Evening

Every year I am encouraged to see a greater variety of colors in the people that visit Ocracoke. Now it is six o'clock and the church bells are chiming.

Ahhhh . . .

So what if it's been windy and hot? The ocean has been clear, cool and pocketed with little pools refreshed by waves rolling over the shallow bar. There are lots of happy families playing in the water.

old friends, good food

Some people you see too seldom, like friends who live on the west coast and are busy raising children. Happily, Mandi and Jim found a fantastic rental home for their week on Ocracoke (through Blue Heron Realty, of course). Their vacation cottage is small but uses space remarkably well, with room for their family of five, and a huge screened porch and shaded yard.

Perfect for entertaining, and on Tuesday they hosted a cookout. Jim had spent the morning gathering clams, and there were skewers of meat, veggies and scallops on the grill. Cool cubes of pineapple were inside, near the white wine on ice. Yummy! Excellent party. There is nothing like a cookout to make it feel like summer.

Figs are ripening like mad, and Sarah told me she's been eating two tomatos a day. I wonder what she's trying to keep away? A lot of people schedule little breaks for themselves in the middle of the summer. Maybe I should pop up to the mountains and hop in a cool stream.

Bryan just got home from fishing, reporting "spanish mackerel and bluefish, a lot of 'em." He's frying shrimp they've got at good prices at the fish house. I'm going to try to enjoy summer while it's here.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y

The town is rockin'! Junction 2010, a two night jam band fest benefitting the Ocracoke Youth Center is spilling out of the Community Center, Mac 'n' Juice are laying down some acoustic music at Jimmy's Seafood Buffet, and the Aaron Caswell Band is lighting up Dajio's. I can hear the excited yelps of party people from my porch.

All outdoor music on Ocracoke ends by 10 p.m. for those who would rather listen to the tree frogs and crickets, which make sweet music of their own.

thunder rides again

A booming, rolling clap of thunder just set off someone's car alarm. It gave a surprised little chirp and settled back down.

It always seems that God, or nature, fills the cisterns just in time. There's a thrilling bit of cool weather with this storm, and the amphibians seem to be making their presence felt (Pat Garber's article in the Ocracoke Observer was a treat).

An huge cicada came screamin' in the house the other night, quite startling, but we devised an ingenious system to save everyone a vexing night: we turned the outside lights on and the inside ones off. The cicada flew to the window. I gently caught it in a towel and, feeling it aquiver in my hands, tossed it outside and slammed the door. Their coppery husks are easy to spot on cedar trees.

You know what this is? A good day for a bath. Or a walk through the puddles. Or a walk through the puddles and then a nice hot bath.

McClellanville

Those South Carolina shrimpers sure keep their boats looking sharp. I like to watch them work on the water, too, with their spreaders out, trawling in the moonlight. Soon there will be an abundance of fresh shrimp, to eat now and freeze for later.

As far as the eye can see

There is no way to describe the weather we had on July 3 and 4 without invoking the word "perfect." Clear water for swimming, perfect for clamming, fishing, and being out in boats, perfectly clear night skies loaded with stars. Daytime temperatures were in the low 90's, making it only a little on the hot side for the parade, and perfect for dancing the evening away at the Community Store square. The island was full, but with so many people enjoying the beach, it felt convivial rather than crowded.

Jennifer, Fess and kids made a delightful float--I didn't know golf carts could pull trailers--with cardboard, paint, tape and a few artfully placed beach chairs and fishing poles. They deserved to win something, and I think they did.

I can't promise perfect weather next year, but I do know Ocracoke is my favorite place to spend July 4th. Blue Heron Realty can help you find the perfect vacation cottage for any season on Ocracoke Island.

Sandcastles

Someone built a grand, and perfectly simple, sandcastle at the campground beach yesterday. Buckets were used as forms, and the towers and parapets and hold looked like they'd been carved from rock. The castle was at the edge of the tide line, proudly jutting toward the sea, awaiting the wash of time.