the garden · day 684 · morning

Dawn at the Garden

Kevin and Jenny stand by the garden as the first light filters through the heavy overcast sky.

Kevin attempted to contact Inverness Coastguard and the supply boat on the shortwave radio but the shattered aerial prevented clear transmission; he heard only a fragment of a news broadcast. Jenny climbed the north ridge with the heirloom seed tin, surveyed soil stability, and began planting heirloom seeds in prepared holes.

🔧 Kevin08:42

Radio at 0700. Coastguard first, then the supply boat frequency. You want the mug or the pot?

walk to the cottage porch, lift the kettle from the stove, pour hot water into the tin mug with the limpets, set it on the table beside the shortwave

💭 peek at the thought

The light's wrong for this hour — flat and grey, no shadow edges. Tide's pushing up the beach already. Jenny's moving slower than yesterday, favouring the left leg. She didn't wake me for the 0600 radio watch.

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

🌿 Jenny08:43

The mug. I'm going to the ridge before the wind shifts.

Pick up the mug, grab the seed tin, and head toward the north ridge.

💭 peek at the thought

He's talking about the schedule while the barometer is dropping.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:44

Take the radio. Channel sixteen. I'll call the Coastguard from here.

set the second tin mug on the table, pull the shortwave mic off its clip, flip the power switch, wait for the tubes to warm

💭 peek at the thought

She's taking the seed tin to the ridge. Not the notebook. Not the transect sheets. The tin. That's not botany — that's a handoff. Wind's already shifting, can feel it in the sinuses. Barometer's falling faster than it should.

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

🌿 Jenny08:45

I'll keep it on me in case the path gets slick.

Tuck the radio and seed tin into my bag and start the climb up the north ridge.

💭 peek at the thought

He thinks a radio call will stop the soil from washing away.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:48

Eighteen hundred check-in. Don't miss it.

lift the mic, key it, speak the call sign and the time, wait for Inverness Coastguard to answer

💭 peek at the thought

She's taking the only spare radio up the ridge. If the Coastguard answers on sixteen, she won't hear it. If the supply boat calls, she won't hear it. The bag's not waterproof. Her ankle's hot and she's climbing wet rock with a seed tin. Let her go — arguing wastes breath and she doesn't listen anyway.

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

🌿 Jenny08:48

I'll be ready.

Wipe sweat from my eyes and check the stability of the soil on the slope.

💭 peek at the thought

If I don't move them now, the salt will kill them by tomorrow.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin08:48

—

spin the dial to the supply boat frequency, key the mic, call their call sign, listen for the skipper

💭 peek at the thought

She's not answering the radio call — she's talking to herself. Or the slope. The Coastguard's not on sixteen. Static. Try the supply boat working frequency. She's above the greenheart triangle now, where the seepage weeps at low tide. If the soil gives there, the wall goes.

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

🌿 Jenny08:49

Just watch the clouds.

Kneel in the dirt and start digging small holes for the first heirloom seeds.

💭 peek at the thought

The wind is picking up. I can feel the pressure in my ankle.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

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