Still alive...

...but now officially so far behind that I might as well just quit and start over. Just kidding!

Yes, I'm still on the planet. The blog has been behind for some time (I have blogs in draft about Halloween, for goodness sakes!) but it only got worse when we were off island for 17 days. We went to Disney World for 2 weeks and it was more fun than people should be allowed to have! (Not really...but it was LOADS of fun. I acted like a child for 2 weeks and loved every minute of it!)

Anyway, I'm back but now I'm buried in Christmas preparations. Ack.

I promise I'll get back to posting (and maybe even get those old blogs that are sitting in draft waiting for me to write and attach pictures posted, too.)

In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying the holiday season, wherever you are!

Yard sales galore!

I love yard sales. Not that I need to buy another single thing...but I love them anyway! The first Saturday in November is always a good one, as several recurring annual sales happen that day, and tomorrow is no exception. I know of three sales:

- Methodist Church - annual bazaar and lunch. The yard sale starts at 9 AM, and lunch (clam chowder, soup, assorted sandwiches) begins at 10:30.

- Assembly of God Church - yard sale and BBQ plate lunch. Yard sale begins at 8 AM and lunch starts at 11 AM.

- Ocracats yard sale - support a good cause by donating items, volunteering to help, or just shopping at this sale from 8 AM to 2 PM on the Pony Island Motel lawn.

There may be others that I just don't know about yet. But I'll find out tomorrow morning when Connor and I go wandering around the village to these three!

Sometimes...

...I post blogs out of order. So scroll down for some new ones which are below the last three posts. :)

Nutty putty

I went to the last Molasses Creek concert of the season tonight, and met a group of college students who are bicycling across the US to raise money for the Liz Logelin Foundation, which provides support to young widows and widowers and their children. I have read the blog of Matt Logelin, who started the foundation many times over the last few months and have been very inspired by the good he has brought out of the unexpected tragedy that came into his life not too long ago.

You can learn more about the Liz Logelin Foundation, and the Nutty Putty Cyclists (yep, that's what they call themselves) here.

Sea oats

I love sea oats (a fact you already know if you've been reading this blog for long). I love them all year, and especially enjoy watching the changes with the seasons. Since we don't have trees that change colors and drop leaves during the fall, I have to enjoy the changing sea oats instead!

Spaghetti for the Scouts

I love when I can combine delicious food with supporting a good cause!



I always like the fact that the Boy Scouts actively participate in this fundraiser, serving and cooking.





Yum!



After working hard, the Scouts got to eat too.

On the air

Did you know that Ocracoke Community Radio (WOVV 90.1 FM) is now on the air? I have really enjoyed listening to it, especially hearing the teens who have recorded announcements. There's just something fun about when you recognize the voices on the radio as people you know.

Anyway, if you would like to be involved with WOVV, plan to attend the public meeting scheduled for Wednesday October 20 (7 PM, at the Community Center). Perhaps you can even have your own show. As the flier for the event says: "Community Events. Emergency Information. Music. Sports Talk. Your show here."

Yum

A "small" cause

If you would like to support a good cause - which benefits many of the young children on the island - there are several upcoming opportunities to give to Ocracoke Child Care. Here are the details.

Start your holiday shopping and support OCC at the same time! Go to the
Midland Fundraising site and enter Connor's "seller ID": S056120. But do that holiday shopping early: orders must be placed by 10/21 in order to be counted in the totals for OCC.

Bake Sale - Saturday October 16 from 9-12 at the Variety Store

Yard Sale - Saturday October 23 starting at 8 AM at the Child Care

Pig Pickin' - Saturday November 13 starting at 2 PM at the Community Center

As the commercials used to say, "...and thank you for your support".

Photography class

As if I hadn't had enough fun on Saturday during the OBLHS weekend, there was more on Sunday. Photographer Bruce Roberts taught a brief photography workshop to some of the society's members.



After learning Bruce's tips for photographing lighthouses, we headed outside to practice what we had learned. Here are some of my favorite shots I took that morning.

Lighthouse up close

Fantastic day blog 3: I got to climb the lighthouse!

It was a beautiful day for lighthouse photos.





I love these old live oak trees.



Earl O'Neal told the OBLHS members about the history of the lighthouses on Ocracoke.



And then we got to go inside, and I turned into more of a shutterbug than usual. I took nearly 100 photos! Here are some of my favorites.

Replica of the oil container which would have been in the lighthouse. There's a spigot at the bottom for the lightkeeper to fill a smaller container to carry up the stairs. Those guys were in good shape, climbing the lighthouse at least twice every day!



Looking up the stairs.



The lighthouse steps were previously attached to the walls, and you can see where the holes were filled in after the stairs were removed from the walls.



This picture shows how thick the walls are at the base!



I liked taking pictures of the view out of each window as I climbed.











When you reach the top of the stairs, the last portion of the climb - to get to the lens room - is by ladder.



The view is a lovely reward for the effort!



Here are a couple of fun views.





There's an owl standing guard at the top, which apparently helps keep birds away.



The lens...look closely and you can see houses reflected (upside down).



The lightbulbs are tiny. Only one is lit at a time - if one burns out, another one of the four is rotated into place. The light can be seen for approximately 15 miles. Those Fresnel lenses sure are effective at throwing light!



Yours truly at the top!

Beach wreck

Fantastic day blog 2: after seeing the ponies up close, we crossed Highway 12 and took a walk on the beach. It was a beautiful morning with a clear blue sky and sunlight sparkling on the water like spilled diamonds.





We walked down to where an old shipwreck is visible. Not too long ago, much more of the wreck could be seen, but it has been covered by sand (and perhaps parts of it have washed away). Recently, part of it was uncovered again, possibly as a result of wind/rain/overwash from Hurricane Earl.





It probably won't be much longer until it washes back out to sea, based on how close it is to the water's edge at high tide now.







Elsewhere on the beach, we found a much more recent "shipwreck" artifact, this part of a (modern) boat.

Ponies up close

I am a member of the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society, which is a great thing because it means I get to keep up with what is happening with North Carolina's lighthouses (Bodie Island restoration project is a good recent example) through their newsletter and also support a good cause. Once a year, the OBLHS has an annual gathering, usually at or near one of the Outer Banks lighthouses. I hadn't been to one in several years, but this year it was here on Ocracoke. When the Society gets together, they arrange several fun and educational events, and this year was no exception. They managed to put so many fun activities into Saturday that it is worthy of several blogs, so this is the first one.

The first activity of the day was learning about the Ocracoke ponies. Laura, the NPS caretaker for the ponies, met the group at the pony pen and told us all about them, while we enjoyed watching a few of them eat breakfast.





Then, Laura took us back into the barn area, for an up close visit with some of the ponies.