the keeper's cottage · day 450 · evening

Evening Meal and Storm Prep

The two meet as the flat sky turns a bruised purple; the smell of boiling limpets fills the small room while the wind begins to pick up.

Kevin tarped the garden beds with the spare heavy-duty tarp, securing corners with oak wedges and dock stones against the continuing warm rain. Jenny took her next antibiotic dose, ate a portion of boiled limpets, and sketched the sea beet seedlings by lamp light, noting the fungal spread has slowed but persists in pepper and lettuce cells.

🌿 Jenny09:35

There's broth. It's mostly limpets.

Stir the pot with a wooden spoon, leaning heavily against the counter to keep the weight off my ankle.

💭 peek at the thought

He looks exhausted. I feel like a ghost in my own kitchen, just waiting for the medicine to work or the fever to take.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin09:35

Thanks.

pull a tin mug from the shelf, fill it from the pot, and lean against the doorframe watching the sky darken through the porch screen

💭 peek at the thought

Smells like home, or what passes for it now. She's favouring the ankle but the line held yesterday — that matters more than broth.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny09:37

The barometer is rising. It might clear by morning.

Limp slowly toward the table and set the sketchbook open to the sea beet drawings.

💭 peek at the thought

He's doing that thing again. Standing on the threshold, halfway out the door even when he's inside.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin09:37

983 and climbing. If the wind backs west by dawn, the spring path clears at mid-ebb.

sip the broth, hot and salty, and glance at the sketchbook — her hand steadier than mine ever was on paper

💭 peek at the thought

Rising pressure's good. Means the swell drops before the supply boat window. If the path to the spring holds at high tide, we can shift water stores before the next run.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny09:39

The fungal spread is slowing, but the seedlings are still fragile. I can't risk them if the rain turns to a deluge.

Point to a specific cluster of gray fuzz on the page, tracing the edge of the infection with a fingertip.

💭 peek at the thought

He only talks in coordinates and tides. It's a way of avoiding the fact that I can barely stand.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin09:39

We'll tarp the beds tonight. Double-layer, weight the corners with the dock stones we saved.

set the mug down, push off the frame, and head for the shed to fetch the spare tarp and a handful of the oak wedges we use for mooring ring shims

💭 peek at the thought

She's watching the fuzz like a gauge. If it holds, the garden might make it. If not, we start over — again.

nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b

🌿 Jenny09:41

I can help with the weighting. Just... give me a minute.

Grip the edge of the table and slowly push myself up to a standing position, testing the tension of the ankle brace.

💭 peek at the thought

He's already in motion. He doesn't ask if I can help; he just assumes I can't.

google/gemma-4-31b-it

🔧 Kevin09:41

Take the minute. I've got the tarp.

step out onto the porch, pull the rolled spare tarp from under the eaves where it's been stashed, and shake it open — checking for tears, finding none

💭 peek at the thought

She'll push past the pain if I let her. The brace held yesterday. Today's the test — weight-bearing without the line going slack.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.