The broom lady and Hatchlings Oak Island, NC September 21, 2015

Ten days ago, we were reading at the beach, when a woman (L.)  walked past us carrying a corn broom like the one my Mom used to have.  She stopped at a sign post that had garden edging making a path to the ocean.  We chatted and she told us there was a Sea Turtle nest at the post.  Seems that on July 21, a momma turtle dug a 2 foot deep hole and laid up to 150 eggs in it, covered it and left.  (Interesting way to reproduce.)  L. told us that she and J. who lives across the street from us were the head volunteers for this nest (there were 101 nests along the seven miles of the beach).  These turtles are endangered and the University of Georgia is doing research to keep them around.  Anyway, we were invited to keep a vigil with them and others watching for the hatching that usually occurs at night.  Oh, the broom was to keep the path to the ocean clear.  So we had some interesting experiences over the next 10 evenings.  Often other locals and vacationers would come to join and sit for the evening.

Every night was different:

On one occasion, L. was complaining about people smoking on the beach and leaving the cigarette butts in the sand.  A man piped up and said, "See, that is why we need guns."

Another time, a couple of friends of J. and her husband were sitting and we all got chatting about travel.  J & J and this couple travel together every year and said they had gone west and into Canada.  At that point the husband said,  "...and we don't even like them."  I thought he meant Canadians so I made some comment like, "What??"  Turned out he was joking about not liking J & J.  Oh my.

A couple of cousins were there for about six nights.  One from Manhattan and the other from Raleigh, NC.  Both want to retire here but haven't sold their houses yet.  I found listening to their accents very cool.  Southern accents are so strong, however, the New York one reminded me of a cousin we have in Brooklyn.  One told me she just loved my accent.  Wait, we don't have accents, do we?

On Friday, Day 8, we had a pizza party on the beach which included wine and chocolate.  L. had some citronella candles so it was quite a celebration.  I was certain that the babies would hatch that night but not so.

One evening there was discussion about Obama and one lady said she was certain that he really wasn't a USA citizen and that he was a Muslin.  It always surprises me to hear people who seem quite reasonable say things like that.

A bonus of all this late night sitting on the beach, was that we got to see the Milky Way, the big dipper and hundreds of other stars--even some shooting stars.  Who would have thought, that we would spend so many hours at the beach at night.  It is also surprising the things people will tell you while there.

Anyway, the night of the hatching, we had just returned home from the beach, (at 19:10) when, J. sent a text saying that the turtles were coming.  We left our dinner and sped over to the beach.  Running really isn't in my job description any more but we actually ran!  There was a definite depression in the sand over the nest and we could see little flippers moving.  So we watched and watched and it got darker and later and then finally, at about 21:45, the two experts donned gloves, moved some sand away and helped the two at the top to move.  and THEN, there was a "boil" of turtle babies spilling out of the hole and racing down the path toward the ocean.  Some tried to go the wrong way so the helpers used red lights so the turtles would follow the light.  Within about 10 minutes, the babies were swimming away.  J. wished them Happy Birthday.  We danced around and hugged each other.  What a sight!

So now, two days later, the experts  excavated the nest and we were included along with 40 others who were either invited or just happened to be on the beach.   We all watched while J. dug down about 2 feet and discovered six babies who were alive but hadn't made it out of the hole.  There were also many rubbery shells where the hatchlings had been and about 40 eggs which hadn't become turtles at all.  We cheered as the last six went down the path and into the ocean.  Good luck to them.

What a bonus experience this was!  Who would have thought that we would get to witness baby sea turtles hatch.  Yay.

Hem Hem... June 11, 2015. The story of bling-bum pants.

This is from Pretoria, South Africa.

After a day of shopping for summer pants and tops in a country where it is winter, even though the temperatures can be higher than 20 in the day time, I finally bought some bling-bum jeans.  They have lots of shiny beads on the back pockets.  I hadn't planned on buying jeans as they are so bulky to pack and take long to dry.  Anyway, I decided that they should be hemmed and didn't feel like doing it.  So, there is a fellow who sits under a tree and does sewing near the "Aroma" coffee shop where we often have coffee..  and Sheryl and Neil suggested that we take them there.  He has a partner who fixes shoes.  So, we took the jeans there.  Only one of the team was there, I showed him the pants.  He smiled and grunted and nodded  that he could do the job but it wouldn't be done until the next morning.  He took the pants and my bag.  And that was that.  I didn't get a tag or any indication of a claim ticket.  So when we returned this morning, he was there and also his partner who was sewing.  My pants were is a pile of sewing on the table.  The shoe-fixing guy seemed to know which pants were mine and pointed them out to the sewing guy.  The sewing machine was a Singer about the vintage of my Mom's when I was a child.  He operated it using a crank thing on the side.  He said he would do my jeans next, it would take about 20 minutes.  We went to have coffee and the went back.  He was just pressing the seams with his hands and indeed they were sewn quite nicely.  George wanted to take a photo and the sewing guy said sure.  He smiled and posed with delight.  Then the shoe fixing guy said he was part of the team and wanted to be in the photo as well.  So I said I would also be in the photo.  There were many smiles and good will.  Picture this a strip mall with lots of folks having lattes and cappuccinos and these two fellows sitting and sewing and fixing all day.  Such are the contradictions of Pretoria and South Africa.