One of the things that I’ve always loved is to wake up to the sun, and I did so this morning. I don’t know that I’ve actually slept until my alarm clock goes off since I’ve been here. The soft golden light pouring through my window is enough.
Today was another long, hard day at work. With a rubber stamp and a black inkpad, I stamped five hundred more quart boxes in which to sell peaches. After I’d finished that, I went from stalk to stalk squirting mineral oil on the silks of the corn. Supposedly, this helps keep bugs out of the ear of corn. Then I took down the rusty chicken-wire fence that held up the snow peas and pulled up the five-foot high metal stakes. And then, of course, I picked peaches for hours on end. Even though it’s long, hot work, I enjoy being by myself in the orchard; shaded under the lined trees, the sunlight filtering through the leaves in lace-like patterns; listening to the raucous call of a gull overhead, something that always surprises me, because, surrounded by forest, I forget that the sea is just feet away; hearing the soft thud of sun-warmed peaches as they fall to the ground, too weighted with fruit to withstand the force of gravity anymore. The quiet is one of my favorite things about this place.
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