Friday, July 28, 2006

Beach Days..

Philip and I do not get to the beach as much as some of you might think! We like to go a couple of timse a week, but that is on the high end.

Yesterday (we always have Thursdays off!) we spent the day just for ourselves. Well, Philip had a dance workshop in the morning at the Historical Museum. It was lovely out under the cedars. I have been dancing the Ocracoke dance with him for a long time now..so we had a great time demonstrating and then dancing with all of the folks.

We then went home to lunch and packed up for the beach. It was an exceedingly beautiful day...the waves were perfect (except the one that tumbled us in a somersault!) and the breeze was gorgeous. We have our own swimming spot...occasionally we see a couple of folks, but usually we don't see anyone.

We went to dinner last night (it was our date night)...and strolled home arm in arm....

Tonight we have history and ghost tours...even one at the bewitching hour when the village is dark and quiet.

Sally, thank you for finding the blog. My laptop will not support my extensive Sunday Passage note from here. So, for the summer, the blog will do!!

My days with Philip have begun to be numbered...but I try not to think about it...today is what matters.


Lou Ann Homan is a writer, teacher, and storyteller who lives in Northern Indiana, but spends her summers on Ocracoke Island. She is available for writing seminars, storytelling, and speaking engagements. She can be contacted at locketoftime@aol.com. You can read more at www.louannhoman.com

Monday, July 24, 2006

The days of our lives...

Ah, yes, the days of our lives, although I think that title has already been used!

Where did the week go, and is this my Sunday Passage now?

The July birthday party potluck was even more wonderful than I thought it would be. The house was overflowing with over fifty folks (did we invite that many??)...after a groaning table of food was consumed, the musicians took all the instruments out of their cases and commenced to playing. They set up on the pizer and the rest of us took to dancing in the yard. It was a wonderful celebration.

We had ghost tours on Tuesday and Friday nights and added a moonless tour on Friday evening late into the night. Yes, it was a bit scarier than usual. Philip and I led that tour together.

We did our old time radio show at the Opry....which everyone has come to love and expect. I delight in the writing of it and the performing as well.

Saturday night (my birthday) we spent the evening at Dallie's with family and friends to celebrate an old Ocracoke custom of having Old Drum. It is a wonderful dish that I had never had up until that evening. It consists of boiled drum (fish), boiled potatoes, boiled eggs, fried salt pork and onions. It is all mixed together on the plate as one huge dish. It is fabulous. Following platefuls of Old Drum, we devoured Dallie's homemade blackberry cobbler. When we were finished, we put out the lights and told ghost stories.

How can life get better than this?

We are busy, we are together, and I am happy.

I love not wearing shoes or riding in a car.....I love spending my days with Philip and the life on this Island. I guess I am in a state of bliss. Sigh.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Getting to the post...

Getting around to writing a daily blog has definitely become a chore. The library hours are few...sometimes I am working and get can't here or something else has come up...like life?

The week is a blur of activities...ghost walks...the Opry.

My sweet daughter in law, Karen, (Aaron's wife, Jonah and Matthew's Mama) came for a four day visit. It was such great fun to meet her on the ferry on Thursday evening. Philip and I were both barefoot and riding our bikes. We had a summer supper and then whisked her off to hear Molasses Creek. Afterwards Gary and David came over for late night snacks and Sunset on the Pizer.

The next evening David and Amy brought shrimp to boil. A wonderful dish for living on an island...Again we whisked Karen off to the ghost and history walk.

The rest of the week end were hours at the beach, a pirate tour around Pamlico Sound on the Windfall (Rob's schooner), dinner at the Back Porch...late nights on the pizer just talking...music at the Jolly Roger.....and shopping, of course.

She left on the early ferry this morning and Philip and I stood on the dock and waved until out of sight. It is a long journey home for her. Sigh.

Tonight we host the July birthday parties on the island, including mine! We have invited 35 folks to come for the pot luck. We are boiling shrimp and deviled eggs as well. It will be a wonderful evening.

Until my next bike ride to the library...as ever....

Lou Ann Homan is a writer, teacher, and storyteller who lives in Northern Indiana, but spends her summers on Ocracoke Island. She is available for writing seminars, storytelling, and speaking engagements. She can be contacted at locketoftime@aol.com. You can read more at www.louannhoman.com

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

My Summer Job

I never set my alarm clock. I just wake up to swaying cedars and the smell of heat.

Breakfast is relaxed and easy in Philip's kitchen. We have a large old table that is pitted and scarred from years of service. I love that table. It is adorned by a single lantern (which serves it's purpose during evenings of cribbage and letter writing).

We share toast ( I always bake bread on Mondays) and strawberry jam and, for me, a pot of coffee with real cream!

The morning shower is outside under the morning sapphire sky and the cacophony of birds. (We have a pair of nesting egrets right on the premise).

My second cup of brew is gently sipped on the pizer as I wait for the church bells. As they begin ringing at 9:00, I put down my cup and walk to the shop. (No shoes necessary, I don't even know where they are!)

I love opening the shop. Sometimes I feel as if I am in a movie...unlocking the door, hanging out the open sign...sweep the porch...put on the music. (Always I play Sundae and Rob's CD, Home is an Island....)

From the front door of the shop is the Howard cemetery. It is actually a comforting thought and lovely to look at with it's white picket fence.

I breathe in the scents of the shop...cedar..soap..

Folks from all over arrive...happy, barefooted to browse...to shop...to talk. (We love to talk!)

When my lunch hour comes I stroll home...it takes a minute and a half if I dawdle...walking on the planks...picking up a clam shell...waving to friends and visitors.

Lunch is on the pizer...tuna or boiled eggs..or leftovers from the night before. Philip reads at lunch, but I just sit outside and absorb life.

An hour late I stroll back (maybe take the shortcut through the woods!)...and spend the rest of the day chatting with folks, ringing up sales, dreaming out of the window.

And for all of this, I actually get paid. Life is wonderful.


Lou Ann Homan is a writer, teacher, and storyteller who lives in Northern Indiana, but spends her summers on Ocracoke Island. She is available for writing seminars, storytelling, and speaking engagements. She can be contacted at locketoftime@aol.com. You can read more at www.louannhoman.com

Saturday, July 08, 2006

All in a week...

It is a cool Saturday morning as I sit in the small Ocracoke Library sending out the notes for the week. There are four small computers at one table and as I sit here I can see all of the library as it surrounds me. It is nice for me to have this access as my own computer, as you know, does not appreciate Island life.

Missing a day on my blog, on my journey is actually disastrous...there are so many events each day.

We worked part of the day on the fourth of July, then Philip closed the shop for the parade and all of the events. Our friend, Jim, came and stayed with us for all the events. He is a great house guest as he brings homemade cookies and fresh peaches and great conversation. (He is a potter in Manteo.) We attended a cookout and then enjoyed the fireworks on The Windfall. I love watching the fireworks over the water and the resounding echo. Folowing the display we stand close together on the boat as Sundae leads us all in singing The Star Spangled Banner. We followed pathways to her house late into the night for cake and wine, then rode home through the shadows.

Wednesday night was the Opry and again we had our old fashioned radio show. It is becoming quite popular and I love spending time writing it. I love performing it with Philip, he is a great actor and we have so much fun with the show.

Jim Goodwin, the ships in a bottle artist, was here this week and had dinner with us Thursday evening. He was demonstrating his technique under his artist's tent for a few days this week. He knows the stories as well as the craft so it was a great night to share shipwreck theories and nautical technology.

Last night, under ominous skies with a three quarter moon, Amy and I had the ghost walks. It was cool and breezy and one of those perfect evenings to listen to ghost stories as we ventured out on our hour and a half. Friends came back to sit on the pizer, wrapped in jackets and sweaters as the first gliimpse of fall made it's way to our Island.

The week was good. I am happy.

Lou Ann Homan is a writer, teacher, and storyteller who lives in Northern Indiana, but spends her summers on Ocracoke Island. She is available for writing seminars, storytelling, and speaking engagements. She can be contacted at locketoftime@aol.com. You can read more at www.louannhoman.com

Monday, July 03, 2006

The Jolly Roger

Since I am using my blog as a personal journal, at least I think so. Is there anyone out there reading this? Whether or not you are out there, it is great for me to write everyday...putting thoughts down and recording my life as I live it.

I love Sunday nights.

Philip and I always got the Jolly Roger. It is an open restaurant on the water. No, that isn't what I mean to say at all....it is a dive, really...right on Silver Lake (also known as the Creek) that leads out to the Pamlico Sound. It is the harbor and full of all kinds of boats including the Windfall (Rob's schooner).

On Sunday night Martin and friends play music in the corner sweating away as we listen to folk and blue grass and original pieces. There is a glass tip jar on the table next to them for our coffers of thanksgiving to them.

The sides are all open so folks can linger on the porches, watch the boats, sing loudly.

We always start off with a small table, but end of continually putting tables together as the crowd of friends grow larger. We hunt for more chairs sit closer to one another except when we go visiting other folks ourselves. We order crab sandwiches, coconut cake, pitchers of beer...we all share the rounds of beer.

We laugh, tell stories, sing, watch the sun go down over the sound, watch the Windfall to come in with it's great sails, wait for Rob to anchor and come on down.

I think it is my favorite night of the week. I love being there with Philip. Sometimes Martin even plays our Song.

The Jolly Roger has become a tradition for me. I am home there. I am welcome there.

Yes, home is an island.

Lou Ann Homan is a writer, teacher, and storyteller who lives in Northern Indiana, but spends her summers on Ocracoke Island. She is available for writing seminars, storytelling, and speaking engagements. She can be contacted at locketoftime@aol.com. You can read more at www.louannhoman.com

Sunday, July 02, 2006

The Fourth of July Crowds.....

The tourists are here...bicyling on the wrong side of the road...crisscrossing the streets....and filling up the beach (well, a little anyway!)

We do have our own hide-away beach area...no umbrellas, no folks..but this morning as we went for our early Sunday morning beach walk...there were actually people on our beach. It was definitely unusual.

We tried a little swimming, but the ocean current was strong, and we were unable to get out past the first waves.

It is lovely walking early in the morning after a breakfast of fresh peaches and hot coffee...

We spent the afternoon at a memorial service at the Methodist Church for a woman who had lived here years ago. Her husband and family all flew in for this service...she was an intricate part of Ocracoke by the testimonies that were all given about her life. Sitting in church with Philip listening to the old hymns, feeling the breeze swirling down from the ceiling fans, listening to their stories was serendipitous.

Life is short, sweet, and sometimes very confusing.

I felt hot tears on my own face...for the family of the lovely woman whom I had never met...for the love story between her and her husband and for the fragility of life itself.

Carpe Diem.

Lou Ann Homan is a writer, teacher, and storyteller who lives in Northern Indiana, but spends her summers on Ocracoke Island. She is available for writing seminars, storytelling, and speaking engagements. She can be contacted at locketoftime@aol.com. You can read more at www.louannhoman.com

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Hot Summer Days..

July

Hot. Running across the sand Hot. Dry your hair in the sun Hot. Steamy windows in the cottage Hot.

Fresh. Sweet corn Fresh. Mornings of warm dew Fresh. Shrimp boats arriving in the harbor Fresh.

Lazy. Sleeping in the hammock Lazy. Watching sunsets on the Pizer Lazy. Watching the clouds roll by Lazy

Fourth of July
First Firefly
My Birthday
Brown as a Berry
Freckled Noses

July

Lou Ann Homan is a writer, teacher, and storyteller who lives in Northern Indiana, but spends her summers on Ocracoke Island. She is available for writing seminars, storytelling, and speaking engagements. She can be contacted at locketoftime@aol.com. You can read more at www.louannhoman.com

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