Beautiful sunset

The sunset today was spectacular. I caught just the tail end of the setting itself, only getting to see the sun sink into Pamlico Sound, but the lovely orange color lingered for a while. As I was walking out to take a look, a lady commented on how beautiful it was and said something to the effect of "lucky you, this happens every day!" Her comment reminded me to be grateful for the daily joy of living on Ocracoke. And to not get so busy with what "has" to be done that I miss moments of loveliness. Old and trite advice, but true: we all really should stop and smell the roses, watch the sun set, hug a friend, and all the myriad other things which are more important than most of the "stuff" that keeps us busy.

Quiet

I talk a lot, especially when I get started on topics about which I care deeply or feel strongly. If you ask me a question about Ocracoke, you are likely to get an answer which is much more detailed (and longer!) than you expected, needed, or wanted! I also like to listen to music, and there are certain shows I enjoy on TV. What this all adds up to is that there is usually sound happening around me. I don't really notice it until it stops.

John left on the 12:30 ferry today for a trip to High Point. After he had been gone a while, I realized how quiet it was. I wasn't jabbering to him (I wasn't even yakking at the cats, which I do frequently too), and there was no background music or TV noise. It was a quiet Sunday on the island, too. The bikers who came through over the last couple of days, presumably on their way to or from the rally in Nags Head, seem to have gone home now, so the motorcycle sounds had ended. There wasn't much traffic after mid day; I suppose most people who had come to stay for the weekend headed back to their day-to-day lives and jobs as well. I enjoyed the silent time. I read several chapters of a good book, some while lying in my hammock, some while sitting in the screened porch, and a couple while sitting in my beach chair on the Springers Point beach as the sun set. I confess that after coming home from that beach time, I did turn on the TV. I just turned it back off after watching a couple of shows, and I am enjoying the peace again. I think I need to make more time in my life for quiet.

Shower under the sky

I used to think that outside showers were just for rinsing off sand after a day at the beach. Now I know better. It's not as though outside showers are not good for removing sand from bathing suits and bodies. It's just that they are also great for, well, showering. I especially love my outside shower because it has a great view of cedar branches and sky.

I took my first outside shower of the season today, and it was the perfect day for it ~ the sky was clear blue and the cedar branches were softly swaying in the breeze. I carried my extra bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash, and my "scrunchie" body scrubber thing out there, and left them. I hope they get to stay out there - and I get to continue showering under the sky - for a long time. Last year, there were a couple of days as late as November on which it was still warm enough to shower outside. I would be pleased if that happens again this year, because six plus months of doing so will do my soul good.

Reading room

Mary Ellen (the first grade teacher and my friend, to whose class I read on Friday mornings because reading to kids is one of the things I miss from when I was a teacher) called me this morning to say that the class was going to Books to be Red at 10:00 (my usual reading time), to listen to a story read by "Miss Leslie". The kids usually go to the local bookstore on Friday afternoons, but Leslie would be substiting at the school in the afternoon, so the reading time had been moved to 10:00. I told Mary Ellen that, since it was a lovely day, I would enjoy joining the kids to listen to Leslie read (I knew that they usually sit outside the shop, if the weather is nice enough). And I did, indeed, thoroughly enjoy sitting in the shade on the platform which will be the Deepwater stage for the Ocrafolk Festival in just over a month, and listening to two chapters of The Boxcar Children.

As I listened, I reflected on the lovely sense of community involved in this activity. I suppose there are other towns in which the local bookstore has readings for children, and school classes attend. But I bet there aren't many who do it on a weekly basis, with the kids sitting outside under lovely old live oak and cedar trees, after having walked in complete safety down the road to the shop! I suspect school buses, field trip signature forms, and a great deal of planning are involved for other schools. The extent of our planning was stopping by the office on the way out, just to let them know where the first grade class was going, and sending two kids in to the office when we came back, to let them know we had returned. It is this simplicity which makes Ocracoke such a lovely, peaceful place, and is the reason so many people visit here to get away from their daily, sometimes hectic lives.

Links/more info:
Ocrafolk Festival

Bridge project

Writing about seeing the moonlight on the water in the creeks yesterday morning reminded me of something you might need to know, especially if you like to visit Ocracoke in the winter.

Next winter (January 2 through approximately mid March 2008), the Highway 12 bridges over the creeks on Ocracoke will be replaced by the NC Department of Transportation. The road in that area will be closed during the entire period it takes to complete the project.

The Ocracoke Control Group is working with the DOT and other groups to ensure that the needs of the island population and visitors can be met during this time. Plans for emergency transport, mail and package delivery, etc. are being made. The latest information I have seen indicated that the beach would be open for driving (with a 4WD vehicle, of course!) as a detour around the closed portion of the road, and that the Hatteras inlet ferry would run on its usual winter schedule.

Philip Howard provided an excellent summary of the project, both in his blog
here , and in his monthly newsletter here. You can also check the Hyde County Projects Page on ncdot.org for updates. (There is not yet information about the project posted on the DOT page, but I assume that there will be at some point in the next few months, as the start date for the project gets closer.)

Now I remember...

...why I love living on Ocracoke. Well, one of the reasons anyway! I was struck today, as I drove "up the beach" and further into civilization, by all of the things we don't have on the island. Things like billboards, large neon signs, cookie-cutter chain restaurants, and traffic. And I realized anew how grateful I am that we don't have those things.

I also saw a lovely sight this morning, as I headed out (in the dark) to catch the 6:00 AM ferry to Hatteras: moonlight silvering the water in the creeks that one crosses while driving up the island. It was peaceful and quiet, and (although I would have loved to still be in bed asleep), I was blessed to get to see that. And I did go back to sleep on the ferry.

I came home in the dark, too. (Savannah and I, after a very long day in the car, ended up on the 8:00 PM ferry back to the island.) And I saw one of my other favorite things that we have here: ghost crabs. Honestly, I prefer to see them where they belong (on the beach!) and not out on Highway 12, but I think I managed to avoid running over them. I wonder what makes them leave the safety of the sand and wander out onto the blacktop?

I'll leave you with that imponderable. I have been up since 4:45 this morning, so it is now well past time for me to sleep again!

Gearing up for a looooooong day

I have written in this space before about how things as simple as taking your pet to the vet can become day-long processes when you live on an island. Then, I was commenting on taking a trip to Manteo, which - in the grand scheme of things - isn't all that far. Tomorrow, I have to go all the way to Virginia Beach to take Savannah to a specialist vet. THAT will be a long day (it's a 3 1/2 to 4 hour drive after the Hatteras ferry ride). So I will be heading to bed in a few minutes (at about 8:30 PM) in order to prepare to get up shortly before 5:00 AM, so I can be on the 6:00 AM ferry.

I'll let you know tomorrow how things went. In the meantime, sleep well and be blessed by the fact that most services are close by (most likely...obviously this doesn't apply to my Ocracoke readers!) Not that I'm complaining, mind you...I am so blessed by the fact of living on Ocracoke that the realities of driving long distances for certain services pale in comparison!

Tired

I had a pastor once who said "people who burn the candle at both ends aren't as bright as they think they are". He was definitely right! I am really tired today. Not getting enough sleep, and thinking I can make it up with coffee (which I just recently started drinking) has clearly caught up with me! I have been so tired recently that if I sit still and am not actively doing something, I nod off after a few minutes. Not so good...guess I should go to bed!

Harbingers of spring

It was a nice quiet day, beautifully sunny and warm. I spent some time reading in my hammock, and some more on the beach at Springer's Point, before watching the sun set.

I walked through Springer's Point very quickly today, because it was only a short while before sunset and I didn't want to miss it. Even though my pace was not leisurely, I was lucky enough to see several birds, including two cardinals. Spring has definitely arrived! I also saw a butterfly flitting around, a sight which always makes me smile.

Things are still relatively quiet on the island during the week, although activity picks up on the weekends. It's a great time to come visit!

New store, and lunch on the beach

I went to my friend Zoi's new store today. It is called Indulgence, and is filled with self-pampering things, such as high thread-count sheets, luxuriantly soft towels, wonderful lotions and scents, and lovely lingerie. It is a sumptous spot ~ stop in and buy something there the next time you are on the island! (It's in Spencer's Market, next door to Eleven Eleven.)

I had been meaning to go to Zoi's shop ever since she opened it, but finally made my way over there today while waiting for my Thai Moon lunch. When it was ready, I took my fried rice to the beach and enjoyed it and the abundant sunshine. It was a beautiful day, and I was blessed to be able to spend some time outside enjoying it.

I am hearing the the weather is supposed to stay warm for the next several days. Hopefully spring is finally here to stay!

The Cave

There was a cave at the School today, complete with "ancient" paintings. Ms. Kitty's high school art classes have been studying the early art found in caves, including Chauvet Cave in southern France. In order to get a good understanding of what it was like to produce art in the Paleolithic period, the students made paint and brushes from scratch. The paint was made using burned wood (they crushed it into a powder and then added vegetable oil), and the brushes were made with yucca leaves.

The students then used their paint and brushes to create "cave" paintings in the former art room (although they painted on paper, not the walls!) For extra authenticity, they covered the glass opening on the door with black paper, closed the door, lit a few candles, and painted in the semi-dark. Their paintings were quite impressive, considering the circumstances they had to work under!

Ms. Kitty invited the younger students to tour the cave; I went to see it with the first grade class. First, Ms. Kitty explained the history of the cave paintings, and told us about how her students had made the paint and brushes. Then, we crawled into the cave (literally, on our hands and knees) and walked through to see the paintings. It was an educational and fun way to spend part of the morning!

You can learn more about the Chauvet Cave at these links:
Wikipedia page on Chauvet Cave
French cultural site - this one is in French, but includes an interactive map of the cave with pictures of the paintings.

The Library

I've blogged about the Library before, but you're just going to have to bear with me (or stop reading!) because I'm going to do it again.

Ever since I was a little girl, I thought (no, I knew...this is true) that the Library was a marvelous invention. I was amazed that you could get books for FREE and all you had to do was bring them back on time. How much more wonderful could things get?

Today, I took several books back to the Library here. They were all badly overdue (I'm honestly not sure how late they were, but at least two or three weeks). I went into the children's book room to get something to read the first graders while the "Library lady" (as I always used to call the Librarian as a child) figured out how much I owed. It came to slightly over $5. And they let me check the books out again! The Library is such a forgiving, non punishment-oriented environment. No wonder I love it. It's also quiet, and my life has been so full of noise (meetings, lots of talk, and just competing "stuff") recently, that I enjoyed the brief getaway into peaceful silence.

In most towns, there are community libraries, and then there are schools which also have libraries. In Ocracoke, our library is called the "Ocracoke School/Community Library", and it is a resource shared by everyone in the village (regardless of whether they have any affiliation with the school), along with serving as the School library in every sense of the term.

There is a children's book (I can't think of the name) about libraries which features a picture of the former Ocracoke Library as an example of one of the smallest libraries in the US. If you have seen that book, or if you have seen the picture at this link, you might think we have a tiny library. That little building, however, is no longer the Ocracoke Library. The current facility is made up of a large open area and 3 additional rooms, one of which - the "North Carolina room" - is my favorite; there are many excellent, beautiful books in there about (you guessed it) the wonderful state of North Carolina (also my favorite). :)

Take advantage of the library nearest you, large or small.

Under dressed

I can't get the hang of this cold, then warm, then cold, then warm again spring weather. And I'm terrible at paying attention to the forecast when deciding what to wear. Either my mom didn't explain to me, when I was a young child, that I should find out what the temperature is expected to be BEFORE I pick out my clothes for the day, or I just wasn't paying attention that morning. I have a Jewish mother, which means she is a worrier (as am I, now that I am an adult, even though I am not yet a mother); so I am very sure that she took excellent care of me and always ensured I was appropriately dressed for the climate of the day. I just failed the part of the class where I should have learned to do that for myself! (Maybe I thought my mom would pick out my outfits for the rest of my life! More likely, I didn't give much thought to picking out clothes at all; the schools I attended until I was 12 required uniforms, so there wasn't much choosing to do!)

All of this to say that I got up this morning and put on a t-shirt dress. A cute thing, which is highly appropriate on warm spring days (the weight of the material combined with the fact that it's black makes it a bit too hot in the heat of summer). Today, however, was NOT a warm spring day. It didn't really affect me, because I didn't go outside until just a few minutes ago (at about 10:30 PM). Then I noticed the cold! (I did think to put a light jacket on before I went for my salt-water-touch walk), but my legs got pretty darn chilly! Lucky for me salt water is close by, so I wasn't outside for long.)

The song "You're never fully dressed without a smile" came to mind as I was walking home and thinking about what I would blog. I was underdressed that way today, too. I have been so busy recently that it is beginning to wear me out, and I am not in the best of moods. I am currently living the saying "I try to take life one day at a time, but lately it seems several days have attacked me at once!" Oh, and the lighthouse is out again, to boot. :(

I'm hoping to spend more time outside near salt water tomorrow, to let Ocracoke work its magic. Seeing sunlight on seawater rarely fails to lift my spirits. Maybe they'll get the lighthouse fixed too, and the gray clouds which hung around here most of today will blow away. Might as well hope for as many good things as possible!

Hope you are "appropriately dressed", in the sense of being ready for whatever life throws your way. And don't forget your smile!

Orange sunset

The sunset today was very orange. I actually missed most of it, only seeing the last glow of light on the horizon, but the little I saw indicated that what had come before was quite possibly gorgeous. There were several clouds in the sky, which usually makes for a good sunset. It's one of those counter-intuitive things; one would think that clouds make the sunset less beautiful, but a few clouds in the right place create lovelier colors, whereas sunsets with not a cloud in the sky are often disappointing (just a yellow ball disappearing over the horizon, none of the additional oranges, pinks, and purples which make a truly spectacular end-of-day show).

Another counter-intuitive thing which relates to the beach is that it's easier to find whole scotch bonnets after a hurricane or major storm than at other times. Scotch bonnets, in case you don't know, are very fragile and therefore quite difficult to find intact. They are the state shell of NC. One would think that a storm would destroy these easily breakable shells, but the opposite is true: the storms pick them up from the bottom and deposit them whole, often in large numbers, on the beach. They are actually tossed around in the surf less than if they washed ashore, and so they stay in one piece.

I wish I could say that I'm musing about whole scotch bonnets after storms because I found one after the Nor 'easter that just blew through here, but I didn't. I bet some of the really motivated shellers who get up early to arrive on the beach just before dawn found some, though!

Cacophony

I love wind chimes. We have several in our screened porch. It is really windy today, and expected to continue to be windy through tomorrow. This combination of wind chimes and strong winds creates quite a cacophony! Even the cats don't want to hang out in the porch (very unusual for them), because it is a bit loud. Yes, I could take the chimes down, but I can't easily reach them and somehow didn't find the energy to carry a chair or small ladder out there to do so.

I went to the Post Office today to send the tax forms (and the check...sigh) before tomorrow's deadline. On the way back home, I drove through several decent size puddles. "My" ducks were swimming in a big one on Loop Rd.

We had a brief power outage this afternoon (about 30 minutes). I found it funny that the power didn't go out during the downpouring storm yesterday, but went out today, with a clear blue sky. (Obviously the constant wind finally affected something...)

Later I walked through Springer's Point. I was amazed at the density of the forest in there. It is never more obvious than on windy days like today. While you are in the wooded area, you hardly notice the wind at all. Then when you come out onto the beach and almost get blown away, you remember again how windy it really is, and realize how effectively the trees block the wind. Here are a few pictures to give you a sense for how windy it was today. If you need something to compare them to, look at the picture of the duck on the sound ("Just Ducky" post on April 14). These pictures are of the same area.

Quick blog before...

...the power goes out! Well, maybe it won't...we'll see. But at this moment (3:45 PM) it looks like the worst of the weekend storm is about to come through (from what I'm seeing on the radar on intellicast.com). It's a good bit overdue from when it was expected (they were originally predicting it would arrive between 3:00 and 4:00 AM). It seems to be tracking straight up the Outer Banks. I'll blog an update later on how we fared, assuming we have power. :) I have a laptop with a great battery, but the DSL modem won't work! Hmmm...time to purchase a small UPS, maybe.

More later...

4:50 PM update: it looks as if the worst is over, and it wasn't all that bad. It rained pretty hard with some decent wind for about 20 minutes, and now the skies are clearing. The sun just came out, so we are now experiencing what my family calls a "monkey's wedding" (it is raining while the sun is shining). No, I don't know the derivation of that term.

The radar shows the rest of the storm moving north and east, so it is out to sea rather than over us. That's one nice thing about living on an island: it's a relatively small target for big storms. If they shift just a few miles, they can - and often do - miss us completely. No challenges with power so far.

Here's a picture which comes close to showing how windy it was during the downpour. Look at the top of the house to see the water flying off the roof.



I did see my ducks; they were swimming down the road. We didn't have flooding per se, but there are several low spots near here, which always create great puddles when it rains. (Yes, puddles are great: my childlike side still thinks they are fun to walk through and/or jump into. The adult me says "just don't drive through them too fast!")

Just ducky...

I learned this morning who has been assisting our outdoor kitties to eat all their food: the local ducks! I knew there had to be a reason they seemed to be hanging out around here fairly often (the ducks, not the cats...the cats are supposed to be here!)

I felt a bit sorry for the cats, but really didn't mind that we've been feeding the ducks. I like ducks, so I decided to give them some more to munch, and tossed out additional food. Then I sat down on the porch steps and enjoyed watching them eat. It was a beautiful sunny day today and this quiet morning moment was lovely.



I went for a walk in Springer's Point this afternoon, and saw one of the ducks out for a swim. The water was completely calm and smooth, with sunlight making it sparkle. I think the duck was enjoying the quiet as much as I was!



Tomorrow, if the forecasters are correct, there may be a small lake in the road in which the ducks can swim! The car is moved to higher ground, the porch furniture is turned over in anticipation of the high winds, and we're ready for the blow. I hope the ducks find a safe place to hunker down until it passes.

Storm coming...

The forecasters are predicting a storm this weekend, with wind and rain possibly leading to sound-side flooding. I hope we don't get much flooding, but I'm kind of looking forward to holing up inside for a few days. Of course, I also have approximately a zillion things to do, most of which involve working on the computer, so I am NOT hoping for a power outage.

I'll keep you posted on how things go here. Hope you stay dry and safe this weekend!

Late, as usual

I went to another meeting tonight (for those of you keeping track, yes, this was the third one this week!)

Anyway, I thought that this particular meeting started at 7:00 PM. I arrived at 7:07. Luckily for me, it turned out that there was a bit of confusion about the actual start time (the handful of people there when I arrived thought it started at 7:00, but the large group which showed up later thought it started at 7:30). Since the majority of expected participants weren't there at 7:00, the meeting facilitator waited for them, and started the discussion at 7:30. So it actually seemed as if I had arrived early.

That is probably the only time I will be early for a meeting. I'm usually late.

That fact is a bit pathetic when you consider that it doesn't take long to get to anywhere from anywhere in the village. It might take 10 minutes, and that would be worst case scenario, if you were driving from one end of town all the way to the other, encountered a string of ferry traffic along the way, and were stopped by a person who wanted to chat! It usually takes only 5 minutes to get to most places. You might think that this would mean that most people (including me) would be on time for things, since it's not difficult to leave home with enough time to ensure arrival before the meeting/event starts. The short travel time ends up working against me, though, because I plan to leave at the last possible minute since "it will only take 5 minutes to get there" (or so the reasoning goes). What this looks like in reality, however, is that at 5 minutes before meeting start time, I'm still finishing the last thing I need to do before I can leave. I therefore end up leaving at (or even after!) the time I was supposed to be there in the first place. And no matter how small your village, or how short your drive, it's not possible to be on time with that strategy!

So I'm usually late. What works in my favor is that often times the meetings start late. (Maybe because I'm not the only one who is usually late!) That reality only reinforces my bad behavior, since I don't miss anything by being late.

But maybe all of this is not a bad thing. It's a reflection of the "who cares what time it is? I'm on Ocracoke!" attitude around here. Some gift shops even sell t-shirts that say "I'm on island time".

I'll copy the ocracokeblog.com blogger, and sign off by saying "Until next time, then...". Seems fitting.

Number crunching

Someone told me once that buying a home on Ocracoke is easy. He went on to say "first, you win the lottery..." I laughed, but sometimes it isn't really all that funny.

The short bio at the end of my article in the April Ocracoke Observer said, among other things, "Like one of the many people she interviewed for this article, Kati Wharton wants 'to live on Ocracoke until the day I die'." That's true. But wanting something and getting it are often two different things.

I've been crunching numbers the last few days, trying to figure out what we can afford to buy here. It's disheartening. Guess I'd better go buy a lottery ticket!

Wrapping up the Mullet Wrapper

I have been working with my friends Sundae and Valerie over the last couple of days to put the final editing touches on the Mullet Wrapper (the Ocracoke Preservation Society (OPS) newsletter). Sundae and I write for and co-edit the publication, and Valerie does the production (layout, printing, collating, etc.) at her business, Village Print.

If you're a member of OPS, you already know the reason the newsletter has its unique name. But I think it's an interesting little bit of Ocracoke history, so I'll share it here for those of you who don't know.

This is what is printed on each issue of the Mullet Wrapper, below the logo:
"When newspapers were first delivered to Ocracoke, the islanders would recycle them to wrap the mullet they purchased. As time passed, when buying a newspaper, people would ask for a 'Mullet Wrapper' ".

Articles in the Spring edition of the newsletter include an update on the Historic renovation of a house on Lighthouse Road, information about yaupon, recommended changes to the OPS by-laws, a calendar of upcoming events on the island, an interview with Gene Ballance about his research into oysters in Ocracoke's waters, and other interesting items. To receive this quarterly newsletter, all you need to do is join OPS. To do that, visit their website: ocracokepreservation.org and click on "Membership".

Turbo-yuck

I have the April blues. Just worked on the tax return on Turbo Tax online, and I owe the government several thousand dollars. Bummer! But I'm going to think positive and remember that means I'm blessed with the good fortune to have gainful employment. And I get to live on Ocracoke!

John asked what we were getting for our tax dollars, and I said that 14 of the 16 miles of our island home are maintained by the Federal government (since it's National Park Service property), so that's a good thing. I actually got that idea from a story told last year by Donald Davis (the renowned, hysterically funny storyteller who lives here). He talked about his first "real" job (as a teenager), and how shocked he was when he got his first paycheck and saw how much money "disappeared". He commented on it to his father, who explained that the money went towards government programs, citing several positive examples including the National Parks system. So Donald decided to think of his taxes as paying for the National Parks. He went on to say that, after all his years of working, he figures he owns a couple of parks outright by now!

I think I'll go for a walk on the beach tomorrow to clear my head of tax thoughts, and to remind myself that all that money does go for a some good things (yes, I know much of it is wasted too...but I prefer my Pollyanna rose colored glasses view at the moment, thank you very much!)

Quiet day

I had a quiet day, mostly because I slept through a large portion of it. I wish I could say it was because I had nothing to do and was enjoying being lazy, but it was actually because I have a cold which just keeps getting worse, and it finally wore me down to the point of near exhaustion. I even slept through church today - on Easter! It was actually a bit funny - many people don't go to church except on Easter (and Christmas). I go to church and didn't go on Easter!

After I woke up, I did get a few of my to-do list items done, but not all of them. If God placed me on earth to do a certain number of things, right now I am so far behind that I will never die. :)

I did get out of the house for a few minutes right near sunset. It was a lovely orange one and I was lucky enough to be looking across Silver Lake as the horizon began to glow. It is still chilly, and the island is much quieter than it was for the weekend, but there were still several cars at the open restaurants and people walking to and from dinner (bundled up warmly from head to toe).

It is supposed to get warmer next week, according to the weather forecasters. I certainly hope they are right! I miss spring.

Snow, song and stars

Okay, I know you won't believe this. I wouldn't have believed it either, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. For about 2 minutes today, it snowed. Well, it was more like a crazy flurry (the wind was whipping at 20-30 miles an hour, so there was a great deal of swirling effect), but it was definitely snow. On April 7th! We have certainly had some weird weather recently, but that takes the cake.

Tonight was the annual night-before-Easter Ocrafolk Festival fundraiser concert. It was - as it always is - an excellent showcase of much of the amazing talent on this island (mostly musical, but also storytelling). The lucky audience heard new songs, a new story, and several new performers. The show was very much enjoyed by all.

When I went to touch salt water, I discovered one wonderful thing about weather this windy. Most of the clouds had been blown away, so the sky was almost completely clear. It was also quite dark, as the moon is waning. This combination created an absolutely marvelous view of the night sky. With very little light pollution, Ocracoke is always a great place for star gazing, but tonight was even better than usual. The only bad thing is that the wind was still blowing, so it was much too cold to stay out and look at the stars for long!

Tree of thanks

There is a seashell tree in Springer's Point. No, I'm not hallucinating. Okay, it's not really a growing tree ~ it's a tree branch which has been used as part of a fence to mark the line between the public access nature preserve property and the privately owned property in the same area.

What interests me about this "tree", however, is the fact that people put seashells on it. This has been happening for quite some time, and the tree now has a good number of shells hanging from its limbs. I stopped and looked at it yesterday, and the image suddenly spoke to me of thankfulness. It looks like a person, arms outstretched, lifted to the sky to give gifts of beauty back to the Creator in humble thanks.

We who live here (and those of you who visit) realize that Ocracoke is a great gift of beauty, to cherish and be grateful for. Sometimes we get too caught up in the busy-ness of life to stop and remember that fact, though. So I'm thankful to the shell tree for reminding me.

Changing weather

The only predictable thing about spring weather around here is that it's unpredictable. Someone asked me the other day about the current weather, and I said "well, this time of year it might be 75 or it might be 30". And that wasn't that much of an exaggeration! It has been in the 70s for the last few days, but the temperature is dropping; the overnight low is expected to be near 40. All these ups and downs probably explain why I have a cold. Or maybe it's pollen allergies.

Okay, I'll stop whining about spring now. It really has been wonderful for the last few days, and we had a beautiful sunset this evening. I do like spring, although I prefer fall slightly, just because the water is still warm enough for wading. It hasn't warmed up enough yet for anything more than quick finger and toe dips for my daily salt water experience.

Things are starting to wind up for the season - several more restaurants have opened, including everyone's favorite take out place, Thai Moon. I will be getting some Tom Yum Goong soup ASAP! The usual Easter weekend activities are planned:
- Easter Egg Hunt for the kids - Saturday 4/7 at 11:00 (this year it will be on NPS property near the Visitor's Center instead of at the Methodist Church)
- Ocrafolk Festival Fundraising Concert - Saturday 4/7 at 7:30 (doors open at 7:00)
- Sunrise Service on the beach - Easter Sunday 4/8 at what my sister would call "oh dark thirty" (I'm honestly not sure what time it is, but if check the sunrise time for Sunday and get there 15 minutes before that, you should be fine)

There's a new event planned for kids this year too: "KidzBlast" at the Assembly of God Church on Saturday 4/7 at 6:00. I'm not sure what is planned, but with a name like that, I'm sure it will be fun!

If you can make it to the island for Easter, come enjoy the festivities with us. If not, have a great weekend wherever you are!

Unplugged

The power went out this morning at about 5:15, I assume as a result of the storm passing through the area at that time, which included a lot of lightning.

When I got up at 6:45 ish to make coffee, there was still no electricity. So I made coffee the old fashioned way: I boiled water (we have a gas stove, which I lit with a long handled lighter) and poured it through the coffee in the filter in the holder, which I had put on top of the pot. It worked fine, and I assume the coffee still tasted good. (I don't drink coffee, so I don't know for sure. John didn't complain.)

I then proceeded to figure out how to make breakfast without power. John lit the outside grill to make sausage, and the plan was to use the burner cover griddle (on the gas stove) to make pancakes and eggs. But while John was outside with the sausage, the power came back on.

I confess I was actually a tad disappointed that the power was restored relatively efficiently. I was looking forward to a candlelit breakfast and a few "unplugged" hours. At breakfast (which we did have by candlelight, although it was purely for ambiance rather than neccessity), we had a conversation about how "connected" (electronically, not interpersonally) many people are today. I sometimes wish for quiet, unconnected times but don't often have the opportunity to make them. Power outages force me to do so.

So I'll go on record as probably one of the very few people who sometimes wishes for long power outages. It's not the first time I've had an odd opinion, and it surely won't be the last!

An Ocracoke moment

As we were leaving the Post Office tonight, there was a stream of cars coming into the village. I said "ferry", and checked the time to confirm my suspicion. It was a few minutes before the hour, indicating it was, indeed, a load of cars from the Hatteras ferry. Then, as I was waiting and looking for a gap to pull out into the traffic, John realized that one of the cars coming by was the SUV our friends Lou and Marcy drive. He excitedly told me to "roll down the window!"

Why? Well, Marcy and Lou are adopting a baby, and today was the day they went with the birth mother for an ultrasound, to find out if they are expecting a boy or a girl. John knew that while they were driving by was the perfect time to share the news. So I quickly rolled down the window and Marcy called out "It's a Girl!" It was a sweet moment of friendship and community, one I needed today because I'm tired and cranky.

It was a lovely spring day, sunny and calm. The island was quite busy, with lots of families riding bikes around the village enjoying the warm weather. Jason's was packed at dinner time; people were parking at the Post Office to eat there since the restaurant lot was completely full. Spring Break is upon us! (Sigh...) As Jude so eloquently put it on the March 28 Village Craftsmen blog, "We really do love to have all of you come back. We're glad to see you. But...you'll have to forgive us if we're a little sad to see 'offseason' end."

I should never leave home...

...without my camera. Yesterday, I saw a large group of pelicans, floating on the calm waters of Teach's Hole. The day before it was a tree full of birds. (I really heard that one more than saw it!) Other recent photo-worthy sights have included a dog running into the water after a thrown stick, a group of ladies laughing over a quilt they were working on together, and the Methodist Church glowing in the moonlight (I would have to have a really good camera to get that one to come out right!)

Ocracoke is a place filled with stunning natural beauty and the loveliness that is community, too. I am challenged to try to capture both with my camera. If I remember to take it when I leave home, I may make some progress toward that challenge.

Overcommitted

One aspect of getting involved on Ocracoke is that, once people find out that you are a) willing to assist and/or b) good at something, they keep asking you to do that thing (or something similar). I would not have thought this would affect me, since what I'm good at is a bit non-specific. I am a really good organizer (I even plan things in my personal life using spreadsheets...it's a bit scary, really!) People tell me that I'm also a decent writer. And I'm a born editor - I am constantly finding errors in printed materials. One of my favorite sayings is "the world is in dire need of editors". But I didn't expect that anyone would notice these skills of mine, let alone that so many people would ask me to use them.

So, what happens when you have this particular set of abilities, and people begin to notice? Well, I'm currently the secretary for two island organizations, Artisan Coordinator for the 2007 Ocrafolk Festival, a contributor to the Ocracoke Observer newspaper, and co-editor of the Mullet Wrapper.

A wonderful thing about Ocracoke is that there are plenty of chances for me to exercise my more creative talents (and learn new ones), too. So I'm taking guitar lessons (I'm not very good yet...I'm a slow study!), singing with the worship team in church, and trying to learn to quilt.

This is, of course, in addition to working and reading and blogging and...

I think I'm going to have to say no to the next person who asks me to do something.