George Hamilton IV

This morning Grand Ole Opry star George Hamilton IV performed at church, and reminded me Whose opinion of me is the only one that matters.



Some day the silver cord will break,
And I no more as now shall sing;
But oh, the joy when I shall wake
Within the palace of the King!

Chorus:
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story Saved by grace;
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story Saved by grace.

Some day my earthly house will fall.
I cannot tell how soon 'twill be;
But this I know my All in All
Has now a place in Heav'n for me.


At the end of the service, Jamie sang a lovely benediction, which seemed to be a message for me too. It may bless you as well, especially if you ever feel overwhelmed by life like I occasionally do.


May you run and not be weary
May your heart be filled with song
And may the love of God continue to give you hope and keep you strong
And may you run and not be weary
May your life be filled with joy!
And may the road you travel always lead you home.

Be blessed, wherever you are!

OVFD Fireman's Ball

The annual OVFD Fireman's Ball was a smashing success this year, as usual. It was very well attended, the barbecue was delicious, and the auction was a heap of fun. (Of course, I very much enjoyed the auction, since I won a piece of the decommissioned Windfall, and my wonderful friend Jamie won (and then gave me) my hat from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Thanks, Jamie!

Caught up...and why I might "disappear" again

I finally got annoyed tonight at how far behind the blog has been. So I sat down about 2 hours ago, started typing, and got caught up. Now, here comes a long, stream of consciousness blog about why I might stop blogging entirely.

I started this blog because I wanted to work on my writing. I thought that if I had a "structure" which encouraged me to write every day, I would do so. It mostly worked, although there were many days I skipped writing and then caught up later. The reason I wanted to write every day was I believed (and still believe) that, generally speaking, people get better at anything they practice every day. I wanted to get better at writing. Therefore, I needed to write every day. This is a big part of the reason I named the blog "Island Daily". (Another part was simply that I liked the way that particular phrase sounded.)

So that all worked - the structure of the blog and the name (which I took as a personal challenge) certainly encouraged me to write, if not daily, at least often. Something else happened that I hadn't expected, though. When I decided to write daily in a public space, I started getting feedback. I had expected - and partially even hoped for - that. What I hadn't been able to anticipate, however, was the types of feedback I would get. And I got many kinds - praising, questioning, argumentative, positive, neutral. I didn't publish every comment I received, but I read - and felt - every single one.

Which brings me to the other thing I hadn't anticipated - the way any feedback (or even a complete lack of feedback) would affect me. Plainly put, I care far too deeply what others think of me. All kinds of feedback had some effect on me. When I got positive feedback like "I read your blog every day", I would think "I had better blog consistently so I won't disappoint that person". I responded to argumentative feedback by feeling defensive, and sometimes I was even rude or snarky in response. When I got no feedback at all (especially for long periods), I questioned whether anyone was even reading the blog, which brought me back to thinking about why I was writing it in the first place - if it was for me, to practice my writing, why did I care whether anyone was reading it?

What I now see started happening as a result of my feelings about the feedback was that the way I wrote (including what topics I chose, and whether I wrote much at all or just posted pictures or copied and pasted items I'd received from others) was becoming, for lack of a better term, managed by my feelings about the feedback. I would think "oh, if I write this, someone will think..." and so I would erase that sentence, or add another to explain it.

I realized that the writing voice I put out here on Island Daily wasn't necessarily a reflection of who I am when two separate commenters called me "pollyanna-ish". I initially thought that these were obviously people who don't know me, because I'm far from pollyanna. I'm seriously cynical, terribly judgmental much more of the time than I should be, often melancholy, and occasionally bordering on becoming a total misanthrope. My life is actually very difficult, much too full, and sometimes mind numbingly boring in its daily sameness (many days, I really just don't have anything to write about). But that person didn't show so much on the blog. Which, in a way, was okay. Island Daily was the place where I intentionally focused on the positive, and on the amazing blessings that are a part of my life because I live on Ocracoke Island.

It was also the place where I was intentionally trying to find my voice. When I started blogging, I had been married for several years, and had recently found myself talking (and thinking) in plural all the time ("we" did this, "we" are planning that). So I was very specific, when I started blogging, to write in first person and try to make it about my life as an individual human being (even though I just happen to be one half of a married couple). This probably sounds ridiculous to any of you who have not struggled with this issue, but it was huge and important for me.

So where am I going with all this? Well, that individual voice I was trying to find got lost somewhere along the way of having to deal with the feelings I had when I received feedback from readers. Because I was managing my writing based on thinking about how readers would react, that wasn't really finding my individual voice, was it?

I've been thinking about all of this for a while, processing through it in my mind, but not writing it down. But oddly, I noticed that the last few hours of writing I did, the catch-up blog posts (starting with the one dated May 10, and with the exception of the May 23rd one, which is mostly copied/pasted) - all of which were written before I wrote this post, but after I had been thinking about it for a few days - seemed to flow from me more easily, and feel more like my own voice, than...well, than all the blogs before them. I'm not sure what that means, or if it means anything.

I know that my writing benefits greatly from reading, and I've been reading a lot lately. So I think perhaps I'm going to be in a "receiving" phase for a while, where I take in what others have written but don't "put out there" (for public consumption) anything I write myself. Or maybe not. I really don't know.

I guess ultimately what I'm saying is that Island Daily may not be daily for a while. Or maybe it never will be daily again (perhaps it never truly was daily in the first place). I may simply post a blog when I want to - when I feel like I have something to say, or when I have a picture I would like to share. (I am not, however, going to change the name - Island Occasionally just sounds wrong.) Or I may never publish another post again. I don't know, and I'm intentionally leaving it open ended. Any future blogs may also sound quite different, as I continue to find my voice, which may mean choosing to show some of the darker sides of my nature.

I was given this quote at the end of the writer's workshop I took a few years ago: "It is impossible to discourage the real writers - they don't give a damn what you say, they're going to write." (Sinclair Lewis) I aspire to be that writer, and perhaps when I've found my voice enough to do so without wondering or worrying (or even considering) what blog readers might think, I'll do some real writing here. In my own voice.

In the meantime, until I start blogging again (or perhaps for all time, if I don't ever start blogging again), I truly do wish you well (I'm not a total misanthrope), wherever you are...

Oh, and one last thing for any of you ABC readers reading this and freaking out that you're never going to see a picture of Connor again: don't worry...all of the above doesn't apply to ABC. I don't seem to have any trouble writing in Connor's voice!

Ocracoke's got talent

I went to the Ocracoke School Talent Show tonight, and had my faith in humanity restored. (Well, partially at least. I doubt it will ever be fully restored.) I did, however, get to see many things which moved me greatly and reminded me that people can be wonderfully good.

I took pictures of the performances, and I'll post them later. But they don't show the most important things I saw.

I saw lots of brave and talented kids showing off their skills - at music, dancing, acrobatics, and even magic tricks.

I saw an audience transfixed by - and proud of - THEIR kids, even though many in the audience weren't directly related to any of the kids performing.

I saw a seventh grader jump up and pump his arms with pride for one of his friends who had just performed.

I saw a fourth grader blow the crowd away with his piano solo, and then saw all his fourth grade friends give him fist bumps for doing such a great job.

And I saw evidence that Lou doesn't just play "anything with strings" (which is how I've often described him) - he plays the drums, too!

Homemade ice cream and new friends

I met some new friends last weekend - a couple named Gary and Trisha, who recently bought a house on the island, which they are planning to move into next summer to live here full time. Tonight, they had an open house to celebrate not only their home, but also the new friends they have made over the course of being here while getting it renovated and furnished (I met them in the Thrift Store, where they bought a chest of drawers and a lamp for one of the bedrooms). Gary and Trisha received an ice cream maker for Christmas, so this particular open house involved 6 different flavors of homemade ice cream. I tried three of the six, and all were delicious. Now these are the kind of new friends I like! (Just kidding, I like all kinds of new friends...but it doesn't hurt to have homemade ice cream. Or chocolate.)

Spider season

I love spiders. Outside. No, seriously, I do really love the fact that spiders eat lots of bugs. In addition to that, I think spider webs are one of the most divinely beautiful things on earth, especially when they are just slightly moist with morning dew and the early light hits them just right.

I do not, however, like walking through them in the morning, regardless of whether they are slightly moist with morning dew and lit up with lovely light or not. This morning, I nearly did just that but luckily happened to see the enormous web stretching from the edge of my hammock stand to the edge of our outdoor lamp just before stepping into it.

It seems like all of a sudden I'm seeing more spider webs, and more spiders. I guess spring is spider season, at least around my house.

Officially

Okay, it's official. If God placed me on earth to accomplish a certain number of things, I am now so far behind that I can never die. Of course, I am going to die, so that either means I need to do fewer things (most likely that's it), or I need to figure out how to be more focused and efficient to get things done in a timely manner. I'll work on that. Maybe.

Practice

Tonight, I walked across the street to Marcy's house, sat in her screened porch with several of my favorite women, listened to them sing, and sang with them. It was practice for the Ocrafolk Festival, but it was also sweetness and healing for my soul. Thanks, ladies. You don't know (because I can't express it well) how good you are for me, or how much I love you.

Upcoming events

There are a couple of big weekends in the near future, filled with fun events on the island. First, Memorial Day weekend will kick off the summer season. Here are the things that I know are happening that weekend (I'm sure there are plenty of others):
- yard sales
- Aaron Caswell band at Dajio Saturday night at 4:30 (they are actually playing at Dajio every week, but I think the time is slightly different for this weekend)
- the 5th annual Memorial Day Firemen's Ball on Saturday, which includes a pig pickin', silent and live auctions, and a dance
- special services at both churches, with musical guests performing - country music legend George Hamilton IV will be at the Methodist Church; I don't remember at the moment the name of the group which will be at the Assembly Church, but I believe it's a gospel group

The following weekend (June 4 - 6) is a big one, too: the 11th annual Ocrafolk Festival will be happening then. Here's a recent press release about the Festival.

***
Ocrafolk Festival Program available for download from festival website.


The 2010 Ocrafolk Festival Program is now available for download from http://www.ocrafolkfestival.org (file size is 6.5 MB). The printed program will be available in Ocracoke Village on Thursday, June 3 at the Ocracoke Variety Store & Community Store, and at the Friday night potluck as well as at the information booth on Saturday morning. A detailed map of artisan booth locations will also be available on Saturday morning at the information booth.
***
Schedule Information


Friday June 4
6:00 PM --“Meet the Performers” Pot-Luck
Some main dishes provided for suggested donation (bring a main dish, side dish, dessert or drink)

7:30 PM – Ocrafolk Festival Live Auction Fundraiser
This auction is wild fun! Keep visiting the festival website auction page to see your list of must-haves. All proceeds go to support this year's event! (The Silent Auction is on Saturday)

9:00 PM -- Green Grass Cloggers
– After the auction, sit back and enjoy this great clogging team from Eastern Carolina!


Saturday June 5
9:00 AM-6:00 PM -- Performances, Artisans, Silent Auction


Saturday Evening Events
8:00 PM -- Traditional Ocracoke Squaredance at Ocracoke School Gym (Easy to learn and open to all!)
9:30 PM – Skye Zentz (Deepwater Theater)
9:30 PM – Aaron Caswell Band* (Ocracoke Community Center)
10:30 PM – Mallomar British Invasion Band (Deepwater Theater)
11:00 PM – Songwriter's Circle hosted by Phil Kelly (Deepwater Theater)


Sunday June 6
9:30 AM -- Gospel Sing (Morning Rain Location at Ocracoke Community Center)
11:00 AM -- Services at the Ocracoke Churches
12:00 PM – Kate McNally
1:00 PM -- The Barnraisers
2:00 PM – Scuttlebutt (Bob Zentz & Rick Lee)
3:00 PM -- All Star Jam Finale

Shameless promotion

I have mentioned the Ocrafolk Festival here several times before, and some of my readers may know that I act as the coordinator for the Artisans who display and sell their handmade items during the event. (What that means is that I receive the applications, keep track of them, send a lot of email, and answer many, many questions. Basically, planning. Remember that last blog about how much I love planning?)

Anyway, what you may not know is that this year one of the Artisans is my own husband, John. (Don't worry about nepotism - I have input into, but don't make the final decision on, Artisan selection.)

So here's a bit of shameless promotion for Johnny Martin Jewelry. Come check out his booth at the Festival!

Planning

I love planning. I know, that may be an indication that I need some form of mental health assistance, but it certainly wouldn't be the only indication, so what the hell. I haven't always been the detail-obsessed planning fanatic I am now...I think it's an unexpected consequence of working as a Project Manager for well over a decade. Anyway, in my family, I'm the one who plans the trips - I book hotels, figure out the best places to eat, things to do, sights to see, etc., and put it all on an itinerary - yes, really, an actual written itinerary, usually a spreadsheet - to follow. Not that I'm not interested in or open to those spontaneous things that happen while on vacation - the great finds in out of the way places, like a delicious restaurant in a hole-in-the-wall looking building or a gift shop that sells handblown glass so gorgeous you wish you could buy the whole place. (Been there, done that...and by "done", I mean the wishing, not the buying. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford that whole shop. Or maybe that was fortunately, since there's now a toddler living in my house and if I had many gorgeous hand blown glass pieces strewn about the place they would either be hidden from sight, broken, or causing me great daily stress. But I digress.)

In addition to planning, I also love Disney World. Yes, I admit it, and I make no apologies about it. I'm a major Mickey Mouse fan, and pretty partial to Cinderella and Tinkerbell too. I had a pretty dark childhood, so I'm having a good one now, in my adulthood. I sincerely hope to never outgrow the desire to be childlike, which I find I can do quite well at Disney World. I actually hope that my sister will have a girl someday, not so Connor can have a sister (although that would be wonderful for him), but so I will have an excuse to go to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and get "princessed" with her. I'm not quite crazy enough just to go by myself, without a small female child in tow. Although, I'm close. We'll see.) If you don't know what it means to be "princessed", you're clearly not a Disneyphile or a princess fan, which is just fine. If you think I'm nuts, I'm okay with that too...free to quit reading if it's really bothering you.

Anyway, the combination of loving planning and loving Disney is, of course, meticulous planning of trips to Disney. I'm currently deeply buried in details of our next trip - which is in ... wait for it... 6 months! That's right, we won't be there until November, but I've already booked our hotel reservation, and laid out a plan of what we'll be doing each day. Next up: dining reservations! Now, if you're a Disneyphile, you totally understand this: you know that one must make dining reservations 6 months in advance (or even further in advance, which one can only do if one already has a resort reservation) if one wants to be able to eat at the restaurants of one's choice, at the times of one's choice. (Yes, I'm also a lover of good grammar and occasionally enjoy using "one" in the sense of "the universal you" just because it sounds somewhat snooty and high falutin'.) If you're not a Disneyphile, and you're still reading this blog post, you probably just still think I'm nuts. (Or maybe now you don't, since I explained about why dining reservations should be made as far in advance as possible.)

Anyway, that's certainly more than enough blogging for the moment. I need to get back to my spreadsheet.

Sailing in sunshine

I got to go for a sail on the Schooner Windfall II today, along with several other volunteers who had given 10 or more hours of time at the school during this academic year. It was an absolutely gorgeous, sunshine filled day, perfect for a sail, and the teachers who came along had brought snacks for the volunteers, making it even sweeter. What a fantastic way to take a break from work for a couple of hours. As I put in my facebook status about the sail "am I lucky, or am I lucky?"







I still miss the Windfall as if she had been a human being (the same way I used to miss the island when I wasn't here, before I moved here...although that missing was at least partially about missing actual human beings). But the Windfall II is pretty darn wonderful, and her Captain still seems to be loving her, which makes me happy.

Before...

"Before" is actually not an appropriate title for this blog, because these pictures are really from "during". But I'm ashamed of what "before" looked like, so don't expect to see pictures of that here. "Before" was our flower beds, filled with weeds and overgrown, looking for all the world like no one lived in our house - or at least no one who cared what their yard looks like. (Which is actually really far from the truth - I cared deeply about how awful it looked, but had neither the time nor the tools (nor, for that matter, the talent) to fix it myself.) So I decided to hire some professionals. At this point, they've weeded and edged, and added new good soil and mulch. They haven't even planted flowers yet (that will be the "after" blog), but it looks like a million bucks compared to the way it looked before. I actually love looking out my office window at the beds now, even though they contain mostly just dirt!



Look at this nicely weeded, edged, and mulched area...



...and this flowerbed along the fence, filled with fresh, rich soil ready to grow something wonderful.

Micah and Josh from Homegrown Hettie's did all this work for me. I hugely appreciate them, and they're not even done yet!

New gas pumps

The new gas pumps are 90% done as of today, and will be open for business soon. Here's a picture of how they look now - it appears to me that all that's needed is to put the covering metal over the frame structures.



And here's something you don't see every day - the structure of the old pumps (I think this part used to be underground), just lying around...



I, for one, am glad that the new pumps are nearly ready to open for business...my car is about to be running on fumes!

Pilings

I recently noticed the addition of a pile of pilings to the lot which will someday house the much-needed new Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department building. Seems like a good sign of potentially-soon progress to me, but it's also possible that someone donated the pilings and it will still be a while before anything is done with them. I honestly don't know the status of that particular project at the moment, but I believe additional fundraising is still needed before any groundbreaking can begin.

Farewell potluck

I went to what had to have been one of the largest potlucks I've ever attended tonight - it was a farewell event in honor of Rev. Joyce Reynolds, who is retiring this summer after serving 9 years as the pastor at Ocracoke United Methodist Church. She was delivered to the Community Center for her party in style, on a motorcycle! It was a terrific evening, with plenty of fantastic food, some wonderful musical performances, and the giving of lovely gifts to Joyce, some of which made her cry. You'll just have to take my word for all of that, though, as I completely forgot to bring my camera.

I'm lucky

...to live in a place where if you are scatterbrained (like I can be, more often than I would like to admit) and therefore leave something quite valuable (such as, say, your iPhone), in a public place (for example, the Post Office), it's more likely to be turned in than stolen.

Pony petunias

If you've eaten at the Pony Island restaurant, you've surely heard of Pony potatoes. Well, here are Pony petunias. I covet a gorgeous, flower filled bed like this for my yard, but I can't afford this many petunias, especially since I'd have to buy them again every year! When we plant the beds in the yard (more on that in another blog), they will be all - or certainly mostly - perennials!

Rainy

We've had a couple of rainy days recently. I have been melancholy myself, so somehow they fit with my mood, and I don't mind them. There's something about a gray day which is oddly comforting - as if the heavy quality of the atmosphere were wrapping itself around me like an old and worn, but still comfortable, quilt.

I took this picture outside the bank. The owner of this bike had just ridden it down there, holding the umbrella to stay dry. I loved the picture it created - a splash of color in the gray day - while she was inside taking care of her banking business.

Every blooming thing

Spring has officially sprung, and flowers are growing all over the village (except in my yard, but that's a story for another blog...) Here are a few photos for your spring viewing enjoyment.

Okay, this jasmine actually is in my yard. It's not by any means the prettiest example of jasmine around here, though. (It is, however, the most convenient and easy to take a picture of!)



Roses along the fence at Natural Selections.

This is on Lighthouse Road.

The arbor above the door to Village Thrift.

And, my personal favorite, the rose covered arch over the walkway to a local B&B. This one makes me want to put an arched or rectangular archway over the place in my fence which will one day be a gate. (I have all sorts of mental plans for my house...that's merely one of the simpler ones.)

Hope there are flowers growing all over your world, too, wherever you are...

Lighthouse restoration

Tonight, at the Ocracoke Preservation Society's spring membership meeting, Alex Klahm gave a presentation about the restoration work he and his crew did on the lighthouse this past winter. It was fascinating, and I learned more about the lighthouse structure and history from him than I ever thought to know. He showed loads of pictures, and I wish I could share all of them with you here, but here are just a few.

I loved the fact that the OPS staff had done a little decorating for the event, with a lighthouse theme - there were a couple of paintings, and even a lighthouse lamp on the dessert table.

The fresnel lens in the lighthouse is a work of art in and of itself. The crew were told that if they removed it from the Lighthouse, the Coast Guard might claim it to put in a museum and replace it with a more modern piece of lighting machinery. So they built a protective structure around the lens, to ensure it would not be damaged by staying in place while they did their work, especially the sandblasting. As a result of their extra effort to do that, it's still right there at the top of the lighthouse, where it belongs.

Yes, this is a picture of one of the crew (I believe this is Alex Klahm's son) rappelling down the outside of the lighthouse!

The crew put a fake owl at the top of the lighthouse to keep the birds away while they were working. It did its job so well, they decided to leave it in place! And no wonder the birds like to hang out at the top of the lighthouse - look at that bird's eye view!

Grease!

When I was a child, I loved the movie Grease. I was a huge Olivia Newton John fan, so that was a big part of it. But many of my friends my age were also fans during their childhood, so I think it just has something to do with growing up in that timeframe, too. Yesterday, Amy told me she had been wanting to watch the movie again, since it had been a few years since she'd last seen it, so we made plans to watch it together. She came over tonight, VHS tape in hand - yes, I still own a functioning VCR, believe it or not! - and we had a fun evening reminiscing about when we first saw the movie as children, how much we liked it, favorite songs, etc. (And of course we did sing along to our favorite songs.) My childhood was not wonderful in general, and I remember very little of it. Most of the time recently, I think about how broken I am as a result of my early life. But that movie is one positive thing I remember, so it was good to hold that up to the light and ... well, just to focus on a happy childhood memory for a couple of hours.

Closing the show

Today, we completed the final performance of the show to a huge crowd, including lots of people who were standing up or even sitting on the ground to watch it since we had run out of official seating tickets! This was definitely the best performance of the three, and the audience was wonderfully receptive and responsive. Thank you to all of you who came to support us! Unfortunately, I once again had camera issues and therefore only got a few photos.

Kevin Perez as Snout - love the mustache!

Phyllis Wall as Cobweb. Hers was one of my favorite costumes.


Left to right: Bill Cole, me, Jessie Morrisey, Joe Chestnut, Virginia Downes and Emmet Temple - all dressed up and ready for the wedding reception scene.

I am officially too old...

...to stay up as late as I did last night. After the second performance of the show, I went to Dajio with several ladies from the cast. I had a couple of beers, which was a bad idea on an almost empty stomach, and they went quickly to my head. So, I ordered some food (their delicious spring rolls), and enjoyed them immensely. For some odd reason, we decided to go from Dajio to Howard's Pub. We got there so late that they were no longer serving food, unfortunately, but I did enjoy watching several of my friends sing Karaoke. Today, however, I am zonked. Either I am too old to be awake until after 1 AM, or perhaps I could still do that at my age if a toddler didn't live in my house and wake up around 6:30. Either way, a nap is in order today.

Hope you aren't feeling too old today, wherever you are!

Opening night

I posted a few days ago about plans to perform Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Tonight was opening night! Unfortunately, my camera battery was slowly dying. Fortunately, lots of other people took pictures. Unfortunately, downloading said pictures taken by others from facebook results in them coming out very small. So I'm back to being stuck with the very few taken with my camera. Anyway, here are a few.



Director Charles Temple giving the cast his final words of wisdom. (Yes, that's a costume...he was also in the show as well as directing.)



The show was performed outdoors, so Deep Water Theater served as our green room/dressing room/makeup room, etc.



The makeup was fantastic, thanks to Jennifer Kidwell's wonderful design.

Here's a shot of some of the pictures she used for inspiration.



Here are a couple of examples.



Wyatt as one of Oberon's fairy attendants - love the ears!



Echo as Puck.

I think I had the best role, because I didn't have as many lines to memorize as many others, and I got to wear two great hats!

Here I am in Act I with Bill Cole. (I played Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, Bill played my fiance Theseus.)



And here Bill and I are again, this time in Act IV with Virginia and Emmet as Helena and Demetrius.



I'll post more pictures of the other characters in another blog, but in the meantime you can see some here.

No gas...

The gas station is going to be closed for a week or more. The pumps are being replaced with the "pay at the pump" kind, which is a good thing since that will mean that gas is available 24 hours a day around here. Here is a photo of the work just getting started.



I'll post an update with a photo of the new pumps once the work is complete and they are there.

Chickens!

One of the fun things about living on Ocracoke is that occasionally, right outside my window, I see something ... well, unusual. Or not typical. Not something I would be likely to see if I lived in the middle of a large city. One example is the horses which often come by here, much to Connor's delight. Today, I had another example: the chickens who live next door took a short walk to my yard for a visit.

Something new

What's missing from this picture?



Need a hint?



Yes, it's true. In case you haven't heard, the Schooner Windfall is no longer here. She needed significant maintenance work, so Rob decided to let her go gracefully and replace her with a new schooner instead. Today, Caroline called to ask if we wanted to meet a few folks down at the dock to see Windfall II's arrival. Of course, we headed there immediately! We were quickly joined by several other Windfall fans.



Fiddler Dave kept an eye on the horizon through his telescope.



Here she comes!





Captain Rob seems thrilled with his new "girl".

Signs that warm weather is officially here

1. It was still 70 degrees when I let the cat out at nearly midnight last night.

2. They took down the cool weather screen covers at Jason's yesterday morning.



Summer must be just around the corner!

Dress rehearsal and spaghetti

I had a full day today, starting with dress rehearsal for the play, which will be performed next week. Pictures...







After rehearsal, which took several hours (don't worry, the show won't be that long - it took us a while to get ready since this was our first day working with costumes, and we stopped several times during the run through to work out the final details), I was really hungry. Luckily for me, today was the day of the Jason's spaghetti fundraiser for the Boy Scouts. Talk about a great combination - I got to eat that delicious spaghetti sauce and meatballs, and support a good cause at the same time!