November Hill farm journal, 9

We do not fuss too much over the property, for any good house is as much a living and growing thing as a tomato plant or a calf, and a stability of perfection is neither wise to seek nor possible to find.

-Henry Beston, Northern Farm

I returned on the summer solstice to find that many things I had tended to before leaving were needing tending again, and new things were waiting too. 

The honeysuckle and wild muscadine vines are climbing into the front porch and winding their way through the porch screens so will need to be cut back.

The flower beds which my husband weeded down for me have grown back to foot-high and thus will need weeding again before I can proceed with my efforts to restore them to real beds.

My materials for the wattle fence are still waiting in the long and narrow meadow and now nearly covered over with wildflowers and grass.

But my husband has kept the pastures mowed and dragged, and the fence line looks tidy too.

The vegetable garden went completely crazy while I was gone. Cucumbers, yellow crookneck, acorn, and zucchini squashes abound. The butternuts succumbed to squash bugs before maturing fully. The rainbow chard is still growing and lovely, but most of the lettuce has bolted. There are radishes, red onions, garlic, and tomatoes. The melons are bearing fruit as are the blueberries.

The day I came home my husband picked nearly 60 pounds of produce and took it to his office to share. We have eaten heartily since Monday night and have a full produce drawer in the fridge plus more on the island.

What a wonderful homecoming gift.

The sunflowers are all up and nearing bloom. The herbs are growing well too. There are a few mystery volunteers.

Having spent 12 days viewing mostly desert and finding it lovely in its own way, the biggest gift of all has been returning to this verdant, lush landscape we live in. I'm not happy with our governor or the legislature, our forests and rivers and ocean shores need protection, and development is a constant thorn in my side. But time away has renewed my appreciation for North Carolina as well as my energy to work hard to keep it as beautiful as it is. 

And that begins with November Hill. 

Flying east

I got up at 4:30 this morning and drove from Pasadena to the Burbank airport, using Google Maps on my phone, avoiding highways, and had the most leisurely, interesting drive through the neighborhoods of Pasadena, Glendale, and then into Burbank.

The sun rose behind me as the full summer solstice moon (called a strawberry moon) began to descend ahead, looking white and then golden as it nestled into the tops of the mountains.

Just as I crested a mountain on a tiny residential street I noticed a black cat trotting down the sidewalk to my left. I had the thought this cat had been out all night and was heading home for breakfast.

My speed limit was slow, usually 35 mph, and there were stop signs and lights along the way, but I enjoyed the hour-long drive and the pleasure of being pretty much the only person on the streets.

Burbank's airport is small and quaint compared to the large ones, and I appreciate that about it. It's easy to navigate and even the TSA line was cheerful. I was cleared to go through without removing my shoes or getting a scan, but the forgotten unopened water bottle slowed me down a little. But a fellow traveler got trays for my things and didn't get grumpy when I held the line up to say they could take the water bottle.

I had plenty of time to get coffee and a blueberry scone and to sit and enjoy them before boarding. My favorite thing about Burbank's airport is that they still use open-air ramps so I walked out onto the tarmac and boarded the plane in the full morning sunshine.

The contour of the earth out here is fascinating to me. I have a window seat and am enjoying seeing the mountains and the desert and solar farms from above. Even the freeways seem inconsequential up here in the sky. Right now we're above the clouds and all I see is a vast white plateau with blue skies above.

I'll change planes in Denver and then I'll be on the way to RDU and then November Hill. Home! 

There's a long fine thread with a little piece of my heart back in UCLA but as we moms know that thread is strong and holds up across distance, time, and everything else.

Next blog post from November Hill! It's been a wonderful trip and it's going to be good to get home again.

Last night in Pasadena

Today I dropped my son at his summer research gig at UCLA. It was hard! I'll be all the way across the country from him and although he is independent and very mature I feel like a piece of me is going to be sitting here in California on a very long thread.

It was a crazy hot day here. The iPad in our hotel room looked like this when I got home from UCLA:

I am intrigued with all those 1's but not with regards to the temperature!

Once back at the hotel I felt what Virginia Woolf called being able to see to the bottom of the vessel. There is an emptiness about leaving a child somewhere, even when it's a good and wonderful thing he's doing. The room felt sad without him. I retreated down to the hotel bar for a burger and a gin/tonic.

Sitting here I kept thinking about how it feels to fly back home and leave him here. I glanced out and saw this:

A big sunbeam. Okay. That made me feel better.

It's been an honor and a privilege to share this time with him. And now I have a night to myself before flying home to November Hill and my amazing daughter, the menagerie, and a husband who has taken care of everything while I've been gone.

Life is good. November Hill, I'll see you tomorrow!

More Caltech and meetings with friends

A little more time at Caltech today and lunch and dinner with friends. Best way to wind down this trip!

Love this outside the elevators in the physics building:

And love the walkway underneath laden citrus trees between physics buildings:

The skies are so much clearer today and it feels more like the Southern California I remember. 

Butterfly Beach, Santa Barbara yesterday and Caltech today

I'll write more about the beach later but this was a nice shot from our time there yesterday evening in Santa Barbara.

Today we drove to Caltech in Pasadena. The campus looked deceptively plain on the edges but once you walk into the campus proper it gets very magestic and yet friendly and navigable. Definitely in my top three campuses with Berkeley and UC-Santa Cruz.

My big excitement of the day was getting to meet Sean Carroll after my son's meeting with him. I've been reading his books about physics for the past couple of years and just started his newest, The Big Picture, which I'm loving. He's a terrific writer and a nice person. 

Meanwhile, the heat is rising in this part of the state. It's 93 today, 97 tomorrow, 101 on Sunday, and a whopping 105 on Monday, which will make it very easy to get up at 5 a.m. and head to the airport to fly home to November Hill. (Husband tells me it will be 95 there by Tuesday, but the air will be clean and I will have horses to hose!!) Temps are a bit milder in LA where son will be so hopefully he will start his summer research with ease.