Pittsboro, NC

 I've spent pretty much the entire day in the basement utility room....finally getting around to purging years of "stuff".

This is just load #1.  We've decided that the mounds of books are no longer required.  Duane had all his mechanical engineering technical books - but anything needed can just be "googled" these days.  So out they go.  I separated "good stuff" from trash.  The "good stuff" went to the swap-shop and everything else went in the garbage bins.  Just getting started.  Tomorrow I'm attacking the Christmas stuff!

June Meeting

Nothing much happening - book club was about it for the day.

After a normal bit of chatting/catching up, this month's book - All the Ways We Said Goodbye - was discussed.  All who read it gave it a "thumbs up".  It was unique in that it was a story told by three different authors, one author for each of the three main characters.  Good discussion!

 

Next month's book is Mitch Albom's The Stranger in the Lifeboat (I've already read that one - easy and quite towards the religious side of things)....

 

Many thanks again to Jean - she invited all of us to share in her and John's garden surplus.  So sweet!

 
 

 

Pittsboro, NC

 We arrived back at the house and I got busy prepping for the party across the runway at Pat & Diane's later in the day.

Thawed a bunch of fish and lobster from the Bahamas...

And made some sushi as well with the tuna we had caught.

Over to Pat and Diane's in the late afternoon.  They had set up a fountain in the pool that we had given them many, many years ago.  Pretty cool "water feature".

 

Fun catching up and chatting with the neighbors.

Then we got busy with some grilling.  First left-over clams that we'd brought from Ocracoke for an appetizer.

 

And I forgot to take a photo of the sushi until it was halfway gone....

 

And then the fish went on the grill (as well as a beef roast for those that could eat it.)

We did not go hungry!  Everyone had brought wonderful dishes to share but I apparently was having too much fun to take any more photos.  Fun time with great folks!

Oriental, NC

 Beautiful sunrise!!  You can see a little sliver of the moon and it's reflection at the bottom of the photo.

We're just doing some chores before we head back to Pittsboro.  Duane disassembled part of the fridge/freezer to replace one of the side pieces.  It had a wooden backing that had gotten de-laminated over the years.  He'll replace it with solid plastic Starboard and get rid of that problem forever.

Otherwise, we've just been mowing and organizing.

One item that is exciting to us but probable ho-hum to those with fast internet.

I know, strange photo.  This is a pipe that Century Link installed yesterday at the edge of our lot.  It will house a new fiber-optic internet line!  Yay!  Apparently, they have gotten a Federal grant to install the lines in the "under-served rural areas".  Looking forward to getting it installed possibly all the way to the boat.

Ocracoke to Oriental, NC

 Just a fabulous sail back.  Sails up and engines off just outside Silver Lake.  

Looking back towards Ocracoke there were a lot of club sailboats on the horizon!  Beautiful sailing conditions - 15-18 knots and sunny. 

 

We were one of the fastest/biggest boats on the trip so we passed a few of our fellow club members on the 5+ hour trip back to the home dock.

 

One of the prettiest boats under sail, a Morgan Ketch.h

Fun trip!

Ocracoke, NC

 Very busy at Ocracoke!  Started the day by joining the crowd going out to the clamming grounds.

 

 

One club member paddled his kayak to the cove - it's probably 1.5 miles from the Park Service docks.

 

Everyone in the knee-to-waist-deep water and raking with their fingers for find clams buried in the sand.

 

Lot's of hoot'n and holler'n when clams were found.

 

A lot of fun as several of the new members had never done any clamming.

 

After about 45 minutes we had collected a full 5 gallon bucket.  We didn't want to over-do it so we stopped digging.

 

Then the happy crowd re-mounted the dinghies and rode back to the docks.

Afternoon resting completed, it was time for the clam bake/pot luck supper.

Tom (red shirt) is the expert at shucking raw clams - we separated out the smaller clams and lots of folks enjoyed them raw.  They were fabulous - almost sweet.

 

Another wonderful pot luck affair.

 

The prize steamed clams.  Almost the entire 5 gallon bucket was consumed in about 1 hour!

 

And to cap it off, Donna and Jerry brought an abundance of ice cream and hot fudge.  Yep, it's diet time after this week!!

 

And as the potluck disbanded, island friends Paul and Gail texted and said they were over in the parking lot!  So we had a nice long visit and caught up with their happenings since we've seen them last year.  Great way to end an Ocracoke visit!

Ocracoke, NC

 We started the day with a nice bike ride led by Jerry.  Nothing new of course, but was a relaxing time.

 

Actually, now that I think about it, there was one new thing!  There is a new trail at the Springer Point park - it leads to the little bay where we will go clamming tomorrow.

 

We enjoyed the walk - but lots of folks there now because the "fast ferry" shuttle drops off day-visitors here.

 

Our gang had a nice rest before heading to the brew-pub.

 Lots of choices for a beer - I asked the barkeep for whatever is the closest to a PBR.  She gave me a taste of Water Fired Pilsner.  It was bland enough so that's what I got.  Painful at $7 a glass!!!

We met up with the other bikers from the sailing club that had opted for the longer ride about 7 miles to see the wild ponies.  And a few of the club members that didn't go on any bike ride.

 

Fun to chat and get to know a few of the folks.

 

Next up in the early evening was the planned gathering for dinner delivery from the Italian place Sorello's.  But a storm was fast approaching - cruise captain Donna is uber-organized and had a contingency plan.  She divided all the folks up and sent them to various boats for the evening so we would be protected from the rain.

It worked out great - we had a little happy hour before the rain came.

 

And a small SNAFU when the restaurant delivered the meals to the wrong boats.  Donna quickly fixed that....

 

And then we all enjoyed a lovely meal.

 

Fun evening!

Ocracoke, NC

We went for a nice bike ride thru town.  Not a lot has changed since we were here a year ago.  Very busy with vacationers!

The beach was lovely and busy.

 

Nice getting our toes in salt water again.

 

After a nice nap in the afternoon, the sailing club met under the shade trees at the NPS ranger station for happy hour. Donna and Jerry are the "cruise captains" for this event so she gave a nice welcome and intro speech.

 

Everyone brought a snack - nice spread and no one needed supper afterwards.

 

And the remaining activities were discussed - a bike ride, clam "rake & bake" and continental breakfast one morning.

 Then several of us made it to the Slushy Stand for ice cream.  Yummy mint-choc-chip for me!