byob, it's ocracoke!

The rumors are at least partly true: there is a peculiar selection of booze at the liquor store on Ocracoke. It makes me feel like we're in days of yore (or maybe my thinking is addled by attending the amazing and emotional Portsmouth Island Homecoming last weekend), when people smuggled spirits in from the mainland.

So rather than vodka gimlets, this balmy evening calls for tequila and fresh lime juice in a glass rimmed with salt and sugar.

Tonight is also the vote, by Ocracoke's Sanitary District Board, on a tax to support the construction of a new fire house for Ocracoke's VFD. Elizabeth Howard always told me she was more scared of fire than she was of a hurricane, and she never left for hurricanes.