Achieving Balance

Here it is - barely the middle of July and I have already seen the first “Back to School” email slither into my spambox.This of course sends someone like me into sober reflections of time’s inevitable march forward and how do I go about making these monster mortgage payments without the wall-to-wall bookings that I have enjoyed all summer long?

The good news is that fall bookings are trickling in and I am already getting inquiries about next summer, so it appears that rentals and the associated deposit checks won’t come to a screeching halt after all. But clearly there will be nights - maybe even many nights - when the inn will be guestless. This isn’t all bad: the Saturn street Strummers like using the space for rehearsals and I love reading the paper and watching birds & butterflies from the back deck. And even cheap wine tastes better when sipped at dusk on the sunset deck - just me and Peach soaking it all in.

All the new 4-plexes springing up in my neighborhood are pretty nice I guess but I wouldn’t trade the Sandbox for all of them together because of one thing -- they don'€™t have yards! I really like being part of "€œThe Landed Gentry"€ here on SPI and as old places are torn down and rebuilt, yards like mine are going to get fewer and further between. And that is bad news for the birds and the butterflies.
Anyway. Our favorite landscaping genius - Matt Fockler - is back on the island for a limited engagement and my yard has captured his interest - lucky me! I kept my list of desired uses for this space short and sweet: art and music. I want my yard to be a great place for uke-playing and other jam sessions; house/yard concerts; sandsculpture instruction; reading/contemplation & spirited conversation, rock-stacking, sand-casting and other crafty pursuits. And someday? some sort of tree-house - outfitted with a comfy daybed and accessible from the back deck via boardwalk....
Well thatâ€'s all Matt needed to fire him up and over the past couple of weeks I have seen an amazing transformation back there -- check out this photo of the conversation/firepit that is emerging as if by magic -- and I am really excited to see what other tricks the master has up his sleeve.

Amazin' Walter is willing to give rock-balancing workshops and I hope to be his first student -- but first I need some rocks -- they don’t grow naturally here. So if you want to make a big smile cross my face next time you pay me a visit, bring me a rock! Any size, any shape. I will be ever so grateful...