Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Back from Vacation!

I bet you didn't even know I was gone! A lot of times I post when we go to the beach, but this year I got very paranoid about letting the world know we weren't at home. Not that I think you, my dear friend, would spread the word to local robbers and bad guys, but sometimes robbers and bad guys read blogs. Okay, probably no robbers or bad guys read this blog, but, well, sometimes we're not entirely rational creatures, now are we?

Plus, I spent a lot of time at the beach napping. Or else rocking on the front porch of our rental house. Here's what my view looked like:

I like a beach house with a front yard. We were on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, on Ocracoke Island, and the beach itself, the part of it where you can actually hang out, is about a mile up the road from where we stay. The nice thing about Ocracoke--or one of the many nice things about Ocracoke--is there are lots of trees. There are also hidden family graveyards, and one really good bookstore, called Books to Be Red. We can't figure out why it's not Books to Be Read. Maybe they started out as a distributor of Marxist tracts?

Isn't that a great old tree? All the trees on the island get beat up by the wind, and are quite beautiful and spooky.

So, anyway, we had a nice time. There's always at least one day on vacation where you wonder why you ever had children, because this trip would sure be a lot more enjoyable without them, but for the most part the boys were friendly and fun. We played a lot of Scrabble and ate a lot of pimento cheese (well, not Will--pimento cheese is waaay outside of Will's comfort zone, as are most foods with coloration or flavor).

We came home Sunday to lots and lots of rain. Big floods over in Chapel Hill, The creek she's a-rising, Mama sort of stuff. My garden is looking pretty beat down, and the dang squirrels are eating the green tomatoes. Plus, the mulch around my flowers is starting to smell sort of bad. But the green beans are doing great!

And the rain continues. It's supposed to go away tomorrow, at which time I'm going to hang strips of fabric soaked in peppermint oil on the tomato cages. Will read that keeps squirrels away. From what I know of squirrels, nothing keeps them away besides a shotgun, but maybe we'll get lucky.


There was a statue of St. Francis in the garden of our beach house, so Will and I started making offerings to his little bowl. We found a couple of plastic gems and a snail shell, so we put those in, and on our last day we put one of the plastic red-eye tree frogs we keep in the car (because you never know when they'll come in handy while driving) into the bowl. We hope he'll still be there next year, as we plan to be there next year, too.

12 comments:

Jo said...

How wonderful to have a regular family vacation house. And can I actually have your vacation please? It looks divine. Spooky trees AND a bookshop. On an island. Nothing better. Unless you unmasked a gang of smugglers while you were there. That would have been the icing on the cake.

Gumbo Lily said...

I like trees with personality and old graveyards are the coolest. Sounds like it was a lovely time. I'd like a vacation right about now, but it's just not time. We're busy making hay while the sun shines!

Loved your pictures and the one of St. Francis and his bowl with your offerings inside.

Pom Pom said...

Aw! That sounds like a blissful vacation.
I'm glad you're home and I did not know squirrels dine on green tomatoes. That's not good news.

magsmcc said...

It does look a bit spooky. You're clearly a tree dweller. We leave soon, and we're going to be beside a wood, but no beach. . Also paranoid about blogging that fact! I've packed Monopoly and Lego. The staccato tone of this comment probably stems from the fact that I am living a list today!

Heather said...

It sounds as if you had a lovely vacation. Beautiful pictures.

I'd be nervous about letting the world know I was leaving my house unattended, too.

The dB family said...

Sounds and looks like a wonderful vacation! They wouldn't happen to have cottages large enough to house seven children and two adults would they? :o)

I'm with you on the not saying anything until we're back.

Blessings!
Deborah

Sandy H said...

Welcome home! (And yes, we noticed you were gone. But we didn't tell any robbers. Or squirrels. So don't blame us for the green tomatoes.) Sounds like a wonderful week, loved the picture of the tree, and now I'm thinking I need to add Oracoke to my Empty Nest list.

Leslie said...

Welcome home! Please send the rain to Texas. I am so glad you got to get away somewhere so beautiful and it sounds like you got a lot of R&R. Vacations sure get more interesting as our children get older, don't they? We took one last year where my oldest daughter tweeted all of her secret thoughts from the back seat and I was "following" her from the front seat. Oh, fun times, that! haha

GretchenJoanna said...

You write some of the best travelogues! I'm sending this one to my daughter who goes to the Outer Banks several times a year. My other daughter in MD has complained about the rain, too. I hope you are at least enjoying your green beans and that the rain WILL let up soon.

Nancy McCarroll said...

What a pretty place to be. Bet the humidity was high. Glad you had fun.

Everyday Life On A Shoestring said...

Looks like a great holiday. The peppermint oil thing certainly doesn't deter mice; when I tried it I reckoned they just liked having minty fresh breath but maybe you'll have better luck with the squirrels.

debbie bailey said...

I've heard of that island but haven't ever been there. It sounds like my cup of tea! Fripp Island in South Carolina is our favorite vaca place. I pretty much love all of South Carolina!