Covid Journal, Day 123: Broccoli, African Drum and a Road Trip

77 this morning at 7:30 am, already hot. Still no rain in sight.

Garden news--
This is broccoli seedlings. They germinated well. I plan to have them ready for planting by mid-August, and then we'll see how they do. This is a new experiment for us. Today felt like the hottest day so far, and even now at 10:00 pm it is still above 80. We watered in the morning and evening. Just trying to keep things alive. The gardens still look okay; I've lost a few flower plants but the vegetable gardens look good. I hope it will be cooler by the time these seedlings are ready for the garden.

Today we took a road trip to central West Virginia to deliver my African drum to its new owner. I have loved owning it, but it was time to let it go. This is from the Yoruba culture of Nigeria, West Africa. I bought it several years ago from a lady whose parents were missionaries in 1950-1960. I had thought to use it in storytelling, but decided her "attributes" would be distracting to young audiences. So I planned to sell it, but never got around to it. Now I am happy to know it's in a good home.



We had not been this far from home since January, I think, and it was a nice break. My friend who bought the drum has the most amazing, almost tropical garden behind his house, the product of years of careful planning and planting. We visited a bit on their back porch and enjoyed watching the coi in the pond, a little waterfall, deer coming in close to visit, squirrels, and birds. What a delight. My friend gave me some beautiful glass that I'll share photos of in a later post.

I'd packed a lunch so we could stop at Cedar Creek State Park for a picnic. We've never actually spent any time in this park although I've told stories there in the past. Today we checked out the restored one-room schoolhouse, drove through the large camping area, and then found a nice, shady picnic table by a little creek for our lunch. It was cool and comfortable despite the 90 degrees+ registering on the car's thermometer.

Look at the size of that dictionary! I had one like for for a long time, finally gave it away last year.

A monument lists all the one-room schools that used to be in this county, and the names of all the teachers.

The campground office is an old log cabin that's been painted gray.

The campground was crowded! I bet this is the best summer the West Virginia parks have had in a while. People are needing to get out,  and this is the perfect way. Although it doesn't look it in the photo, they're actually spread out quite well so social distance isn't an issue. The pool was open though, and I wondered how they dealt with the issue there.

Our peaceful little spot for lunch.

And our voyeur--can you see her? We could not make out what we were seeing at first, because she kept moving her head--looked like a chicken bobbing! My camera actually captured a better image than what I was seeing as there was quite a glare from the sun.

There! Now you can see her--a fawn who still had her stripes. Well could have been a male too, there was no way to be sure.

It was just an all-round good day. A nice break.

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