A Quiet Holiday on the Shore

Like anyone else who works in retail, this time of year can be stressful for me. Added to the usual worries about the Christmas season is this year's economic pile up on a fog bound freeway. I found myself wondering if I have ordered too many Christmas trees. Owing to the fact that this year is a shorter selling season, I got the trees in the week before Thanksgiving. It is quite a laborious process we go through to get them unloaded, cut, put in water filled stands, graded, priced, tagged and treated with an anti-desiccant. So usually I can only get away for the day at Thanksgiving and have to come right home and go back to work. However, since they came in early we were able to get everything done before the holiday. So I took a long weekend at my parent's home on Virginia's beautiful Eastern Shore. Knowing that the greatest effort was behind me and all we now had to do was sell them enabled me to relax, and fortunatley they are selling well.

As is typical for this time of year, my parents yard had few if any blooms, but berries and fruit were abundant.

Ubiquitous Nandina (Nandina domestica)
One of my favorite natives, Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana)
One of my least favorite natives, American Holly (Ilex opaca)
A long ago Christmas present, Blue Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica 'Glauca')
Issai Purple Beauty Berry (Calicarpa dichotoma 'Issai') or a mockingbird buffet
Wild unknown roses by the pond

The day after Thanksgiving, this is what the sunrise looked like coming up over the Atlantic through Hackberry Trees and Eastern Red Cedars.

BTW, I hate the term "Black Friday" it reminds me of the 1929 stock market crash and then I get the Steely Dan song stuck in my head. Instead of fighting the crowds, we chose to take the Open Studio and Vineyard Tour. Sponsored by the Eastern Shore Artisan's Guild, this was a completely civilized way to spend the day visiting wineries and artist's studios. It was especially nice that my wife drove, her car sipping $1.75 gas, extended family in the car, mid-morning wine buzz, beautiful scenerey. The shots below are from one of the artist's backyard.

Weekends like this make my long to move.

Rest In Peace Big Mama

Sad news has come from the swamps along the Nottaway River. Big Mama, Virginia's largest tree has died. She was a proud Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) all of 123' tall with a trunk 35' in circumference. She died in her home, a 40 acre patch of virgin wilderness near the North Carolina border. While proper southern ladies never divulge their exact age, it was estimated that she was over 1000 years old, and some estimates even put her at close to 2000 years old. Though her age and size were impressive, I find the fact that there are still 40 acres of virgin wilderness left anywhere in this state, or even on the east coast more impressive. Left to mourn her departure are hopefully thousands of offspring and more than a few tree huggers. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to any effort that preserves wilderness.


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