Thursday, February 27, 2020

Home to Great Progress.

We had a bit of trouble getting home due to disruptions in the ferry schedule.  Trish and I had to drive the long way around to Hatteras and even there the ferry we expected did not run.  It is winter time after all!  Our fear was that these winter disruptions were holding up deliveries of flooring and other materials so badly needed for our house and others on the island.

When we got home we were pleasantly surprised.  The LOWES delivery van had taken the only ferry from Cedar Island, then stayed all day to catch the only return ferry, just to deliver our long awaited flooring.  When we got home after dark, we were totally surprised to take a flashlight visit into our house and discover the beginnings of beautiful new flooring in progress.  Through the week we have watched our floors grow until our house is beginning to look like a house again.

Kitchen cabinets AND a new floor!

On top of this, on Tuesday the cabinet shop truck arrived and unloaded our kitchen and bathroom cabinets.  As the floor gets finished in the kitchen, the cabinets can go back in.  Next there will come the appliances and the granite counters.

Our in the island there is still a huge amount of debris to be removed.  When will this ever end?  But, the good news is:  our dear friend, Eduardo Chavez, whose wonderful taco stand was totally destroyed in the hurricane, got his brand new taco trailer delivered to the island this week.  It is beautiful and the result of a great deal of community love and support for Eduardo.  A favorite place in the island, we will all be overjoyed to see Eduardo back in business by summertime.

Eduardo is on the comeback!


On a beautiful 72 degree day, Trish and I took a long walk on the beach yesterday afternoon.  Spring will come, our house will get finished, the Island will be happy and vibrant again!  Come to see us!

Shells galore on a beautiful island day.

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Still Celebrating!

After our first year of marriage that included: both of us being sick...one in the hospital, the birth of a new grandchild, the death of one parent, the wedding of one child, and our house being flooded by a hurricane, it is taking us a full week to celebrate the beginning of our second year of marriage. (Whew!)

Lunch with Mickey.

We are still at Disney World and spent yesterday at wonderful EPCOT.  (I was thinking about why we like to come here.  Maybe part of it is that Disney is a place where we can take a sweet break from all of the present political nastiness and the ugly hatefulness currently polluting our beautiful world.  It gives us a deep breath of safety and kindness to take us back to live with the current harshness.)

Lifting a “glass” at the beer garden.

A cold front came in yesterday...the same front that brought snow to much of North Carolina. We wrapped up and did all our favorite indoor things from Soarin’ to Living With the Land.  We also ate very well with the excuse that food would make us warmer!

Trish being a butterfly on a cold windy day.

Today we go back to The Magic Kingdom for our last day before heading home.  We hope progress has been made on our house during this week.

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Our First Year!

Yesterday Trish and I celebrated our First Wedding Anniversary at The Magic Kingdom!  One year ago I was very sick with the first experience of flu I had ever had in my life. (yes, I had had my flu shot.). Yesterday was a much finer day.

We got up to pastries from Norway in EPCOT, then headed for The Magic Kingdom for the day.  From the Fort Wilderness Campground there is a boat that takes us directly to The Magic Kingdom without getting in a bus.  The boat ride itself is the first “ride” of the day.

On the boat from the campground to The Magic Kingdom.

There is nothing quite as liberating as visiting Disney World in our own.  While we listened to a child pleading with his dad, “PLEASE take me home,” we we having a wonderful time, just the two of us!

We were trying to line up a selfie when a nice lady volunteered to take our picture together.

The weather was perfect: seventies and eighties all day, just a tiny sprinkle of rain (while we were in the Haunted Mansion...we came out to sunshine), and two wonderful meals made up for being sick on our wedding day.

Mickey and Minnie in the afternoon parade.

After a year filled with more than we bargained for, we can. Now look forward to getting back into our house in the coming months and building our lives in a (hopefully) more normal way.  All is well!

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Down to Disney World

When Trish and I were camping in Florida in January, we left the Airstream in Orlando instead of pulling it back home.  This was all part of a plan: when we finished the St. Simons Island Storytelling Festival this past weekend, we were less than four hours from Disney World.  Since Fort Wilderness is one of our favorite campgrounds, we came on back down  here for the week.

As soon as we got to our campsite we were visited by three very healthy and very large wild turkeys. We are right beside a little creek and this seems to be where they come to get water.  They are quiet and tame and nice to have around.

As soon as we unhooked the car, the turkeys came calling.


After that we headed over to the Magic Kingdom for a little visit and a wonderful dinner at Citrico’s at the Grand Floridian.  Since it was Presidents’ Day Weekend, we finally figured out why the crowds were larger than we had expected.

On a behind-the-scenes greenhouse tour at EPCOT.
Yesterday was our first EPCOT day and today was Animal Kingdom.  The weather is splendid: in the eighties in the daytime and down to the sixties at night.  It’s a great time to be here and chase the coldness of winter away.

In the land of Avatar, Pandora.



Monday, February 17, 2020

St. Simons Festival

This weekend Trish and I had the great pleasure of being a part of the Fifth Annual St. Simons Storytelling Festival.  The festival is held at beautiful Epworth by the Sea, a United Methodist Conference and Retreat center located on St. Simons Island on the southern coast of Georgia.

This festival is uniquely accessible in that you can both stay and eat on site, eliminating need for parking and scrounging for food.

Trish among the St. Simons live oaks.


I was telling this weekend with a great crew: Sheila Arnold, Andy Offutt Irwin, and Anne Rutherford as tellers and Bil Lepp as the emcee.  We had a great time.  It is a single stage event so you can settle in and don’t have to either change places or make decisions about who to go see.

Having fun with Bil, Anne, Andy, and Sheila.

Next year the festival will be the weekend of February 20. Keep on the lookout for “St. Simons Storytelling,” and maybe we shall see you there next year.

Emcee Bil kept EVERYONE in order!

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Turning a Corner

When we got back from a Utah on Monday we were thrilled to see that, while we were gone, the first coat of paint had happened in the house.  What a beautiful sight!  One more coat and then all the trim work can commence.

Paint in the living room.

Paint in our bedroom.

Also completed was the sub flooring. Tomorrow Woody, our builder, will take the ferry to a Morehead City and get the flooring so if can go in next week.

Yesterday Armando, such a skilled worker with precise details, spent the day laying ceramic tile in the bathrooms and the utility room.  It is such a beautiful sight to see.  He and his helper, Luis, should complete that job in the next couple of days.

Armando laying the bathroom tile.


Today we leave for the St. Simons Island Storytelling Festival and then on to a Florida for next week.  We can’t wait to see what things look like when we get home this time.  Real progress!

Sunday, February 9, 2020

Back to Utah

Last September we were scheduled to make a week of school visits in Utah following the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival.  Than Hurricane Dorian hit Ocracoke Island and we had to cut the trip short and cancel the school days.

This past week we returned to Utah to make up the days that were missed then.

A beautiful snowy Utah week.

Trish and I flew in to Salt Lake City on Monday right I the middle of one of the heaviest snow storms in recent years.  There should be no water shortages this summer with the accumulated snow melt of this winter.  We had to reschedule an event for that evening due to weather but made  it up the following day.

With students at Canyon Elementary.
During the course of the week we visited schools in Provo, Holliday, Spanish Fork and Sandy.  There were also three teacher workshops and a weekend writing workshop to finish the week.


Always lots of fun!


While we were here, we also heard that painting had begun back at our house.  We are anxious to get home and see what it all looks like.


Rest Stop in Williamsburg

 Last week Trish and I were in an intensive week long workshop in Connecticut. When we finished and headed to North Carolina, we had a day t...