Happy New Year!

 It is 2024 and the sun is still rising over Ocracoke Island!  

As we look around our little home on the Island, we are thinking about all the things that make our world beautiful in the midst of hardships.

We still have lots of flowers blooming even at this time of year.

At the same time, we are now in the process of starting seeds for the coming springtime.  It is a total cycle to be starting new plants while our old plants have now yet given up…just like humans! 

The pansies are nestled among the bearded irises and the irises will gradually replace the pansies as weather warms up.  Every thing around us in nature duplicates some dimension of our own progressing lives.  

Come to see us in the summer and see what our world looks like by then.

Christmas at the Biltmore House

 Many years Trish and I try to visit the Biltmore House in Asheville during the Christmas season.  This year we got to go there again.

At this time of year, in addition to dozens of Christmas Trees and overall fantastic decorations, there are musicians placed at various locations throughout the house.  These singers are in the Palm Court near the front door of the house.

With its triple fireplaces and seventy foot ceiling, the Grand Dining Hall takes some time for your eyes to explore and take in.  The giant tree here is almost at tall as the ceiling.

All throughout the house Christmas is in charge.  It takes us about two and a half hours just to walk through looking.  It takes us many days to remember the beauty of the whole visit.

New Orleans Food.

 Royal Street is parallel to Bourbon Street.  With our hotel on Royal, we are right in the midst of French Quarter delights…especially food! At the Monteleone Hotel, the Carousel Bar is the center of things.  To actually get a seat at the revolving bar, you would have to arrive well before noon.  But, we were seated nearby and enjoyed crab beignets and fried chicken sliders…as well as Old Fashioneds!

Just down the street is the French Quarter Beignet Shop.  Each morning we would hop out of bed, run down the street and get coffee, hot chocolate, and hot beignets to go, then take it all back to bed for a late morning.  Delicious! 

Brunch at noon was at the famous “Breakfast at Brennan’s,” just down the street.  My favorite was Eggs Sardou, poached eggs on deep fried artichoke bottoms with Bernaise sauce.  We had to go back and take a nap after that!

We finished our culinary delights with dinner at Mr. B’s Bistro, another Brennan Family restaurant.  

It is a good thing we didn’t need to leave early the following day since it took a long night’s sleep to recover from all of our eating.  What wonderful days!

 

New Orleans!

 When I was a college student I sang in the Davidson College Male Chorus and we went in tour each year during spring break week.  My senior year our tour included New Orleans.  

We sang at the piano bar at Charlie Cantrell’s Pat O’Brien’s and then we had the night on our own.  It was an evening of discovery for college-age boys.  We never told our mama’s about our adventures among the bars and clubs of Bourbon Street!  

We stayed at the Monteleone Hotel on Royal Street, so, when Trish and I had the chance to stop over for a few days between jobs in Texas and Georgia, the Monteleone was our home!  Of course, the wonderful old hotel with its Carousel Bar has been remodeled more than once in the past sixty years since I last stayed here.

The Royal Street location is perfect for walking the French Quarter.  The December weather was wonderfully mild and the street musicians were out as we wandered away the days.

We spent two evenings going to Preservation Hall to enjoy two different groups of older New Orleans Musicians.  This place was here when I cams sixty years ago and is as alive now as then.

We had a great time as we began our Christmas Season for sure!

Winter Yard Work

 Now is the time of year to begin getting things ready for next spring and summer.

This year we have undertaken a big project building raised beds to convert areas where grass doesn’t grow to flower gardens.  So far we have built fifteen beds for bulbs, perennials and annual flowers.

Here is Trish just finishing laying out 160 mixed daffodil bulbs in a bed that will follow the daffodils with summer annuals.

Our neighbor, Monroe, brought us a whole dump-truck load of black topsoil from the mainland for building these beds.  Guess how the dirt got hauled to its final locations?

Some of this dirt will soon cover these 250 tulip bulbs that face our street.

We are having a great time remodeling the yard and looking forward to what we see in the springtime.

Stella Maris Chapel

 The Catholic Stella Maris Chapel is now finished and dedication.  The formal dedication was held on All Hallows Day followed by open house and a luncheon for all present.

Stella Maris means, in Latin, Star of the Sea, and is a title given to Mary as she protects the ways of mariners, fishermen, and ocean travelers.  It is an appropriate name for a little chapel here on the island.

The chapel, which seats eighty-five people, is strikingly beautiful.  It has stained glass and tiles reclaimed from historic churches from the past.  The pews are reproductions from another church and are remarkably comfortable.

Everything inside is old while the chapel itself is brand new.

The statue of Mary in the garden is a calm place for meditation and relaxation.

We are happy that island Catholics and visitors alike have this beautiful spiritual home for fellowship and worship.

Trick or Treat on Ocracoke

 Halloween on the island is a very important but gentle time for all of our children.  Without anyone ever saying anything about it, Trick or Treating has evolved over the years to its present tradition.

Instead of Trick or Treating all over the island, now a single road is the Trick or Treat road.  Lighthouse Road starts at the main road through the village and runs out past the lighthouse where it becomes a loop and comes back around to join itself.  The entire length is less than a half mile.

There are many houses along this road, but, in addition, everyone else on the island goes over there and sets up along that road.  There are tables and trunks and truck beds all lining the road with people giving out Treats.  We take our little truck over there and are in the back with our offerings.

The time is also very early.  Trick or Treating starts about 4:30 and is all finished before dark.  This way it is all safe for everyone.  Even our sheriff’s department deputies and part of the event watching out to see that everything is safe and calm.

Some of the kids we recognize, but some we never can quite figure out.  They work in very creative ways to become who they want to be for this event.  Yes, and even the adults dress up to make it more fun.  This kind of event is another reason we love living here.