Go Dog Go!

It's been a productive week:

Monday I facilitated an online discussion, graded essays, entered assignments to prepare for report cards, went out to lunch, and watched river otters frolicking as the sun set over Currituck Sound.

Tuesday I graded essays, checked the Monday work my students did, entered report card comments, got a pedicure, played corn hole, and walked five miles on the beach.

Wednesday I finished grading essays, answered several emails, posted my grades, hiked through an enchanted forest in search of wild ponies,

Thursday I checked the Wednesday work my students did, answered emails, shot some pool, visited the Lost Colony, and welcomed six guests and 2 more dogs to our beach house.

Today I exchanged emails with the teacher subbing for my class, planned for next week and the week after, reminded my team about the weekly newsletter, wrote my own newsletter information, sent the newsletter, baked biscuits, picked a dozen crabs and made crab soup, and visited a wild life museum.

If only I could always do my job from the beach!

How I Spent My Vacation

The day dawned blustery but not too cold, and so Lucy and Rosie and I took out customary early morning walk on the beach. Atlantic Flyway took on a new meaning as flock after flock of birds vee-ed their way south over our heads, sometimes pausing to just float in the offshore wind.

After that, it was a classic rainy vacation day: we cooked, and read magazines, and watched TV, and then headed south ourselves to Manteo for an afternoon at the Roanoke Island Museum.

Nature, relaxation, and education-- now that's a plan I can get behind!

Foraging

The vegetation here at the beach is wild and scrubby. Live oak and laurel cling to sandy hills; browning sea grass and burrs blanket the dunes. Prickly Pears are also abundant, most with plump purple pears on top.

Which brings me to our project for today: prickly pear lemon squares. The pear juice offers a refreshing melony cucumber-like note and a lovely a magenta color. The dish is a success! Now the grilled nopales, or cactus leaf? That’s a different story.

Growth Mindset

It was misty on the beach at 6:45 this morning, but that didn't stop me and Lucy. "Even a foggy day at the beach is a good one!" I told her and off we headed. Not five minutes later, the sun rose above the marine layer, a squadron of pelicans skimmed over the bronze waves, a nice little piece of sea glass lay right at my feet, and a fine day turned even better.

The Simple Things

Yesterday was one of those vacation days to dreams about, the kind I know I'll remember years from now.

The day was perfect: warm but crisp, blue skies, and that impossible golden light that autumn so generously provides. The company was also exceptionally pleasant: Heidi and Lucy and I were joined by our friend Mary for a long weekend at the beach, and we did some really fun stuff: walking the beach, shopping, a delicious lunch, and a visit to a really great historical site.

It was actually there that I got the biggest thrill of the day. When we checked in at the tiny gift shop for our tour of Whalehead, there was a sign displaying the prices. Kids under 5? Were free. Everyone else was seven dollars, EXCEPT active duty military and...

anyone over 55! We fine folks only had to pay five bucks for the tour!

Mary and I did a little happy dance. "That's my first senior discount!" I told her.

"Mine, too!" she replied.

"Not mine," said the cashier. "I'm 72. That'll be 17 dollars."

Back Around

The last time I was down here in the Outer Banks was spring break of 1985. Some friends from graduate school and I rented an enormous house in Duck. At the time the location was extremely remote-- the closest grocery store was 30 minutes away-- but we didn't care; we had plenty of beer and the beach to ourselves. It was a fun week, and one of the things we did was explore the newly opened road up to Corolla. Before that year, the only way to reach that stretch of shoreline had been to 4x4 on the beach.

We headed the few miles north hoping to see some wild ponies, but instead we found a 100 year old brick lighthouse and a huge abandoned building with an amazing blue copper roof. As decayed as it was, it had clearly been something, the seven gables and five chimneys made that very clear, but in those days before the internet, the place was a complete mystery. Later, one of the locals told us it was a hunting club built in the 20s for rich folks who wanted to shoot waterfowl.

The specter of that ruined mansion has stayed with me all these years, and with a gorgeous first day at the beach stretching before us, I proposed a visit to the lighthouse and hunting club. Turns out a lot has happened in the last 33 years! The site is now a park dedicated to the history of the area, and the mansion is completely restored and open for tours. We learned the backstory of the place as we walked the signed trail that runs the perimeter of the little island, then climbed the lighthouse, and finally headed over for a tour of the house.

The tour was self-guided with audio stations located throughout the mansion, so we were able to explore the house on our own. We discovered that Whalehead was built as a private home in the early 1920s by a wealthy couple from Philadelphia to indulge their passion for waterfowl hunting. After they died in 1936, the house went through several owners and incarnations, until it was abandoned in 1962. When restoration began seven years after I first saw the place, the copper roof had leaked badly, there was extensive water damage, and the basement was infested with... snakes!

Even so, the mansion is beautiful and impressive, even by today's standards. The organization that owns it is dedicated to tracking down as many of the original furnishings as possible, and most of the original Art Nouveau fixtures and woodwork remain. The tour also goes into the servants' quarters and work areas, giving visitors a look into a real upstairs-downstairs situation.

At the end, I crossed the threshold back out into the perfect autumn day, all my questions from long ago answered.

Upgrade

The beach house we rented for Heidi's birthday week is rather a step up from our usual digs. In fact our whole condo would fit in the upper level-- a spacious open area with kitchen, great room, master suite, and of course a deck and ocean view. It's more than enough for us, but there are two more levels with four more bathrooms for the guests who will join us throughout the week to celebrate.

I could get used to this!