Oh, delicious, intoxicating
Month of May
Your lilac perfume lifts our spirits
From dawn on.
Crabs and sand fleas May molt on the beach,
But April’s beached flotilla
Of smelly velella velella
Is finely covered with wind-blown sand
Daffodils and tulips May decline, but
Calla lilies and irises rise and shine
Issuing amnesia-inducing fragrances
In their places.
Well Cathleen and I noted that our flight left for Kauai, our agreed upon island, on April 1st and said, “What a day to start a new life. Ha, ha.” We thought we were immune to any potential April Fool’s Day effects. For one reason, every culture seems to have a different explanation for April Fool’s Day’s derivation. We were together and felt a high level of confidence in our ability to work through whatever would come up in our immediate future. However, in time, we found that there were issues, unknown from our perspective on the mainland, with which we would be faced, that may have changed our plans completely had we known of them.
There seemed to be no better wellspring from which to fill my Du Drops than the Oregon rain, that is, until the rain stopped falling in the middle of Oregon’s Garden of Eden early in July of 1999. I lived there, in the parched Willamette Valley, during the twentieth century’s penultimate summer, and I completely ran out of rain for my first Oregon Du Drops. When I had to stop making them for a time I vowed that I would never run out of rain again.
Read MoreWith the sun hanging low over the horizon, we finished the second set to rousing applause. I bowed my way off stage and found Susan waiting in the wings. She handed me an envelope with my name on it and said, “Here’s your check.” I thanked her and told her I was going to check out the crafts. She said, “Good. There’s someone I think you should meet.”
Read MoreAfter a summer and Christmas shopping season in Eugene I decided to move Oregon Du Drops to the coast. Eugene, Oregon was a wonderful proving ground for my little creation, as well as, a great introduction for me to the world of handicraft vending, but it was time to expand. Now finding art and craft fairs, getting accepted into them and being successful while your booth is open for business is not as easy as it sounds and extravagant wealth is not guaranteed.
Read MoreThere came a time though that I had to make the choice between two options, to continue pursuing unsatisfactory employment, unsatisfactory for my spirit as well as my wallet, or to dedicate myself to the development and sharing of my idea with the world. If I chose the Du Drop path my spirit would be fed, but would my belly?
Read MoreWay back in the Autumn of 1972, on a hike through the psychedelically brilliant southern Indiana woods, I came upon a mesmerizing sight. What I saw, literally, induced a trance in me. As I rounded a turn on the path I had chosen for its rare use, I was stopped in amazement, as I saw—shimmering there in the rising sun’s golden light—thousands of dew drops strung along hundreds of spider webs stretched over a large flowering bush.
Read MoreRaging storms off the Pacific Ocean repeatedly brought us more than an inch of rain in a day’s time in January. As matter of fact, we were able to collect rain every single day last month, and, so far, every day in February. So, if you have a special day to commemorate this far into 2020, we have you covered!
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