought our lobsters home and ate them here. I’m sure you all are beginning to think that the only things I eat are lobsters and Chicken Soup! It isn’t true (which is too bad), but those are two of my favorites which I could eat every day. Especially because, since the minute I got sick, I vowed to take advantage of the fact and change the way I was eating. I mean, if you’re going to be sick, you might as well get something out of it! Like the chance of setting a new routine and saying goodbye to a couple of pounds. (Not from starvation, don’t you ever worry that would happen with me! 
but just from not drinking half and half anymore.) I only want healthy things now, no more cream in my tea (for now), no more wine (the easy part); I cut out most of the cookies (only one for afternoon tea, a delicious gluten-free ginger cookie we buy at the store called “Mi-Dell” with 24 calories each — I really look 
forward to that, in case you can’t tell :-)); ice cream Drumsticks, another afternoon “snack” I love, are out, and I guess I don’t even have to tell you about french fries, garlic bread, and potato pancakes. I doubled my blueberry and pink grapefruit intake and halved the size of my dinner plate. I’m not going to say what I weigh, but I will tell you that I gained TEN POUNDS during the writing of our book over the winter. Oh yeah. Did you do that too? Joe came close! So, for example, at breakfast this morning I had three eggs, but only one yolk (watching calories) with minced green onions on top. And you know what, YUM! I loved it, and it was enough. The lobster last night was with lemon juice (from the California trees that the girls sent me 
for my birthday) and steamed broccoli. It was delicious and healthy, the kind of food that (as the old commercial used to go) “makes strong bones twelve ways”. I removed all the animal fat from the stock in the Chicken soup so it’s pure vegetables and protein that just happens to taste like heaven. I’m going to keep food really simple for now, and combine it with a springtime emphasis on fresh air, movement, and exercise to shrink my appetite a bit, reduce calorie intake and inspire more sleeping time, because I am not going on the road with these pounds on me. No girls, I need to wear the cute clothes in order to be happy. Some pounds yes, these pounds NO. And I’m feeling better every day. So excited to get to the garden, to walk our walk, to go pick up the mail on foot and watch the roses bloom on picket fences, to enjoy the greatest gift of all, nature, and it’s all starting to happen now. Pretty soon we’ll have fresh healthy homegrown vegetables, herbs, and strawberries, crisp and juicy from the garden and wild blueberries from the woods. Ahhhh, girlfriends, here come the glory days. Happy, Happy Earth Day to you all! xoxo
This is one of those times that being your own chaperone, feeding yourself from the well of sweetness is the only way to have a little bit of control of this wild and crazy world we live in. It’s been a hard time. The TV, which takes up a much larger 
percentage of space in our house than Boylston Street takes of the globe, is bringing us terrifying news that makes us feel like the whole world is on fire. I try for perspective, and it’s not easy with all this coverage and announcers making it much worse by using every ultimate word they can find. Is what happened to those innocent people in Boston worse than the 30,000 deaths by gun violence that take place in this country every year? I’m coming to the conclusion that as long as there are weapons and madmen we are going to have to learn to live with this. Despite the incredibly heroic efforts by law enforcement and first responders (our knights in shining armor), or the uncountable numbers of kindnesses between strangers (people can be so heart-touchingly wonderful), what makes the biggest buzz in my ear is the bad news and the hopelessness it seems to sell. But what is different really? This is going to go on. For me it’s sad because it thwarts the child-thinking fairytale world so many of us were raised to believe in, the world we wished to give our children. As the down-to-earth and brilliant Mark Twain said . . .
There are wide open spaces and people doing the good things they do everyday, kissing each other good morning, saying good bye, off to work . . . If you are a lucky stay-at-home-mom, turn up the music, get the broom, dance when you sweep and then hang the clothes on the line . . . If you’re at work, find a park bench or take a magazine to lunch, and look at the sky the sky the sky . . .
Yes, everything out there is truly tickety-boo . . . big red barns, rolling fields ready to be planted, and look at that beautiful sky . . .
Nothing’s happening on the island either — in Menemsha, flags are catching the morning light as they flutter from fishing boats in the chilly springtime ocean breeze.
All is quiet on the highways and byways of America, the snow melting, gathering strength in droplets, turning into streams and rivers, sparkling along the roadside in puddles and rivulets . . .
The breeze is still coming up from the Pacific, blowing the grass on the California Coast, near Morro Bay. A few more miles, you can have tea in Cambria, visit garden centers, and there are lots of antique stores to wander in….
Yes, life goes on . . . And here at home, birds are singing, Cardinals are pecking at the seed we threw on the driveway, Jack is drinking out of the kitchen faucet, I’m getting well, enough to walk out back yesterday to see the forsythia blooming . . .
