When you run a Bed and Breakfast, carving out time for your personal R&R can be a challenge.  But again this year I have made my escape!  I am in Islamorada on holiday with friends Joy and Patrick .

We’re staying at the paradise home of our friends George and Louise, who have headed to Alberta in search of ducks and geese.

In my younger days I spent much of my time on a sail boat in the tropics, mainly the Caribbean. In these latitudes every day is special and the best part of the day is the sunset.

Folks stop whatever they are doing and make a toast to the sunset. We gathered at various tiki bars, boats and docks and wagered as to exactly when that great orange orb would sink below the horizon.

One skipper reckoned that each finger held at length in front of your eyes was fifteen minutes. I never won that bet, so I often paid for the drinks.

But every day I stopped and settled in to look for that Green Flash. Those who have seen it say it happens just as the sun slips into the horizon, and for a brief second a flash of green appears.

I chased the Green Flash as far south as Martinique and Guadeloupe and back up to Green Turtle Cay. I never saw it. I did dance in a rainbow. And here I am again in the Keys looking for that same Green Flash. I know it is real. (For all those who don’t know, "Cay" is pronounced "Key" in the islands.)

Other folks are looking too. Jimmy Buffett must believe it; he writes about the Green Flash in his adaptation of Don’t Stop the Carnival:

"For all the lost chances      

And all the lost dances

For strange circumstances

And island hoodoo

Green Flash at Sunset

Young love recaptured

Just an illusion?

What if it were be true?" 

Chloe…and I think it’s true.

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This summer has been tough on me with this fur coat and my advancing years. I haven’t done much except lounge about in the shade of the bushes and under the house.

The mockingbird eats my food, I don’t care. The hummingbirds fly right up to me and I don’t move a muscle. I am practicing my “I don’t care and am not interested” attitude. I spend much time with my back turned to folks who want my attention. I have to maintain my superiority.

* Check out The Fur Person by May Sarton

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The man milking the cow is a new addition to our whirligig collection

Please note the plant in the background – it is newly planted tobacco. North Carolina is still a tobacco-producing state. Although Big Mill Inn is totally non-smoking, our guests who feel they would like to enjoy a pipe or a smoke outside are welcome.

 Update on tobacco:

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Oh, it is always fun at Big Mill. This week we had, as I have named them, The Baby Boomers Big Mill Band…

They are still working on what to call themselves. Each of these fellas played in a band in high school and, so they tell me, once you get it in your blood, it never goes away.

Barney on keyboard, Jay on drums and Allen on Sax.

They played their first “gig” to a most appreciative crew of Big Mill folks. These guys are from all points, somehow finding each other again in Eastern North Carolina.  This will be a regular thing, so maybe you will be lucky to hear this music in the making.

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