Tuesday. Day 2!

I've been slacking on taking pictures. My camera is bulky and I've been caught up in all of the activity that I haven't even sat to weigh the pros and cons of taking it to the Gateway site with us. I regret not having it to take pictures of the "Fairy Garden" that Terry, Debi, and I created. It was pretty special. Special in a way that we made it so fantastic that I think if we waited long enough fairies would have started to actually inhabit the area.

So I'm here! In Manteo, an island in the outer banks. It's hot, but honestly not that much more than home. The Alligator River NWR has been fighting a wildfire for the last several weeks that has swept through around 45,000 acres of refuge-owned land. On my way in I noted all of the smoke miles before I even approached the bridge leading to the refuge. The sun behind me, due to the aerosols in the air from the fire, was a blazing and hazy red that hovered over marshy vegetation. It was such a great welcome to the coast!

Everyone here is willing to reach out, play in the woods, bring ideas to the table, and willing to get to know each other. We spent Sunday evening with the sun depleting while walking on the beach and chasing crabs.

Today, as part of an animation seminar, we had the opportunity to explore the woods surrounding our 30x30 tent and entrance trail that we cleared yesterday afternoon (in record fashion). Terry, Debi, and I found a great location that we want to clear out and create a space to build in and an area to relax in. It's the woods! Just some different vegetation and fauna that I am itching to identify. My wildlife interaction has been limited to 2 stray cats that hang around the Guest House and a couple of chattering chickadees fluttering around.

Today threw me back quite a few years, and even to recent memories. I do play in the woods in a much different way than I use to. But I still find a thrill chasing after salamanders in streams and searching for the biggest crawdad in the creek. But now I climb mountains, or hills, or crags, or trees. The trees part is not that different that being a child but the rest is. I appreciate more the environment nature creates to reflect and relax rather than as a place to jump all over, and probably destroy in the long run.

Status by day 2: This place is great all the way down to the people that it consists of. I am learning from those that are overseeing us and the other participants. We're all different, with vastly different backgrounds but connected by how we have been affected by the natural world.

Edit: I rode my bike a couple of miles down to the west end of Manteo Island tonight. I hit the sun as it was setting at the perfect time! I found some treasures along the beach, which also had a shallow canal that followed parallel with the thin shoreline hidden just beyond some tall grass. I also met a man on my way in that gave me a website for a man who is a "real" politician, none of that lying stuff and informed me in casual conversation about how crazy Switzerland is for wanting to suck up the earth in the black hole they nearly created. Anyway, here are some lovely pictures.