So...

I quit blogging for a while. It was a very full and also unusual year in my life last year. My sister got married on July 1st, so I was busy helping her plan and get ready, and also planning a shower for her. Then in August, we transitioned Connor to living with her...or we thought we did. It turned out he had to come back and live with John and me again for a while after the first transition. So then in October, there was a second transition. Getting used to living without him has been hard. And for several months (during the first transition, and immediately after the second and final one), it seemed like I was off the island more than I was on it.

Anyway, something had to give. That something was blogging.

I've actually sort of enjoyed the break, so I'm not sure yet whether I'm coming back to blogging or not. I strongly suspect it will not be daily ever again. Maybe I'll rename the blog. Maybe not.

Easter services

In case you are on the island for the Easter weekend, here's the schedule of planned services for Sunday:
- Sunrise Service - 6 AM, Lifeguard Beach
- United Methodist Church - 11 AM Service
- Assembly of God Church - 11 AM Service

Happy Easter!

Toni was smarter than they thought...

My Mom and I attended the final performance of "We Must Kill Toni" today, and it was terrific! The cast was made up of 5 Ocracoke School students, all of whom did a great job and had many lines to memorize. The set was amazing...the Community Center was completely transformed! Oh, and don't worry...they didn't kill Toni. She was a smart cookie.

Breakfast with a bunny?

Does this sound like fun or what? I may have to take Connor.



Breakfast With The EASTER BUNNY!
Pony Island Restaurant
Friday, April 22nd 8-10am
Percentage of proceeds go to Ocracoke Child Care

Spring auction

SPRING AUCTION!

On the front lawn of the OPS Museum

Wednesday, April 20th

Preview 4:30; Auction begins @ 5:00

Please come bid on (and take home) some treasures.

Furniture, artwork, linens, antiques, too many unique items to
mention…come see for yourself!
~Visa and Mastercard accepted~

I hope...

...that it doesn't go straight from cold to hot (i.e. skip spring). The weatherman is predicting temps in the 80s next week!

New menu

I didn't get to go to the Cafe Atlantic's first open night of the season as I was off the island all day today (left on the 7 AM ferry, came home on the 10 PM...no wonder I'm tired!) But I did get to see their new menu thanks to the wonders of technology (it was posted on facebook). There weren't any major changes that I noticed. I'm looking forward to going to check it out in person as soon as I can.

Re-opening

Things are starting to reopen for the season around here.

Here are a handful of dates I've heard about when some of my favorites will be open again.

Cafe Atlantic - 4/1

Flying Melon - 4/7

Ocracoke Coffee Company - 4/8

Sloppy lunch

I have several blogs in draft about the rest of my vacation, and I'll get them posted once I've had some time to upload the photos.

In the meantime, here's some info. that you'll like if you're hungry for lunch and on the island on Thursday. (Assuming, of course, that you like either hot dogs or Sloppy Joes. I happen to love Sloppy Joes and can't remember the last time I had one, so I like this info. very much.)

OUMC Lunch
Hot dogs and Stella's homemade Sloppy Joes, plus baked goods and drinks
Thursday March 31 at 11 AM
Methodist Church Rec Hall

Yum. I'm officially craving a big ol' sloppy Sloppy Joe now...

What season is it?

Just when it seems like spring has sprung, today was gray and downright cold. I am really ready for spring to come and stay, rather than this back and forth between warm and chilly weather.

Glass...beads and otherwise

Today's craft adventures involved glass. First, we made watches using glass beads. (I was too busy obsessing about what color beads to use on my watch to take any pictures.)

Then, we made glass etchings. Several of them. Seven, to be exact. What can I say? I liked the designs, the etching process itself was fun and easy to do, and I thought why not have one in nearly every room in the house?

Here we are prepping the glass.



A couple of the designs in progress.

Jewelry, cooking, and mystery

We had a very full day today at Massanutten! In the morning, we made jewelry (matching bracelet and earring sets). I can't wear anything other than gold in my ears, unfortunately, but I still had fun making a set for my sister! Here's a picture of my Mom working to get her beads in just the order she wants them.



After jewelry class, Mom and I went back to the condo to get John and the three of us attended a cooking demonstration, and enjoyed a wonderful lunch to boot. (We got to eat what was demonstrated - a delicious fruit salad, veal marsala, and bananas foster. Yum.)

Here's our chef flambeeing the bananas foster.



I didn't know until this demo that chef toques have holes in the tops. It makes sense, of course, to keep cool heads in the kitchen...it was just something I hadn't known until I saw the top of the chef's hat in the demo mirror.



Finally, tonight, Jocelyn and Mom and I went to the Murder Mystery Dinner. (Yes, it was a major eating day!) The food was good and the show was really fun. We didn't win the prize, unfortunately, as we over-thought the question of whodunit.

Pretty ladies, wearing their new jewelry sets.



The murder mystery play cast. Don't ask what a goth, a lady detective, a cheerleader, a guy pretending to be a detective, a woman with a dog in her purse and a funky steam punk girl have in common...it would take too long to explain!

Glass and balloons

Today, we acted quite glassy. :) We went to glass etching class, and etched to our hearts' content. Between Mom, John and me, we made 7 items! Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pictures of the final product, but here are a few of the work in progress.



The train is for Connor. Yes, the Princess one is for me, of course!



As if that wasn't enough fun for one day, the evening show was a blast. It was a magician/comedian/balloon artist. And just in case you think that sounds corny, it wasn't. This guy made some seriously amazing balloons, and made his show hilarious and engaging from start to finish. I took loads of photos, but I'll just share a few that give a sense for how amazing the balloons were.





Sir Connor, Knight of the Balloon Brotherhood.

Basket cases

In our ongoing quest to become complete craft-nuts, today my mom and I made baskets.

This is our teacher Janet getting the materials ready.



The "before" shot - Mom with her base, soon to become the bottom of a napkin basket.



And "after" - aren't we cute little basket cases?

Crafty

I mentioned in yesterday's blog that Massanutten has many activities to choose from. Lots of those activities are craft classes...and learning to do new craft activities is one of my favorite things to do. (Yes, I know...I don't need another hobby! But anyway...)

Today's class was "Handmade Greeting Cards", and it was a good one. I had thought we might be doing something a bit goofy, like stamping, but it actually was different, and much better than expected. We used decorative paper and designs created by the class leader Nancy (an art teacher and very creative person) to make some lovely cards. I'm planning to start giving them away soon!

Here's a photo of my mom working on one of her cards, under Nancy's helpful eye.



And this photo gives a better sense of the cards themselves.

Off island, maybe still daily

I will be out of town for the next week, enjoying a family vacation at Massanutten Resort, in the mountains of Virginia. So the blog for the next few days won't be island related. It may or may not still be daily. (Depends how busy I am with all my vacation fun. This resort has many, many activities, and I'm planning to stay pretty busy.)

Here are a couple of pictures of the view from our condo.

The mountains (and other parts of the resort) in the distance.



The ski slopes (closed now for the season).

Why...

am I so disorganized when it comes to packing to go on vacation? It's really pretty ridiculous, since I need to leave at a particular time of morning to make the ferry...so it's not like I have the luxury of dawdling. But I do this to myself every time. At least I'm consistent!

Firemen's Ball

Story time

Donald Davis has written a new book, called "Stories from a Free Range Childhood", and he'll be sharing stories from it on Friday April 1st at Deep Water Theater. I always love to hear Donald tell stories, but will unfortunately have to miss this particular event as I'll be off the island that day. Darn!

Meeting tomorrow

If you want to make your voice heard about the potential ferry fees, there is a meeting tomorrow night (Wed. 3/16) at the Community Center. Hyde County Manager Mazie Smith is planning to be at the meeting.

I, however, am not. I have to go to Virginia Beach tomorrow for a follow up appointment and will not be back on time.

Someone go for me and tell them that I think a moderate fee for visitors is appropriate, but that there should not be fees for full time permanent residents. I'm afraid if we try to go with a "guns blazing" NO FEES approach, it will backfire. Obviously the state needs the ferry system to generate some revenue, so a reasonable, meet in the middle solution will be better received. That's my two cents, anyway. Wish I could go to the meeting to share it!