Cataloochee Homecoming

 This year the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is ninety years old.  A good sized part of the Park is the Cataloochee valley located on the North Carolina side of the park.  Prior to the establishment of the park as many as two thousand people lived there having arrived as homesteaders in the 1830’s. They were all bought out and removed leading up to the establishment of the Park in 1934.

On the second Sunday of each July a great homecoming day is held at Palmer Chapel Methodist Church, no longer active, but an important landmark in the valley.  Trish and I go each year as my Uncle Gudger and Aunt Mary met when she went to teach school there in 1930.  He was from a very old mainline Cataloochee family.  Aunt Mary died in 1985 and Uncle Gudger lived to be 103 and left us in 2011. We go in their memory.

The crowd begins to arrive on Sunday morning, setting up picnic tables on the grounds.  Then at 11:00 am the bell rings and the church service starts. Each year there is a different guest preacher.  This year the preacher was Rev. Keith Turman, the senior pastor at First United Methodist Church in Waynesville, my home church.  It has been my privilege to deliver the sermon on three different years.

When the bell rings, the church fills to overflowing with people outside listening at the windows.  This year Harley Caldwell was the only attendee left who was actually born in the valley.  Those who have died in the past year are always read out and remembered.

Then it is time to head outside to eat and visit for a good long time.

When eating winds down, many people head out to visit their relatives graves. Some even get jugs of water from their family’s old spring to take home with them.  Then it is goodbye until next August.

WAYNESVILLE

 Since we got off the island ahead of Hurricane Debby and were on our way to WAYNESVILLE anyway, we ended up there for a few extra days.

We love to stay at the old Oak Park Motor Inn at the head of Main Street.  Right from our motel we look down Main Street and can easily walk for food and shopping.

We rode around a lot while we were there.  One ride took us up Plott Creek Road to see the house where we lived from the time my parents got married until I was thirteen years old.  Whoever lives there now has done a lot of restoration work on the old house and it looks very nice.  There were toys on the porch indicating family life there.  No one at home, though.

Another day we rode out to Crabtree to visit the Parker’s Chapel Methodist Cemetery.  The little church of my grandparents and great grandparents (on my mother’s side) is no longer there, but the cemetery runs down the hill below where it once stood.

Buried there and many relatives.  In one extended plot lie both sets of  my mother’s grandparents, Williams and Walker, and along with them my own maternal grandparents.  It was nice to see the cemetery being taken care of so well after so many years.

Trish and I realized that these few extra days were a gift we did not plan or anticipate.  They were a connection to love and memory.

Time to go!

 We have just had our longest time of the year at home on the island.                         

It has been a lovely summer with lots of fun and beauty.

We have had several fires on the beach, one of which came with a full moon.

The flowers in the yard have hit their peak and it has been great fun sharing them around.

We have gone down in our little convertible to watch the sunset and to watch the tourists watching the sunset.  We look at the tags on their cars and note how far they have driven just to come to the place where we live!

Now it is time for us to get back to work.

Our plan was to leave tomorrow on our way to our first event, the Cataloochee Homecoming in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but, with Tropical Storm Debby on the way, and the likelihood of ferry interruptions, we left yesterday.  Good thing too.  No ferries today!

Now we will have travels to report on for about seven weeks.  Stay in touch!

On the Fourth

 The Fourth of July activities continued to their high mark in the island on the fourth itself.

Activities started with the big sand sculpture contest on the beach in the morning.  There were categories for ages, individuals, and groups.  With dozens of entries, the overall winner was Poor Unfortunate Shoals! 

The day moved on to the parade in the afternoon.  This year’s parade was excellent with more than the usual number of entries.  The only rules were no politics and no water throwing!  Everyone appreciated that.  There was, however, lots of candy throwing along the way. 

We decided that we needed to be in the parade, so, we decorated the Jeep and, in addition to candy, we threw out rubber ducks!  What fun!

The winner in the float division was Ocracoke United Methodist Church.  This year, as the USA is 248 years old, the Church is 81 years old.  

We ended the day with a fundraising cookout at the church.  This Sunday is the first Sunday at the church for our new minister, Desiree Adam.  Everyone is excited for her!

Ocracoke July 4

 July 4 is a very important holiday here on the island.  There are celebrations spread out over three full days for the holiday.  This is a very busy week with every accommodation on the island full and a large number of people coming over for day trips.  It is a huge celebration.

Last night things started with fireworks.

The evening started with music at the harbor side leading up to the big show at nine fifteen.  People brought chairs and blankets and a huge crowd joined in the fun.

By having our fireworks show earlier than the Fourth itself, we get a better price and a longer show to book.  Besides that, many tourists come over from Hatteras and the rest of the Outer Banks for the show and our whole economy benefits.  It is also the beginning of our whole celebration.

Today continued with a fund raising dinner at our new Community Gardens that lasted all afternoon.  Just across the street from the Gardens, I did a book signing at Books to Be Red for my newest book, HOW THEY LINGER.  We had lots of fun.

Tonight there is a traditional square dance at the Berkley Center, but, we are off to bed to rest up for everything tomorrow.  

Happy Fourth to You!

Summertime!

 Trish and I are now at home for our longest stretch of time all year.  We have finished our June storytelling workshops and now have delicious days of rest and recouperation.

What do we do on these days?  Each day we try to take our lunch in the Jeep and drive out to picnic on the beach.  Our 16 mile National Park beach starts less than a mile from our house.  We stay there and read a little while after lunch…not too long since we can come back the next day.

Back at our house we tend and enjoy all of our flower gardens.  The most fun this time of year is being able to take flower arrangements to the various people who care for us around the village.  Many people don’t believe you can grow flowers here…you just have to believe that you can!

When the weather keeps us indoors, Trish and I each have our projects.  She is always sewing and making all sorts of wonderfully creative things.  I write a little bit each day and work on my model ship building.

Right now I am working on a typical pirate ship from about 1700.

We have so many projects that we will never catch up, let alone finish!

Home With the Flowers!

 Last winter Trish and I totally reconfigured our yard.  We have  pretty large yard space for the island, so, we decided to take advantage of that for more beauty.

First there was sawing and screwing treated lumber to build sixteen new raised beds.  Then there was the whole dump truck load of mainland topsoil that traveled by wheelbarrow to fill all the beds.  After that there was a lot of lobster/crab (from Maine) compost to season the soil.  Finally there was planting and feeding and watering.

Now the enjoyment has arrived!

Two beds that are mostly in the shade give us the chance to grow things that like to avoid too much sun.

Now the full sun beds come into play.  Some of these were filled with bulbs in the springtime, but now they enjoy the good sum of summer.

We want to be sure that we have plenty to cut for inside as well as outdoors.

In the back of this photo is a total bed of mixed sunflowers.  They are getting their heads and should really pop open in the coming week.

This project has been so much fun and each year will be easier after this first one.