Let me put that in perspective:
1. I've been living on this island three years longer than Amazon.com has existed.
2. I have lived here 44% of my ENTIRE life. Not my adult life, but my entire life.
If you distill that down to the other yardstick mentioned & only count years after I reached the age of majority...
3. I have lived here TWO-THIRDS of my adult life (which is not to say I've behaved as an adult all that time--just been classified as one).
Sure, there are some latent 'tells' after inhabiting an island for that long:
I'm over the discomfort initially felt when live , extremely free-range chickens (aka 'yard fowl') roam around at our outdoor restaurants that are serving, you guessed it, chicken.
I expect & am fully prepared for the veritable parade of funny-looking animals that will cross my path every day. From ridiculously short mutts with satellite dish-sized ears to goats, piglets, iguanas, mongoose--even my dear Mu,tracing her lineage to proud wombat/taz devil/border collie stock. To my vehicle, all these & more have, as we term it, the 'right away.' Instead of the traditional 'I brake for...' bumper sticker listing the myriad things I do brake for, it would be much faster to list the 1/4 mile of relatively uninhabited road where I CAN in fact accelerate.
Also, I talk to produce. It would be more accurate to say that I upbraid produce, specifically red cabbage & portobello mushrooms, in full view of the public, at the supermarket. Like so many sage older local women before me with their permanent-brow scowls, I implore the battered redhead of cabbage to detail what travel experience, what travail & angst-ridden journey could possibly have brought it to me in such a piteous condition. And to the blueberries I'm compelled to inquire 'what makes you believe it is already sweater weather (as they are sporting fluffy white mold coats)?'
But then I go home & speak lovingly to what came directly from my yard, 
& I look at Mu's clown pants, 
at the pile of Seaglass on my desk, waiting to be whatever I make of it. 
Happy 23rd, dear little oddball island! And here's to 23 more!!
Happy first anniversary !
ReplyDeleteSo should a paper clock be an adequate gift? Just asking!
Eh.. Happy anniversary !
ReplyDeleteTraditional gift is paper. Modern is clocks. Sooooo would a paper clock be a nice gift? Just asking.
23rd can actually be cigar humidor or jewelry box, both of which I have to excess, & several of one I've made into the other, so you needn't give anything to the girl who has it 'all!' ;)
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