Weekend Treat

 When Trish and I have the almost rare chance to be in the island on a weekend, we have a special treat we like to enjoy.  First, we sleep late. Then after coffee and hot chocolate in bed, we get up and walk over to Ocracoke Coffee Company.

The Coffee Company is just around the corner from our house and is itself in an old former residence.  Every morning is busy at the Coffee Company.  The wait line is usually about thirty minutes long, a time when we enjoy eavesdropping on vacationers as they share their adventures with one another.  We get to think about how far people have driven to get to spend their vacations at the very place where we already live!  We are spoiled.

When it is our turn, Trish orders some sort of coffee concoction and I (avoiding caffeine) get a Skinny Monkey…banana with honey and milk with a squirt of some kind of flavored syrup…maybe salted caramel! Then there are pastries to choose from…maybe we get enough for breakfast the following day as well.

We head out to the yard and continue to observe and eavesdrop while we have our leisurely morning treats.

The Ocracoke Free Tram makes a stop at the Coffee Company, so, after we have finished eating, we catch the tram and take the ride all around the village.  We end up at the Pony Island stop, which is back close to our house, and walk home from there.

This is our fun morning of being, as on many days in different ways, tourists at home!

Fig Festival

 Figs grow naturally and in great abundance on the island.  Every year people can figs and fig preserves and make island fig cakes.  This weekend is also the time for the Ocracoke Fig Festival.

The Festival is held at the Berkeley Barn and features music, a fig cake contest, dancing, booths with fig related products, fig trees for sale, food, and a silent auction.

Trish and I went down yesterday to check things out.  We looked a lot, shopped some, visited with friends, and had barbecue for lunch while there.   

Some of the silent auction items were fascinating, especially this decorated boot from Susan Dodd.

Community events like this are part of what makes living here so much fun.

A New Island Church!

 Through the years the Roman Catholic population on the island has been relatively small.  For a long time, the Priest from up the beach has come down on schedule and held Mass either at the firehouse or later at the United Methodist fellowship hall.  

With a great increase in our Hispanic population, there has arisen a much greater need for a more substantial Catholic presence on the island.  Now it is happening!

Due to substantial gifts of land, money, and resources, and coordination with the Diocese, a lovely Catholic chapel is moving toward completion.  It is located just behind the United Methodist Church off Schoolhouse Road.

Trish and I had an opportunity to peek inside this week with our builder, Woody.  Marble was being laid and the pews were being assembled.  You can almost see the beautiful recycled antique window above the altar area.  

On the Sunday of All Souls Day the Bishop will be here for the dedication.  What a beautiful asset added to our village.  We understand that weddings have already been scheduled after completion time.  

Congratulations!

Building A Basement?

 Trish and I have been trying to figure out how to add some usable storage space to our house so the garage can be fully empty and really be just a garage. We considered constructing a storage building in the back yard as that is what many of the houses in the island have.  Than we hit in a better idea…

Why not come off the back of the garage apartment building itself with a storage room that has a door directly into the building instead of a separate storage space?

So, we got hold of our friend Woody and he and his main builder, Armando, are well on the way.

When Trish asked me what we should call this little addition, I replied, “Why don’t we call it ‘the basement?’ After all, it’s going to be the home for all the stuff that might usually live in a basement.”

So, we are going to have the only “basement” on the island!  When we tell people here that we are building a “basement,” they look at us like we have lost all good sense.  Then, when it is explained, they too get a good laugh.

Watch out and you might see the finished product when all the work is done.

Full Bloom of Summer!

 For these few weeks, Trish and I get to be home undisturbed on the island.  We are enjoying our community, our wonderful summer restaurants, our little house, and the blooms and plants on our yards.

The lilies are mostly finished by now, except for the Day Lilies that go in all summer, but they have been spectacular this year.  They lasted for weeks and we hope will be even better next year.

Our huge cedar, that fills the space between the main house and the garage apartment, is home to ferns, citronella, blue bottles, and wind chimes.  Our grandson, Beckham, calls the wind chimes “music pipes.”

The beds of annuals are overflowing their bounds and give us joy as we see changes each day.

We love our yard and our little house.  It is manageable and just right for the two of us.  Ocracoke is such a lovely place to call home.

Big Parade!

 The biggest island event yesterday was the Fourth of July Parade.  We gathered, along with hundreds of others, at the start of the parade route which is just at the end of our street.

Of course the parade started with the fire trucks as they came out of the station, which is also just at the end of our street.  We feel fortunate to have a great and well trained volunteer fire department and that they are located only a few hundred yards from our house.

The parade was then led off by Grand Marshall, Dallas Mason, our remarkable ten-year-old island drummer and guitar player.  Dallas plays with several bands on the island, everything from Rock and Roll to traditional music.  Each year the Grand Marshall is driven in our little convertible, so, even if we are not in the parade, one of our cars is!

There is a new drive underway to build a community swimming pool.  Lots of children (and adults) here do not know how to swim…there is no community pool.  We are supportive and hope others will join and help to make this possible.  This was the Community Pool Association float!

The parade categories included: walking, bikes, golf cards, and vehicles.  Here is a golf  cart carrying a very calm African Gray parrot.  It said nothing as it passed.

Everyone loves the parade.  It ends with the National Anthem and the awarding of sand sculpture prizes and parade prizes.  The day then ends at the beach with a big community bonfire.

Happy July 4th!

 Here on the island the Fourth of  July is a time of huge celebration lasting over three days.  

The start of events is fireworks.  Our fireworks presentation was last night.  The island is full of tourists for this week and, in addition, hundreds of people from up the Outer Banks come over for the day.  Trish and I gathered, along with what looked like many hundreds of others, down by the harbor to watch a fabulous display.

Tommy Hutcherson is the disc jockey playing music for a couple of hours as people gather and visit.  Then, at 9:15, everyone stands to join in the National Anthem, at the exact end of which, the first rockets go off.

Traffic to that end of the island had been cut off earlier, so, it was pedestrians and bicycles and an occasional golf cart getting there and back.  It was a very happy gathering of people for the whole evening.

Tomorrow events continue from the village to the beach, including a gigantic fish fry. Then, on Tuesday, the big parade will happen. It is three full days of celebration and fun!