Sunset Beach – slowly she turned

North Carolina, North Carolina beaches, Reading, Sunset Beach

Sunset Beach Finale

July 24, 2011November 21, 2020 Laurie

Left to right: Brother Thad, Cousin Cherie, and Nephew Seth

Cuz-in-law Ken, G-neph Jake

Cherie and I at the Kindred Spirit mailbox on Bird “Island.”

I did manage to get a couple of pairs of book covers almost done and a dragonfly/mica book bound. I warped up the tapestry loom so all that is left is to pick a design and start weaving. My newest order from Treenway Silks arrived just before I left. I took advantage of a clearance sale.

I’m glad that I have this day off before going back to work. I picked up some minor bug and woke up a bit sick yesterday, but it doesn’t seem like it is going to ruin my week ahead. After all the weight I probably gained this past week, not being hungry is a good thing.

Between my sister and niece’s cooking and eating out, we ate very, very well. Brooke, who works for a barbecue restaurant, made a BBQ meal with all the fixings Saturday night. Lisa made breakfasts and chicken/rice casserole and spaghetti with Pierce’s sausage (from Hallsboro) and provided wonderful North Carolina themed snacks. Mama brought her chicken salad and potato salad and field peas. Sandy and I prepared the components for marinated shishkabobs one night, and Brooke and the guys managed to get them grilled despite the two house grills falling apart.

This afternoon I need to pick up a few groceries, then I’m going to spend most of my time catching up on my online “class,” the Magic Diaries with Jude Hill. We bought a season pass to “Breaking Bad” on iTunes and so we have an episode of that to watch and a movie.

My novel this week, during the few times that I could read, was “The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse” by Louise Erdrich. I’ve recently rediscovered her and now I want to go back and re-read her first books from 20+ years ago.

Family, North Carolina, North Carolina beaches, Sunset Beach

At Sunset Beach

July 17, 2011November 21, 2020 Laurie

Sand turtle

Niece Brooke and her Uncle Sandy.

Three cousins.

Front to back: Sister Lisa, Mama, me

You wish you were me, admit it.

More to come.

North Carolina, North Carolina beaches, Sunset Beach

Gone fishin’

July 16, 2011November 21, 2020 Laurie

Back Forty, butterbeans, coffee pot posts, critters, North Carolina beaches, Sunset Beach

Saturday a.m. coffee pot post

November 28, 2009January 4, 2021 Laurie

I picked these in the Back Forty yesterday afternoon from the vines that I didn’t pull down in October. Can you imagine how many I would have gotten if I hadn’t picked every slightly filled out bean and pulled out half the vines then? You can never quite be sure what the right gardening thing to do is in North Carolina in October. A couple of years ago I picked an eggplant on December 1.

Now I’m trying to decide what to take to this potluck tonight. I have asparagus left from the casserole I made for Thanksgiving, and I could buy mushrooms and recreate that. Or I could add butterbeans and field peas from my freezer to these fresh butterbeans. Or I could buy more goat cheese to add to this really delicious farro salad. I plan to make a big pot of chili for the week ahead.

Other than that, I’m reading a Dennis Lehane novel, loving my kittehs, working on photography projects for this online class, and binding some books over the weekend. I’m thinking about thawing out some paper pulp and making a small batch of paper tomorrow. What are you doing?

Guido was chasing his tail, and now he is chasing Lucy back and forth through the house. You’d never know that he was an old man. Theo decided to join in the fun, which effectively stopped the game. How sad. Miss Jazz hisses at everybody, including me. But they’re getting there. It’s much better than it was – they all sleep together which says a lot about the progress.

Here’s a couple more photos from the beach. The pampas grass has naturalized through the area between the dunes and the houses.