Folks are out and about early on this Sunday morning...biking, walking dogs,
peering into the cemetery, shopping. This is my fourth week to be here. I am
beginning to feel a belonging. As I gaze out my window I know folks walking
by..Debbie, who is a local artist with a provocative bedroom of scarlet reds
and beads and fountains...Sundae the wife or the sailboat captain, Rob, mother
of two children, and a writer herself. She planted her own placenta after the
birth of her daughter in her backyard while her son sang, On the Banks of the
Ohio....there are tourists that I have met in the shop, packing up on this
morning, leaving town, driving slowly as they are not ready to go return to the
world of alarm clocks, cell phones and bypasses.

Working in the shop is getting easier, and I am beginning to like it. It is
nice to be able to answer questions a little bit now, know about a few of the
artists (some I have met) and to feel more comfortable handling someone else's
money!! Chatting with the customers comes easily, and I like hearing where
they are from..mostly from the East Coast...but I have met lots from Ohio and a
few from California and Nebraska this past week.
The crafts in the shop are all American hand made...lots from North Carolina
and a few from Ocracoke...from watercolor paintings to pottery to jewelry to
wood carvings to photography...too many to mention, but all lovely to hold and
wrap and send home with folks.

It was another busy week with the ghost tour (two this week) the Opry on
Wednesday, dinner and storytelling plans on Friday. We went off island on Monday
for a check up with the new eye Dr. in Elizabeth City. I liked him very
much...there will be some small repair work to be done in the coming months, but
the prognosis is good, and he guarantees me of good vision...with continued
check ups. We spent 13 hours off island for the ten minute appointment..the
drive, the ferry, another two hour drive. So we did other errands along the way
and back...fresh vegetables and peaches at the fruit stand, a pharmacy run, a
few new pairs of shorts, a visit to the watchmaker for Philip's antique pocket
watch..picked up an air conditioner for a friend. It was the Solstice so we
spend the early twilight hours swimming at the beach.

Today is a lazy Sunday...catching up on emails, reading in the hammock, lunch
with his daughter, Amy and her husband, David at a new restaurant...then a
leisure afternoon at the beach before the evening at the local pub with my
favorite singer, Martin. Maybe he will play our song tonight, he usually does on
Sunday evening.

I have ordered some flowers and herbs and will be planting a wee bit of a
garden tomorrow. Philip and I are both keeping up our blog sites....you might
enjoy checking them out each day..
Philip's is: http://villagecraftsmen.blogspot.com
and mine: http://auntieannsattic.blogspot.com

Let me know if you enjoy them!!

There are a few new readers this week, welcome to Sunday Passage.
Family news: Aaron is back in Indiana for the summer working landscaping and
living in the farmhouse. Mom and Dad are scheduled to leave Texas and move
into the house at White Picket Gardens for the remainder of the summer. Uncle
Dean and family are once again in St. Regis...Jack continues to garden, Brandy
and family are getting settled into their new house.

With the passing of the Solstice, I am reminded of a poem that I used to sing
with the boys at the farm...we would send candles across the pond and call
for the fairies to join us and bring us good luck for the year. This event was
always held at midnight and we were sometimes joined by other folks just
wanting to participate. The boys knew that there was no excuse for them to not be
there on fairy night...so here is to darkness and light...for candles on
water...to ritual...to change.

Ring, ring in a fairy ring,
Fairies dance and fairies sing.
Round, round on the soft green ground-
Never a sound--never a sound.
Sway, sway as the grasses sway
Down by the lough at the dawn of the day;
Circle about as we leap and spring
Fairy men in a fairy ring.
Light on your toe, light on your heel,
One by one in a merry, merry reel;
Fingers touching fingers so--
Round and round and round we go!

Love to all, Lou Ann

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