CafeChatNoir

Looking East - Tropical Storm Beryl:

Same time, same place, looking SouthEast:

The fox that lives in the scrub next to the house:

Or at least, very little. This group down here this year is again myself, my brother, and Tev & Lisa (my brother’s roommate/lifelong buddy & his wife). Tev commented when we went to dinner last night that he was pretty sure the hostess was the same one here last year - I wouldn’t doubt it for a second.

I’ve been coming down here since 1993, missing 2001/2/3 &4. Even with that gap, very little has changed over time. North of Sanderling (where I was in ‘93), there are more houses, and a couple shopping centers. There is even a very nice Harris Teeter up there, and they seem to be bound and determined to give the Food Lion a run for it’s money. But then again, even the Food Lion is somewhat recent - the first time I was down here, the most “accessible” market was a little 7-11 type place referred to as the “Super-ette”. Sadly, the “Food-A-Rama” left sometime in the past 5 years. It was always a bit on the sketchy side to say the least, though, and I can’t help but think those working there were able to get work at Food Lion, and the locals probably liked a less scary place to shop for groceries.

Other than the development up north, which seems to be fairly controlled, not much else has changed in the past 13 years, which is comforting. Our favorite restaurants are still here (but then again, bad restaurants don’t last down here), 1 preferred surf shop has disappeared (owners retired), two new hotels have cropped up (one on an existing site that was torn down, another up north), a new surf shop has opened on the bypass, one (crappy) chain beach shop has opened in Duck, and that’s about it. Southern Shores has it’s big “commercial area” of a half dozen shops at the corner of 158 & 12, which was empty anyway, and has a restaurant, a yarn/knitting shop, a fabric shop, a hairdresser, and a couple other small shops in it.

My friend Tom who used to live in the DC area came and visited last month. It’s a been between 18 months and 2 years since he’d been in the area. Everywhere he turned it seemed he was saying, “That wasn’t here before!” I was prepared for that reaction at every turn when we arrived last year with the oh too long gap in visits and was very pleasantly surprised and comforted by the lack of massive change.

In many ways, change is good. In many other ways, lack of change is just as good.

It never fails - the best shots are available when your camera is sitting on the table back in the house. Got down to the beach this evening to see…

– Nuns on the beach. (It’s just not something you see everyday.)
– The sand crabs putting on a floor show for everyone with the post high tide burrow excavation. (I always have a hard time photographing the buggers and they were right by my feet…)
– Some nice Navy hardware flying overhead

Ah well, tomorrow will bring other opportunities. Hit a local winery and a wine shop for some tastings, and we now have 2 boxes of crackers, 4 kinds of cheese, and 12 bottles of various NC wines. We still haven’t decided on dinner yet, wine & cheese is a definite possibility.

It’s definitely strange to bike somewhere that people aren’t going out of their way to try and run you off the road.

Made it! Had to deal with some wicked storms on the way down on Friday but we made it in one piece and with 16 minutes to spare before the rental office closed for the day. Weather has been great so far, and we’re pretty sure there is a fox living in the scrub next to the house. Already have had one dolphin sighting. Life is good.

Car is basically packed, just a few remaining items to go in tomorrow morning. Sitting out on the deck, enjoying the breeze, some tunes, and a nice evening.

Massive electrical storm came through last night - about 2 hours and 95% cloud to cloud lightning - an incredible show, I stayed up and watched most of it, just absolutely beautiful. Better than any of the other fireworks I’ve seen, bar none.

I have decided why I am such a magnet for the 6 and under crowd - I must remind them of their 17 year old babysitters back home… (That or they dig the hat. But I like option #1 better.) Had another one today - little guy just killed me with how cute he was. He had some sort of cool little flexible kickboard type thing, and he’d been watching the big kids skimboarding… So, he’d throw down his board in the sand, and then stand on it and wait for the surf to come in. OMG so adorable. It got away from him a couple times and I retrieved it for him, and I got the whole ear to ear grin & giggles. Too damn cute for words, and he’ll be skimboarding for real in a couple years, I have no doubt.

It’s been fun peoplewatching this week, too.

Next door to me is a couple with several kids, I have dubbed Dad SharkBait for his windsurfing skills. Today he was out with a kite, near me, and doing OK with it, though I still am always waiting for one of those suckers to come straight down on my head (I did visibly duck a couple times when I could hear it but couldn’t see it.) A little while later I was packing up my stuff to head in, and he stopped and asked, “I’m not chasing you off? Was it bothering you?!” I assured him it was not, (it really wasn’t) but I thought it was nice that he at least asked.

There is another couple on the street with a little girl, maybe first grade at the most. (Easily identified cause Dad just wears a white t-shirt in lieu of a regular hurt shirt.) Earlier this week, they’re all out on the beach, Dad has little one out in the waves, picks her up and manages to perfectly place her on top of a breaking wave - which she proceeds to bodysurf in like a total pro. Mom nearly has an aneurysm over this, with the little one at her feet, declaring quite loudly, “But Mom, I WANT to ride the waves!!”

Then there was the couple with their little one and Grandma. Grandma is in good health, but has a bum knee, so isn’t exactly quick like a bunny. How do I know this? Because I had to help her daughter(in-law?) fish her out of the water when a wave knocked her on her ass and she was having a devil of a time getting her feet back under her, and she’s apologizing to me for this! I pointed out that I had no bad knees and often got knocked on my butt and to not feel bad. Then a couple days later when she was going over the dune steps, I insisted she let me carry something - she had a beach bag and a chair, and bless her heart was near going backwards because she had to put the items on the next step, then step up holding the rail, then picking up the items and moving them to the next step, lather, rinse, repeat. I was declared an “absolute dear” for helping out.

Putting together the equipment list for next year, figure now is a good time to do it while I have it fresh in my mind all the things we forgot to bring along. (Minimum three rolls of paper towels.) Yup, doing it again next year for sure, even if it is just me. You see, I have to - have $6 off my next buy at the Weeping Radish if I bring the bottles back. Mmmm, WeisenBier…

Looking forward to some quality time with my critters this weekend. Bummed about having to go back to the office - civilized world my ass, who says a bikini isn’t a proper foundation garment?

It’s been a good trip. Conquered a few demons (some quite silly now in retrospect, but I’m taking the points in the win column anyway), got a bit of a tan, enjoyed not working, did some writing, and generally enjoyed not having to be me for a little while. All in all, two weeks of my life well spent.

Now that my “OMGWTFLOL!!!!!!!!!!!” adrenaline rush is over with.

It’s SO VERY COOL. There is very little sense of motion at all, except when they’re initially sending you up, cause you’re going up & backwards off the boat, and then when they kick the winch to bring you back in - that makes you swing a little bit, which can be unnerving, but I’d done the “pull you up in a harness and drop your ass” at Kings Dominion before and it was exactly the same, and I didn’t die that time around, so it didn’t freak me out.

I’ll admit I had a death grip on the straps, and was cursing my inability to do math in my head, cause I couldn’t figure out if I’d hit terminal velocity from 800 feet to the water should all the straps and strings and knots decide to snap all at once. And yes, I did watch the other folks on the boat very closely so I knew what to expect, and yes, in my head I did repeatedly think “if you hit the water, unclip the straps, and get free of the lines and the silks.”

It’s also really quiet when you get up that high, which I really didn’t expect, I figured there would be a lot of wind noise and such, but there isn’t.

My only piece of advice is that when you sit down on the back of the boat, make sure you’re sitting as far back on the leg straps as you can - I should have been about an inch or two further back on one leg, but I wasn’t gonna try to adjust it in mid-air. :)

, you can stop reading now, it’s mainly me drooling over the First Mate….

And the first mate on the boat was HOT. Seriously hot. Inked and pierced and well tanned, and a total hardbody.

Funny thing, there was another family on the boat - two brothers, one with wife & kiddo, the other with girlfriend. Older brother didn’t go up, he’d dropped his Harley at 50 MPH earlier this year and is basically on injured reserve, and spent most of his time playing “whose boat dick is bigger” with the Captain, who took it it very good stride. (Personally I think Capt wins, cause he works at the beach and Harley doofus is still working for a living in NJ, boat or no boat, but that’s just me…) But his brother & GF went up, came back and that was that from the first mate. Wife & son went up, came back & that was that.

Me? First he asks, “Do you want to wear your shirt up there? Cause you might get wet.” (It’s obvious I’ve got a suit on w/the bow tie at the back of my neck.) Of course not. So, I strip off my shirt and tuck it in with the rest of the lifevests, and notice some completely astonished looks from the other passengers on the boat. (Hey, I have DO a suimsuit on!) Point for me vs nouveau riche. (Yes, I am a total bitch that way.) On to lifevest selection. First one is too big. (One size fits all my ass.) First mate hunts around for a smaller one, no luck, but has one w/multiple clips & straps - we manage to get that cinched up close enough that I shouldn’t fall out of it should they drop me. I tell him “well, you just can’t drop me” He says, “Well, we could send you up as is…”

At this point I already want to do unspeakable things to him. On the boat. Audience or not. He’s that much of a hottie. We get to the back of the boat and he’s getting me all situated (and does not mind one bit as he clips the harness to the chute that I am double checking the clips) and he makes some crack about being rough with the ladies cause he’s scooting me around by my shorts to the right takeoff spot. (It’s a small boat, anything you say, everyone can hear) Me being me…I have to say something to the effect that some ladies like it… Going to hell for that one…

I go up, 800 freaking feet, LOVE IT, can see all over the place (oh for less haze!), just completely near have an orgasm in the air for the experience (mind you I [did] have a freakish fear of heights, the adrenaline is going that much harder for it), and then come back on in. I know from watching that you’re supposed to stand on the back of the boat when you land. So, about 20 feet out I yell, “Wait, is it stand up or fall on my ass when I get there?” I get “anything you want, babe!” Don’t tempt me, kiddo, I might break you in half. :)

So, I make a PERFECT landing on the back of the boat - I shit you not, I walked onto the back of the boat. (In no small part due to the fact that Capt & First Mate know what they’re doing - but the other folks didn’t seem to have the same luck.) He gets me unclipped and I go sit down, and I am still shaking from the adrenaline, trying to get myself out of the vest & harness and next thing I know, damn he’s right there again, getting me undone… :-D

Again, should you find yourself with the opportunity to do this - DO IT!

Last full day tomorrow. Nothing big planned, swinging down by the brewery to get some beer to take home, hit the beach, pack the car.

Gonna try to get out of here as early as possible to try and get back to NoVa before Friday rush hour starts in earnest.

Even if I hit the lottery, I gotta go home, cause Target has apparently regressed in the time I was away and doesn’t want to come out of the basement, even for dinner. is being a sweetie and going down and stalking him every day and giving him treats and his dinner on the basement side of the baby gate. Well, hopefully by this time next year, he’ll just enjoy the dog free time and not have a freakout when the dog comes back. Poor thing.

The kitchen is straightened up, most of the fridge emptied, and my room no longer looks like a surf shop exploded in it. If I had to right now, I could probably have the car totally packed in well under 30 minutes. So much easier to pack to go home than it is to pack to get here in the first place.

One very smart thing I did this year was to bring a laundry basket w/ all the towels and sheets in it. My suitcase will now have all my clean stuff that’s left, and the laundry basket will just have all the stuff that is gonna go straight to the basement when I get home. Yes, I will remember that little detail again next year.

Watching another fireworks show from the deck about 2 blocks south of here, plus can see bits of one about 6 blocks south. For all the signs they’ve got about it being illegal, there is apparently zero enforcement of the ordinances.

Gonna go read and hit the rack - didn’t sleep for shit last night, getting keyed up about going back. (Most people can’t get all relaxed until the end of their vacation - I work in reverse.)

Yup, went parasailing this morning.

You’ve got a choice of going up 400, 600 or 800 feet.

800 FEET, BABY!!

OMFG, it is completely and totally AWESOME. Can’t come up w/any other words, but hot damn that was fun. Totally going to have to do that again sometime.

Took the camera out on the beach again this evening, changed a few of the settings, already noticing better recovery time (I really have to go re-read the manual on this sucker and take it out more often.

Caught some surfers! Can be seen at: http://cafechatnoir.net/photos/lastwave_2005/
and the rest from this evening at http://cafechatnoir.net/photos/beach2005b/

All are linked up at Cafe Chat Noir - Photo Gallery

Definitely parasailing tomorrow if the weather holds.

So,today I was on the road well before 9, off to the Pea Island Wildlife Refuge. Unfortunately, as I headed down the bypass I realize I am driving into storm clouds - not to be deterred, I keep going anyway.

Hit the Visitors Center about 9:30, just as the rain starts. I think to myself, “Self, it’s a Tuesday morning, and you’ve got nothing to do and nowhere to go. Why not just keep driving til the sun shines again?”

So I did. And after about an hour, I ended up here:

Cape Hatteras Light

The view from the top is fantastic.

The ranger at the top was highly amused as I hit the top step, looked out the door and could only come up with, “Holy shit.”

Seem to have gotten over my issues with heights today, at least for a while. I can’t tell you how HUGE this is for me. I waltzed right up 257 steps, went out to the rails, took pictures, and even leaned over and looked down. Do check out the album for further proof. I had such a shit-eating grin on my face when I got back down, folks probably thought I got laid somewhere along the way.

After that, I headed back north again, figuring the storm would have passed, and it did. Spent some time in the absolulte hottest part of the day (brilliant) wandering on the trail at Pea Island, and thoroughly enjoying it. It was very hazy, so pics were really hard to do, and I now realize I need to a) shoot at a higher resolution for better crops and b) damn, just get a camera with an even bigger zoom on it.

Full albums at:
http://cafechatnoir.net/photos/hl_2005/
and
http://cafechatnoir.net/photos/pi_2005/

Only three days and then I have to go back to the real world.

But, I do miss my animals terribly, and I will be very happy to be back with all of them again. When I have my beach house (cue “dream a little dream” music here) it will be pet friendly. I also totally miss some of my coworkers, but no, I don’t miss work.

Another nice, if totally illegal, fireworks show going on down the street tonight. (It’s posted all over the place that fireworks aren’t allowed - I’ve seen a show nearly every night down here.)

Three days left - feel like I am out of time already. Spent 3 hours on the beach this afternoon - could have easily stayed til dark it was so great, but decided that a massive sunburn was not in my best interest. I seemed to have barely skirted it today, so now we know, 3 hours with one reapplying of sunscreen will work. (Also in my seemingly never ending quest for sunscreen - I found the good stuff I’d been searching for since we got here on Saturday when Eckerds restocked - BullFrog Quick Spray GEL. No gloppy crap. Excellent stuff, I highly recommend it.)

Oh, and to everyone that kept telling me I should meet some men down here - let me tell you, I am a HUGE hit with the 6 and under crowd. Had one little one after me today going, “Hiiiiiiiii!” and giggling like a maniac. I asked him if I gave him my number, would he call me in about 15 years? He giggled more and ran off. Men, can’t get ‘em to commit to anything… His Dad thought it was hilarious.

I think tomorrow I am going to the Pea Island Wildlife Refuge, which is down on the next island. Hope to get some good pictures. Just need to do that kinda early cause tomorrow it’s going to be in the 90s again. Visitors Center opens at 9, figure I should be able to make that pretty easily, and maybe stop somewhere for breakfast along the way on the bypass. (Sure, I’ve got enough cereal boxes here for the eighth army, but I’m kinda jonesing for eggs & bacon.)

Lots of firsts this trip. First time here for two weeks. First time here all by myself. Possibly the first time going parasailing (haven’t decided yet..)

And today - first up close and personal encounter with a jellyfish.

Let me tell you, it is rather unnerving to have something go THWACK against your ankle and look down and find an 8 inch jelly sloshing in the surf between your ankles. I jumped a good three feet in the air up and backwards and didn’t land on my ass or lose my swimsuit top - quite impressive. I either didn’t get hit at all, or it was a moon jelly which supposedly don’t have enough evil stuff to affect people… Either way, I’m not dead or in pain, but still, damn that freaked me out.

Another gorgeous day - totally lucked out on the weather this trip.

Have fixed the albums, they now work w/IE - here’s what we’ve got:

http://cafechatnoir.net/photos/beach2005/ - first set
http://cafechatnoir.net/photos/gardens2005/ - Elizabethan Gardens
http://cafechatnoir.net/photos/aquarium2005/ - NC Aquarium
http://cafechatnoir.net/photos/beach2005a/ - from last night

Also all are now linked at the main photo page, Cafe Chat Noir - Photo Gallery

Yes, I am posting real time at 9 at night - broke down and snagged a dial up for the next week - should have probably done that in the first place had I thought of it. Yes, it’s weird, but so am I - where most folks can sit and chill for an hour or two before bed in front of the TV, well, that’s me & internet…

It’s also nice to be able to get pics uploaded and such and post, and keep up on the news.

Brew Thru will happen sometime tomorrow, just need to get out & about before the next weekend wave hits. I think for now, I’m going to go read for a bit and hit the rack - tired as hell, cause I didn’t sleep for shit last night - this house is mighty creaky when it’s empty. Got a 10:30 wakeup call from Abigail for an impromptu pool party, not often you can say, “I’d love to, but I’m at the beach.” :) Good thing she did call, cause who knows when I actually would have woke up.

More beach photos here:
http://cafechatnoir.net/photos/beach2005a/

Donald & Co made it home in one piece, despite sitting on I-95 for a while when Lisa’s car (that had been picked up “all fixed” from the shop on the way home) decided to die. The animals all seem to be happy to have him around, unfortunately, the cats decided to let us know in their own special way that they didn’t care for being left. Let’s just say I owe him a new rug for the basement.

Went out & about for a bit today around noon and damned if the incoming crush hadn’t already started. But it was another nice day, and there’s something quite fun about driving down Ocean Boulevard in a bikini top, windows all open, with Billy Squire’s “Everybody Wants You” blasting out of the speakers. Yes, quite liberating. :)

Hit the beach for a couple hours, water is incredible due to Hurricane Ferdinand, or Frederick or whatever it’s name is - has pushed all the warm water up north. There is a windsurfer in the house next door, watched him have some very limited success out on the water, and I’ve made a mental note to give him a very wide berth as I have no desire to get whacked on the head with a sail when he falls over.

Need to hit the Brew Thru tonight after the crush is over as I’ve run out of sodas and *gasp* near out of beer. :)

Today’s bandwidth is being graciously provided by the Front Porch Cafe in Nags Head, where I am happily scarfing a frozen cappuccino thing. It’s 95 out w/a heat index of 115 - which I’m totally OK with, but I thought maybe my whole heat resistance was breaking as I was thinking today, “Damn, it’s HOT out.” Nope, it really is just HOT out.

Today has been shopping day. :) Have hit just about every surf shop on the bypass and will be making a final stop at the Lucky Duck shop where I started the morning for a couple pieces of fudge… Didn’t think they’d do too well in a hot car for most of the day. Have some new t-shirts & a couple new bikinis - figure ain’t too many more years I can get away with that, so might as well take advantage now, LOL.

Have thrown a few backdated posts into the mix, no pics, just my ramblings.

Still a week before I have to go back to the real world. Can’t say I’m much looking forward to it! This little piece of my life here manages to stay pretty unchanging - why can’t the rest of my world stay as politely static?

OK, have cooled off, gotten my email, checked the news (jeez, what a mess out there), and I am still the only one running amok with my credit card, so I’m off. Hope all is well in your worlds out there.

I will readily admit the lack of instant internet access is driving me somewhat nuts. The last time I was here, the zero in netzero still meant free and I just used one of their dialup numbers for the week.

Today was putt-putt day. Three courses in three hours. During the hottest damn part of the day - but they are definitely not crowded. Lost Treasure gets my vote as the best for a couple reasons: a) the train that takes you to the top of the mountain to start and b) about 1/4 of the holes are in “caves”, so you have lots of shady spots.

Carolina Seafood tonight. A paradise of gluttony, aka seafood buffet. Very, VERY good food, and oh so much of it to pick from. Place opens at 4:30 and folks are in line at 4PM, and we were amongst them. :) Oh so very good. Lisa scares me - she isn’t much bigger than I am, ate what seemed to be half her weight in crab legs, and admitted upon getting back to the house that she was still a little bit hungry… We’ve decided she’s not human.

When driving about, found that the Vitamin Sea surf shop is now a gift shop of some sort - may have to make some phone calls to see if perhaps they moved. I do hope so, as they were one of the best down here, and totally independent. I like businesses like that. Speaking of independent vs chains, I’ve yet to see a Starbucks down here - I had figured for sure that one would have popped up somewhere.

Sunburn has faded for the most part, but I think it may be another day before I hit the beach again, no need to make it worse.

Little bro & friends are leaving tomorrow night to head back home and I’ve got the place to myself for the next week. I do miss my critters - it would totally kick ass if I could bring them along with me.

Cause I’ve only been logging on to download email, make sure no one has run amok w/my credit cards besides me and take a look at LJ, it’s easier to just put all my replies to the comments on the last post here and just post it when I am back in range again:

- I’m with you on NC beaches being tops. In 5 years, the only changes I have seen up on this side of the island are a new drug store, a new beach store and there is a hotel under construction (and I am pretty sure it’s just replacing another hotel that was there before.)
- If I grew up that close to the beach, I’d likely have never graduated high school. :)
- Sorry, I’m usually behind the camera lens and not in front of it!
- Glad you liked them!
- It’s a good cure for near all that ails you.
- Thanks and hope you’re feeling a little less homesick soon.
- if I wait til the end, I’ll forget all the good stuff. :) This is how I chill out in the early morning and evenings.

I will also spare you the agony of putting 100+ pictures in a post. :)

Full albums at
http://cafechatnoir.net/photos/gardens2005/ and
http://cafechatnoir.net/photos/aquarium2005/
and a few of my favs here:

Coffee on the beach again this morning. Oh yes, it is going to suck mightily to go back to the real world.

Note to : good luck!!! (Even though you likely won’t see this, but ah well, the thoughts are there!)

Totally forgot to find a thermos or travel mug when I was out & about yesterday. Really need to get something, though, given my predilection for sloshing coffee everywhere when it’s in a real cup. Went out today and found a place that had them in the window, but they closed at 3PM and I was a bit too late. Also saw something there you don’t see too often and that is police line tape. But it was also just around a sign that had fallen off the overhang of the coffee shop…

Found an ad for Whalebone surf shop last night - looks like they just moved farther down the bypass. *whew* Vitamin Sea apparently is still around, and I consider them to be the best surf shop here. There will be a day of just me hitting all my shops… :)

Hit Jolly Roger’s for dinner last night - still the best Crab Imperial ever.

I think tomorrow I am going to head over to Manteo and the Elizabethan Gardens. It’s very cool - formal English gardens that were built in the 50’s by the Garden Club of NC as a memorial to the first settlers here. They’re incredibly beautiful. Oh, yeah, and the brewery being right there doesn’t exactly hurt either.

Please, PLEASE remind me again that I shouldn’t be plotting how to buy property down here. It’s bad that I am suddenly finding inspiration to get my place sold, LOL.

3 hours on the beach today - sadly, my sunscreen didn’t quite cut it and my legs are somewhat pink. (Sunscreen: SPF 30 Sweatproof, check, Waterproof, check, Towelproof from sitting, not so much.) Now have spray on Solarcaine to also help offset the flying critters that also decided to snack on me today. Good waves, though, lots of surfers out, can’t exactly shoot the curl, but any wave you can stand on is better than none. Been threatening to go get a board, little bro says it would be too dangerous — to the other people in the water…

I think NAS Oceana must be doing some exercises today - have seen three jets over the beach today - very cool.

Back at the old homestead out on the deck with my coffee, going through my pics to see what turned out from yesterday and this morning. And this is what I love about my digital camera - I took 110 photos in the past two days, there are 20 something I liked enough to post here, and I don’t have to feel bad for wasting film. :)

I’ve been up since 6 something, have been to the beach, been out and about to check out the wifi access, showered, gotten the kitchen cleaned up, and it’s almost 9:30 and I’m still the only one up. :) I really am turning into my mother, LOL. But I have made a genuine effort to be quiet, as I am sure they were all up quite late, while I crashed hard at 10:30.

The wifi hotspot is in the little new shopping center just up the street, they have a courtyard w/picnic tables you can sit at and have not one but three available connections. Only downside is no open relays for mail, which is understandable, so I have to send email via webmail. It’s quite nice, just missing a coffee shop, but I think I have to go north for that. Think I’ll get me a little thermos type thing today and I can take my own coffee. The shopping center also has “Diva’s” which advertises the best pedicures on the beach. To be honest, I think the beach sand does a better job…

I think the biggest decision we’ll have today is what to do for dinner. I can deal with that level of responsibility. I’ve managed to get a rather ugly bruise on my foot, and I can’t for the life of me figure out how I got it. But it goes well with the two on the side of my leg that look like someone hit me with a stick - again, no clue where I picked those up, I run into so many things through the course of a day.

Rental company just called, apparently the owner is getting a painting estimate and wanted to give us a heads up - I said, “Um, if they want to come over now, they won’t have access to all the rooms, cause I’m the only one up…” - apparently it will be later today or tommorrow.

Got all the old nail polish off my nails that was chipping off anyway and a clear coat on and hopefully I can continue this recent trend of not busting off all my fingernails.

Since getting this started, I’ve been out to the beach yet again, taken a very nice nap (now back to the equivalent at getting up at a sane hour), been to the drugstore for more sunscreen (Bullfrog for kids is in a nice spray bottle, however, all it does is squirt a big blob of lotion on you…not what I had in mind) and since it’s right across the street, I’m back here at the shop to post and check email and such. It’s quite cool to have a dragonfly come sit on the top of the laptop while I type. :)

Last night’s storm:

Sunrise on the beach

Looking South from the stairs to the beach

Looking North…

South again…

Pelicans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Be warned, there will be lots of these while I am here, I absolutely adore them!)

The house we’re staying in

Posting real time courtesy of the Knitting Addiction’s free wifi here in Southern Shores.

Was up at 6 this morning, went out to the beach and had my coffee, took some pics that I still need to sort out, then decided to hop in the car and see if I couldn’t find this place and check my email and get caught up on LJ. Mission accomplished. Will likely be back later today with a picture post. :)

We made it in one piece!!

And I am well out of range of potential nervous breakdowns, YAY!!

No unsecured wireless close enough to pick up a signal, and Speakeasy doesn’t have any dialup numbers down here, so I’ll just continue adding to this until I hit the coffee shop w/ free wifi. IT WILL BE LONG! I’m currently typing out on the screened porch, listening to the birds, enjoying the sea air (my skin is clearing up already), ocean sounds, a great breeze and recharging my PDA and dumping more music on it (totally should have gotten the 2G card, I will likely have to pare down my playlist a tad). We’re the third house back from the beach. The boys have both suggested that I just take the laptop and walk in increasing concentric circles around the house until I can connect. (For the record, I’m not the only one w/a laptop here.)

I apologized for being so anti-social, but Donald pointed out that they were immersed in Harry Potter and doing the exact same thing, just all in the same room.

Got on the road around 9:30 or so, (made the pharmacy in Burke!), a very relaxed trip once we got going with many stops, got in around 6 or so. Only real bad traffic was on the final approach, and even then, not too terrible. Bringing along my PDA was a very good idea, as my brother’s iPod FM transmitter just couldn’t quite cut it, and the internal speakers on mine are pretty good in a pinch, and he was impressed to see he could rebuild a good 90% of his playlist on my PDA - apparently we have very similar musical tastes.

The cast of characters this week:
Donald - aka little bro, aka dlove107.
Tev - Donald’s roommate, aka he who has stated he will be very disappointed if he doesn’t see a shark.
Lisa - Donald’s roommate & Tev’s fiancee.

Overall, very little seems to have changed in the last 5 years, which is nice. There is now a $2 escape tax to get out of VA (Toll on the “Chesapeake Expressway” just before you hit the state line), and a new drawbridge in Great Bridge which we got to see in action. Not too terribly much changed at the beach itself so far. Whalebone Surf Shop is now a mortgage co, hopefully they’ve just moved elsewhere, and there is a new Wings (cheesy beach shop) in Duck, and one of the banks has a new name. There is also a new little shopping center at the entrance of Southern Shores. Ports O’ Call restaurant is still here, which is one of my favs (yay estate jewelry store in the lobby!) that we’ll be hitting, just need to find out if Carolina Seafood & Jolly Roger are still around. We haven’t ventured that far south yet to see what’s around.

Saturday’s big excursions after getting in were to the market for some forgotten items, the pizza place to get dinner and to the beach to stomp around for a bit. Storm was coming in, very cool to watch the lightning out over the water. One Corona and I was down for the count. Fell asleep with all the lights on in the room and slept a good 12 hours straight.

Sunday has been filled with food making (we have enough ham salad for a week, WOOT and another WOOT for having the presence of mind to throw my mini cuisinart in the food box), more beach time (I’ve got tan lines already!), trip out to the Brew Thru (Tev is a NC beach rookie, had never seen one before, and well, we needed more beer), drug store for a few more forgotten items, and now it’s evening chill out time. The gents are in charge of dinner, as we picked up a hibachi so we could grill the hot dogs, so they get to play with fire for a while. Donald is making a dash to the closest quickie mart for ketchup as I completely forgot anything to put ON the hot dogs..

Lisa is hard core - she was out in the water up to her neck several times today. She also has the ability to snooze absolutely anywhere - even moreso tham me - we gotta make sure she’s well sunscreened up and doesn’t zonk out on the beach without supervision. :) The water is too cold for me to do much besides dunk my feet and cool off, but it’s at least not turn your toes blue cold. (I have experienced that down here once. If you go out one fine morning and find a load of expired minnows on the beach, don’t bother touching the water - it’s THAT cold.)

Just a couple hours in the sand and the skin on my feet is in better shape than it’s been in years. Two weeks and I’ll have gorgeous footsies. Glad I snagged some nail polish at the drugstore today. :)

One of the forgotten items was sunscreen, as the bottle I’d bought for the beach is apparently still sitting on the kichen counter. Ended up w/Bullfrog for kids, cause that was the only version of it they had in a spray bottle. My luck it’s something that sprays on purple or smells like bubble gum, LOL. But it’s SPF 40 and I can’t imagine it can actually figure out my age, so it should work…

The house is great, smaller than where we’ve stayed before, but perfect for 4 people. (Technically it sleeps 8, but that’s definitely pushing it.) Lisa is going to help me figure out if the young man across the street is jail bait or not, cause I just can’t be leering at a high-schooler…

The cable here has G4 TV on it, also known as “tech TV which was good and now it’s all damn video game reviews”… The boys are thrilled. The travel channel was also showing poker earlier - when did this actually become a spectator sport?? Even more hilarious - they have COMMENTATORS. I couldn’t help but spend some time mocking THAT…. “Well, Jim, if the flop doesn’t go his way, he’ll end up in 4th place.” “Exactly, Bob, and his girlfriend won’t sleep with him for WEEKS if that happens…”

Tev says I have quite the Lara Croft thing going w/my braid & my hat. He’s very sweet that way, overlooking the fact that I am just missing the insanely fabulous body and Brad Pitt on my arm. Lisa says the hat is “so totally me”. I will have to get pics of me in the hat at some point, as it really is quite the kickass hat.

sagamore is tending to the four legged brood while we’re gone, and called this evening - I’ll admit to a moment of panic upon hearing the ringtone, but all is well - his very sharp eyes saw my driver’s license sitting out at the house when he went to check in on the cats. Fortunatly, that is my old DL w/the old address that I am keeping as a backup should I lose my current one so I can at least have that piece of plastic in my wallet while waiting on a replacement. Major props for noticing something like that! And I couldn’t help but laugh when he said, “You sound like you’re unloading beer” - cause that was EXACTLY what we were doing at the time. He’s a good egg to not only be looking out for my critters, but me as well.

The wheels are already turning in my head about buying property down here - happens every time I am here without fail - more dangerous this time around as I have more means for it… But gosh, wouldn’t it be GREAT? I mean really, get a place w/decent rental history, that offsets some of the mortgage costs, yes, I should stop thinking about this RIGHT NOW… ;) But MY house would offer a wireless broadband internet connection… Tev says he’d DEFINITELY rent from me. :)

Storm is blowing through, we’ll probably be seeing this every evening - that’s July on the east coast. Think I got a few cool pics of the stormline, we’ll see when I get them off the camera.

My big plans for the next two weeks are to hit the Elizabethan Gardens, the Weeping Radish (most excellent brewery), the aquarium (this may be the only place Tev gets to see a shark), the Pea Island Nature Preserve, and very possibly going parasailing. Figure that should do something for that whole fear of heights, shouldn’t it? (That or I’ll be puking from several hundred feet up, LOL.) There will also likely be an all day putt-putt excursion one day this week.

It’s amazing how you kind of manage to forget everything that’s bothering you down here. Wish I could figure out a way to replicate that up in DC. Hell, if I could bottle it and sell it, I’d be a millionaire. I am seriously in my happy place. I’ve almost always been that way down here. I don’t know how it happens, but it does. (The only exception was the year my ex-h had bailed on me, that was a rough year, and it rained nonstop.)