Writing

Writing is an interesting endeavor. I usually enjoy the final product, but sometimes hate the process. I'll sit and stare at my blank laptop screen, wondering where to start and think "why did I volunteer to write this article?" I sometimes even get partway through something, which hasn't started to "gel" yet, and think "what the heck do I think I'm doing here? I can't write!" The seriously funny thing is when I go back and read my work months, weeks, or sometimes even as soon as just days later, I often think "hey, that's not bad...did I actually write that?"

Blogging is a different type of writing for me. I'm much less formal here, and often use colloquialisms or odd phrases. It's an interesting sensation to wonder whether my readers will hear a sentence like "What's that about?" in their minds the way I hear it in mine and therefore the way I intend it to be heard. It's this need to trust that my audience will find what I mean that makes writing a real challenge. Which is why I'll probably never give it up...even when I'm sitting and staring at a blank Word document or blog entry form and wondering why I'm doing this again.

Ferry schedule changes

I received this in email recently and thought it might be of interest to some of the blog readers, so here you go!

FERRY DIVISION ANNOUNCES CHANGES TO HATTERAS-OCRACOKE
WINTER SCHEDULE
Number of runs reduced to lower fuel costs

MANNS HARBOR — The North Carolina Department of Transportation's Ferry Division today announced changes to its schedule at the Hatteras to Ocracoke route in an effort to reduce fuel.

Ferries are now making hourly runs instead of half-hour runs from 5 a.m. until midnight daily, based upon traffic demands. Double ender vessels will be used on first and second runs to increase capacity and ensure vendor traffic is handled. The 10 p.m. departure will not run unless there is significant traffic.

An amended schedule will be run over the holidays to allow for visitors. From Nov. 25-30 and from Dec. 16 to Jan. 5, 2009, half hour runs will be added from 10:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., with the hourly runs continuing as stated above. Also if traffic is heavy, half hour runs will be added as early as 7:30 a.m. through as late as 6:30 p.m.

Additional ferries will be available to assist with traffic, if needed, and a contingency plan is in place in the event of special circumstances.

Sick

Everyone in my house has been sick this week, including me. I guess that's what we get for exposing ourselves to so many people on Saturday! It's nothing major (we all have colds). It's probably hardest on poor Connor, since he still gets most of his calories through a bottle - it's difficult to suck on a bottle when you can't breathe through your nose! Poor little guy...

Anyway, I have several blogs in draft and need to get caught up for the month of October...but it may be a few days before I do so!

Lost and found

I have often wondered why it is that people seem to lose their shoes on and around the roads on Ocracoke (and many other places). I have seen sneakers, flip flops, boots, and all manner of other footwear (usually singles, but sometimes full pairs) in the middle of, by the side of, and sometimes hanging from power lines over, roads everywhere I have lived. What's that about?

Music, dancing, and stories

I spent a highly entertaining evening at Deep Water Theater tonight. First, there was an Ocrafolk Opry show, which was excellent as always. It was shorter than the shows usually are, though, to allow time for the next fun portion of the night: a traditional Ocracoke square dance.

Philip Howard taught the enthusiastic group (mostly participants in this week's Ocrafolk School sessions) the basic moves, and then called them through the first dance. It looked like everyone enjoyed themselves, although many of them were commenting that dancing is good exercise, and most left after the first round. A smaller group did one more dance, during which I danced with Philip (Merle, who had been his partner for the first dance, decided to sit the second dance out). I always enjoy square dancing with Philip, as he is really great at swinging me around. Tonight, he tried to get me dizzy by swinging us around over and over, but only succeeded in making himself dizzy. It was pretty funny.

My favorite part of the evening, though, was after the event was over. I happened to walk out with Philip, and he told me several funny stories about O'cockers, some of whom are no longer alive. I always love hearing about the lives of the people whose families have made this island home for generations.

Saturday of sales

Before I lived on Ocracoke, I didn't like yard sales. I didn't go to them, and the few times I held one (before moving), I didn't enjoy the process: people showing up at 6 AM (when you've advertised the sale starts at 7 AM) and banging on the door because they want the best deal, folks barging into my house (even after I've informed them that everything that's for sale is outside), and bargain hunters complaining when I explain that I'm asking 50 dollars, not 50 cents, for that entire set of knives which is worth about $250 are just a few examples. I was not a fan of yard sales at all.

On Ocracoke, I love yard sales. They usually start later, no one does any banging or barging, and haggling is minimal or skipped entirely. I've purchased some terrific things at island yard sales, and even enjoyed them even when I didn't buy anything.

I will be in yard sale heaven on Saturday Nov. 8th. There are three sales planned:
- one on the lawn of the Pony Island Inn, to raise money for the Ocracoke Youth Center (starts at 9 AM)
- one at the Methodist church (also starting at 9 AM; they'll be selling food (sandwiches/soup/bake sale items) later too)
- one at the Assembly of God church (this one starts at 7 AM, and they also will be selling food (I think they said fried chicken, but don't remember for sure) at this one as well

Sounds like I have another full Saturday ahead of me!

An interesting way to shop

I just learned about woot.com, which offers an interesting way to shop. They sell one item per day. A new one is posted at midnight (central time), and expires at 11:59 PM or when it sells out (whichever comes first, obviously). But the best part about the site is that it's funny. The item descriptions, blogs, FAQs, even the job postings for working at woot.com are well written and hilarious. Check it out - you may enjoy it, even if you don't buy anything (I haven't yet, although I've spent plenty of time on the site).

Great book

I just finished a book which I enjoyed very much, called The Shack. I found it thought provoking, faith building, and awe inspiring. You can learn more about this novel here. If you read it, I hope you enjoy it!

A full day

A typical statement you hear around here this time of year is about how much quieter the island is. That is basically true, but sometimes we locals take a bit too much advantage of the off season down time, and fill it up with activities ourselves.

Today, I went to several events. It started with baby play group in the morning - a fun time of watching a group of lively toddlers have a blast playing with toys and each other. I especially enjoyed watching Connor watch them.

In the afternoon, I attended a baby shower for Jason and Brooke Wells, to celebrate the impending arrival of their first baby, a boy (Griffin John-Ivey). The food at the shower was terrific (one of my favorite items was the blue M&Ms with Griffin's name on half of them and "It's a Boy" on the other half), and Jason and Brooke were indeed showered with gifts and blessings.

Then, there was the evening activity: the annual "October birthdays" potluck at Sundae's house. It was a time of more excellent food and plenty of great conversation.

It was a very full day, and I was tired at the end of it...but it was fun, and I wouldn't have missed a minute!

Halloween carnival

There are many children living on Ocracoke, and the community enjoys celebrating them. There are several times of year when kids are center stage, but the two biggest ones are Christmas (visits from Santa, parties, church pageants, etc., etc.) and Halloween. Near the end of October every year, there's a huge party at the school. It starts with a costume parade and includes a carnival (in the completely transformed school gym), a cake walk, a haunted house, and an evening of Bingo. It's a lot of fun, and everyone goes all out: the kids on their costumes, and the adults on ensuring the kids have a blast.

Here are a few pictures from the event.

Connor went as the cutest jack o lantern in the pumpkin patch.

Mariah's "barrel of monkeys" costume won the prize for "funniest".


Charlotte made an adorable cheerleader. And Marcy still fits into her high school letter jacket!


Here are a couple of general shots of the parade. The kids (and parents, especially with the little ones) walk around the circle in front of the school.

Face painting by art teacher Miss Kitty is always a favorite activity at the carnival.

There are games of skill and chance for the kids to enjoy, and plenty of prizes!

The coin toss (onto plates or into bottles) is usually popular - with the adults.

There was a lineup of terrific looking cakes waiting for the cake walk. Yum!

An evening with friends

We enjoyed dinner with our friends Sundae, Rob and their kids Emmet, Caroline and Mariah this evening. I had made a cake, because I had a recipe I wanted to try, but other than that we decided to keep the meal very simple: we ordered pizza from Jason's. John and Rob went to pick it up for us. When they got back, Rob commented that the "tourists were outnumbered by the locals" in the restaurant. That's definitely true this time of year, when things have slowed down as the season wanes. Come to think of it, that's the reason we had time to spend an evening having dinner, chatting, and playing a board game with our friends!

Drinks at the dock

We went out tonight to have drinks with friends. We drove over to Oyster Creek, across the first bridge, turned right and parked in an empty lot. Walking across the grass, we reached the dock and boarded their house. They live on a boat, at least at the moment. It was cozy and comfortable, with just enough space for the six of us (and the baby) to sit and chat while enjoying the wine and snacks our hosts graciously provided. The boat swayed mildly in the wind, and every now and then we would hear the water lapping against it or the dock. It was an enjoyable evening.

Several people live on boats around here, for varying reasons. For some, it's a good way to start the process of moving to the island: they work hard (sometimes multiple jobs) while saving to buy a house, or a lot on which to build one. For our friends, it's a place to live while their own home is rented as a vacation cottage, helping make ends meet. John and I actually considered buying a boat to live on for a while ourselves. That's one of the things about Ocracoke: many people who love it here will do what it takes - working several jobs, living in small spaces, etc - to stay.

"Small" storm?

John, Connor and I went out of town this past weekend. We left early Saturday morning, and came back late Sunday night. It was raining as we left on Saturday. I didn't think anything of it, and wasn't concerned about the weather at all.

Driving back on Sunday, I realized there had been some kind of storm when I started seeing water and sand on Highway 12 shortly after crossing the Bonner Bridge onto Hatteras. The worst spot was, as always, just above and in the northern section of Rodanthe. We were able to get through, and continued down the island to the ferry and home. It was dark as we made our trip, so we had no idea at the time what kind of damage (if any) the storm had brought.

Now, thanks to islandfreepress, I do know about the damage. For a small storm, it had plenty of impact. There's a slideshow of pictures here.

Nice neighbors

When you live on an island, you should really check on what the weather is supposed to bring on a very regular basis. Especially if you are going out of town, in which case you should not only check, but also take any appropriate action, such as securing loose outside objects if wind is expected.

This past weekend, "should" was the operative word...we went out of town and did none of the above. Whoops.

Apparently there was a small storm of some sort, which brought high winds to the island. Luckily for us, we have terrific neighbors. Someone did us the favor of taking down the umbrella in our outside (glass) table.

I'm not sure who it was, but I'm certainly grateful. And next time I'll check the weather before running off for a day and a half!

Happy Birthday Alex!

I love visiting my friend Julie's son Alex, who is about 6 months older than Connor. It's like a sneak preview of where Connor will be and what he will be doing soon. This weekend, we (Connor, John and I) got to see Alex enjoy his first birthday. It was fun watching him eat cake for the first time, unwrap and play with his new toys, and hit the pinata (with a little help from his Daddy...)


Mmmm...that looks delicious...


Yep, it IS delicious!


The paper is almost more fun than the presents!


They told me there's good stuff inside that cow!


Connor enjoyed Alex's play piano very much.

Now I have to start thinking about what to do for Connor's first birthday. Or maybe not, since I have six months to plan...

Small green things

I was driving about 65 miles an hour on Highway 40 yesterday when I noticed a small green lizard-like animal (possibly an anole) clinging for dear life to my windscreen. I felt awful for the little guy, as I saw him struggling to stay attached although the wind was working hard to pry him loose.

I hate to stop on the side of a highway. It feels dangerous and scary to me to pull off the road, and even more so to pull back onto it. It's also nerve wracking to actually get out of a car parked on the side of a road on which the traffic is going at least 65 miles an hour, whizzing by the door (and my body).

That said, I couldn't bear to watch my little green friend lose his struggle. So I pulled off the highway as far as I could (my right wheels were in the grass), got out of the car, and got him to jump off my car onto the ground. I managed to pull safely back into traffic, and was really glad I had stopped. It is important to take care of the things on which we can have an impact (positive or negative) - whether they are small green things or the entire large green and blue planet.

Okay, that's my soapbox for the day. Please try to do your part to take care of the earth, wherever you are...

Covered up in catalogs

I swear, every year, Christmas shopping starts earlier and earlier. Here on Ocracoke we don't notice it as much, since we don't have Target or WalMart or Food Lion to walk into and see that they are already starting to sell Christmas goodies. But there's another way I notice that the shopping season is upon us: my mailbox gets stuffed to bursting with catalogs. This is partially my own fault, as I am a catalog shopper so once I get on someone's list as a "live one", I'm quite sure they sell my name and address to 32 other catalog companies, and it's off to the races. Right now, there's a small pile (okay, some people would say large...there are 8 catalogs in it) on my couch. And those are just the ones that I brought home from the Post Office - I threw several away!

I'm having a deja vu moment here. Have I already blogged about this? If so, please accept my apologies for the repeat. And now, I'm going to go read some catalogs...

Ocracoke on the small screen

By now you already know about the Outer Banks being featured on the big screen in the movie Nighs in Rodanthe. Now here's the new news: tomorrow night, Ocracoke will be featured on the small screen. The weekly UNC-TV show called "North Carolina Weekend" will include a segment on Fall Fishing. The unctv.org website describes it this way: "Clay Johnson profiles the fish and fishermen that make Ocracoke a special place to be when the weather gets cool." The show airs Thursday Oct. 16th at 9 PM. Enjoy!

Chicken dinner!

I was recently asked by a visitor to the island where he could get a "cheap, home cooking type meal". I told him that "cheap" would be difficult, and named a restaurant which is somewhat more "home cooking" than "upscale dining". I then told him that the fact there isn't a place like that on the island - serving, say, fried chicken or meatloaf or other comfort foods - is the reason that any fundraiser dinner which offers either chicken or barbecue is immediately mobbed.

Ocracoke Child Care is planning a fundraiser of BBQ chicken, which I know will be swamped, so I'm planning to go early. If you will be here on Oct. 29th, and you like BBQ chicken, you should go too. It's for a good cause, and I'm sure the food will be yummy. But get there as soon as possible after it starts!

Here are all the details:
$10 per dinner (includes drink)
Wednesday October 29th at 4:00 PM
Ocracoke Community Center

You can take your dinner home or eat it there. There will also be a bake sale and T-shirt raffle.

An outing to see an outhouse

I hopped on my bike this afternoon and rode around the corner to Debbie Wells' house, to see her outhouse. Yes, really. This is not just any outhouse, though...it's one of the original outbuildings from the Berkeley Manor property. Debbie told me the story of how - and why - she moved it from there to her back yard, which was quite a feat. I wrote an article about it for the Ocracoke Observer, so check that out if you want to know more.

Clear

Nights have been beautifully clear recently, and I have enjoyed stepping outside before heading to bed, to look at the moon.



Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and see the moonlight streaming through the windows, casting a silver glow which makes the edges of everything fuzzy. It's very peaceful, and a great light in which to go back to sleep.

Money grows on...

...myrtle trees. Or at least it seemed that way at Howard's Pub tonight. A group of people gathered to listen to Gary, Dave, Marcy and Lou play and to wish safe travels to Katy Mitchell, who is leaving for California soon. Our gift to her was a traditional "money tree", and there was plenty of good natured encouragement as we exhorted everyone who stopped by the table to add their bills to the bush.



Katy also entertained the crowd with a couple of songs.



I bet she'll find a crowd of fans on the West coast, to add to the East coast contingent.

"Never doubt...

...that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
- Margaret Mead

Yesterday's blog mentioned the fact that the Virginian Pilot would no longer be delivered on Ocracoke. Well, that's no longer the case. A small group of citizens sent emails and letters and made phone calls to the decision maker on the matter, and the plan was reversed. Maybe it was a medium sized group making the contacts - it was obviously enough to have an impact!

As a result, the newspaper will continue to be available every day, in vending stands at a handful of spots, and individual home boxes all over the village. So we won't have to use the "we live on an island" excuse after all. :)

The times they are a' changin...

I chatted for a few minutes with an older Ocracoker today. She said "when I was growing up, every day there were 2 milk trucks, 2 bread trucks, 3 people in the Post Office, and 3 newspapers delivered".

Here's what it's like today.

There's one milk truck (and it stops at the Variety Store and The Community Store to deliver milk in plastic cartons, not at individual homes to drop off glass bottles with cream on top).

There isn't an old fashioned "bread truck" (remember those?), although there is of course bread at the aforementioned stores.

There are currently only 2 people working in the Post Office on a daily basis, although that's because one of them is on loan to another Post Office on Hatteras.

There is only one newspaper delivered on the island - the Virginian Pilot. (You can get the Raleigh News & Observer mailed to you, but you receive Monday's paper on Tuesday, Tuesday's on Wednesday, etc. In this day and age of TV and internet news, that's hardly useful.) And the delivery of the Pilot is about to cease, according to an announcement posted in the Post Office. So then there won't be any newspaper delivery. Good thing we have TV and internet news, or we'd be really behind on current events. I guess we could always use the excuse that we live on an island, though!

Now here's the cool part of the story. I finished talking with the lady right at noon, and as I left the building (her workplace), I noticed a guy in a truck just sitting there. He was waiting to pick her up for lunch. I suspect he does that every day, right at noon. Isn't that sweet? I like that the important things don't change. As I was leaving, I heard the church bells chiming (it was noon, remember?), which made me think of a great song which fits the topic:

Hey, time won't wait
Life goes by
Every day's a brand new sky
Every tear comes to dry

All that really matters in this crazy world
Is you and I together baby just remember
The first leaves of the trees
The way you look at me
A thousand chiming church bells ring
The simple things are free
The sun, the moon, the stars
The beating of two hearts
How I love the simple things
The simple things just are

Keep it simple, wherever you are...

Mosquito repellant

I got an email a while ago which presented a list of little known "facts". Things like "you can clean a toilet bowl with Coke" and "there are 18 different animal shapes in the Animal Crackers zoo". I have no clue whether any of them are true (I suppose the Animal Crackers one would be pretty easy to verify, though) but there was one which I sincerely hope is NOT correct. It said "mosquito repellant doesn't repel; it hides you".

Now, I don't know about you, but I want my mosquito repellant to be, well, repellant. Not "hider". With something which merely "hides" me, the pesky creatures could bump into me entirely by mistake, even though they didn't realize I was there. And they would, I assure you, make a meal of my blood even though finding me was an accident. They would think of it as a happy accident. Lucky for them, not so much for me.

No, I want mosquitos to smell me with repellant on and be horribly repelled. I mean disgusted. I want them to get one whiff and think "eeeewww, there is something nasty over there; it smells like bad garbage combined with old eggs and rotten skunk." I want them to strongly desire to not go anywhere near anything that smells that terrible. That would work for me.

Can you tell that the mosquitoes have been out in force and - quite literally - bugging me recently? The bug spray truck has been coming by every night - sometimes twice a night - but the miniature vampires (at least the ones that live near my house) are apparently immune. They have been so bad that I recently saw a couple taking a short walk down Howard Street wearing long pants, closed shoes, socks (tucked in to the shoes), and full coats with hoods - they had very little exposed skin, and it wasn't cold. I'm not kidding.

Hope there aren't a million mosquitoes in your neck of the woods, wherever you are...

Meeting of the minds...

I attended a meeting this evening of the planning group for the Ocrafolk School. I was struck by how everyone at the meeting (and there were several people, including most of the class instructors) was passionate about ensuring that the week of classes would be both educational and enjoyable for the participants. The hardest part of the process is ensuring it will not be overwhelming: all the planners love Ocracoke so deeply, we want to share as much of it as possible. We had to keep ourselves in check and remember not to plan so many activities that the class attendees would be exhausted, but enough that they would get a taste of Ocracoke.

Would you like to attend something that was planned by people who care that much about your experience? You should think about coming to next year's Ocrafolk School. (Unfortunately, it's too late to register for this year.)

A trip to the movies

I went up the beach with a group of 5 people (and 1 dog!) today. We went to Kitty Hawk to see the movie Nights in Rodanthe. Well, most of us saw the movie: the dog (Abner) had to stay in the van!

I enjoyed the movie well enough, although the sad ending was depressing (even though I knew what was coming, having read the book). The best part of the movie was seeing several of my friends in one of the scenes, and their names in the credits!

The best part of the day was the drive - we shared stories, told jokes, talked about a wide variety of topics, enjoyed an excellent meal together after the movie, and just generally enjoyed each other's company.

We arrived home 10 hours after we left, but it was a great way to spend an afternoon and evening.

A rare sight

There was a traffic jam - I mean a real one, with a line of cars sitting still for several minutes - on Hwy 12 today. That doesn't happen very often. I happened to be riding by on my bike, and I made it to the corner long before any of the people in these vehicles, even after I stopped to take this picture!



The cause of this snarl was the fact that one of the village ambulances was stopped at the corner (where the Slushy Stand ice cream shop is). The person they had come to assist was fine, luckily. She had fallen but was not as badly hurt as first thought.

Take care of yourself, and watch out for traffic!

Anniversary sail

I have been lucky enough to go sailing on the Schooner Windfall several times this year, most recently with John this evening in celebration of our 10th wedding anniversary. It was a beautiful night, completely still and calm out on the water. Which is not terrific for sailing, of course! But we still had a great time, and enjoyed watching a gorgeous sunset.


Passengers helping raise the sails.


Sailing makes Connor sleepy, I guess!


You can see how still the water was...it was practically like a pond!



On my walk back to the car, I saw a couple of lovely sights.

I almost missed...

...seeing a Molasses Creek concert this season. But I barely squeezed one in..I went to the last show tonight. Whew!

Here are a few pictures. Enjoy...and try not to miss things you love (especially don't miss the last one, even if it's only the last one for a while...)


Abner enjoyed the show too.


Kitty doing her goofy pose before the song "Bottled Water Tears" (which cracks me up every time I hear it!)


The amazing "draw a funny scene to music" part of the evening.


The final picture.


Lachlan enjoyed the first few songs, but then fell asleep. So cute...

The next generation

I went to the Ocrafolk concert this evening (the last one of the season...sniff), and thoroughly enjoyed it as usual. One of my favorite moments was watching this group - the music club from the school - performing. It felt like a sneak preview of Ocrafolk Opry shows to come... They are darn talented!