Hear the lonely call of the train whistle...going home.

Julie and I at the train station. I thought it would be fun to

smoke so my friend Jude, from Ocracoke, gave me

candy cigarettes. Don't we look like girls of the 30's?



Clock tower in Fredricksburg, Maryland, from my train window.



I love this photo outside the train station in Washington, D.C.

You can buy a newspaper from anywhere in the world here.





This is inside the train station in Washington, D.C.

The dome is painted with gold.

I believe this to be an old station in Pennsylvania. Also taken from my

window. It is so lonely and desolate, what stories it could tell!



This is a photo in the dining car. I love how the sun slants

on the table.

Here is the column from the trip, enjoy!!

Click here for article!!

Farewell to Ocracoke...

Yesterday I took my last early morning walk on the beach.

These photos were all taken before the sun rose .

This is a photo of the sea oats in the dawn.

When I was taking this photo of the beach there was no one, nothing

on any side of me. It was completely void of human life or human

misgivings. I am always in awe, but on this morning I was

humbled.

Some child must have left this on the beach the night before.

It was all alone, tipped as it appears. I couldn't resist

to capture this innocence of child's play.

This sand castle was still intact from the flowing of the

tide. My walk was at low tide yesterday something I

watch carefully here...the tides, the moon phases,

the joy of life.

I leave this afternoon and will board a train in Newport

News tomorrow taking me back to the Midwest where

work calls me home.

Until then, farewell to my beloved Island and a thank you

to Philip for making the summer enchanting as always.

Getting ready to say goodbye...

Click here for article.

The time has come to start saying goodbye and packing up, yet I am still enjoying each one of these last few days. The weekend was for reading and friends.

This morning was an early morning scud out in Philip's boat. It was beautiful in the harbor as the sun was coming up and still cool breezes before the heat of the day.
We had breakfast with Jude at the Castle as her guests and a tour as well. The history of the Castle is colorful built by an eccentric man, Sam Jones.


My studio finally looks like 'home'. There are books and notes and bracelets and electronic cords strung all over. I have loved working in Mad Mag's studio all summer...I think she is my muse, at least while I am here.

So my next two posts might be a bit sad as I pull away from my Ocracoke life to resume the other.

Enjoy the article and build community wherever you are.

Looking up!

Taking a shower outdoors is one of the many pleasures of living on Ocracoke. When I first visited years ago, I shared a rental house with several girlfriends. With the heat and the humidity, the bathroom was always steamy and damp. I found the outdoor shower a few days later and moved into it. I couldn't get anyone to do so, but that was great as I had it all to myself. There was a small shelf for shampoo and conditioner and a bar of soap.

Philip has the best outdoor shower of all. It is large and roomy with a stained glass window so showering at night is like being in a fairy land. The picture is the view looking up for the morning shower.

This is one of the hardest adjustments of moving back to Indiana. I do so miss this shower. However, building an outdoor shower in Indiana would probably be impractical with six months of snow!

I found this quote earlier this week in my readings and wanted to share it as well! In the meantime, happy showering!


Must we always teach our children with books? Let them look at the mountains and the stars up above. Let them look at the beauty of the waters and the trees and flowers on earth. They will then begin to think, and to think is the beginning of a real education.
- David Polis

Who are we really?

Dear Friends,

Early this morning a friend of mine from Indiana sent me a sampling of her new Blog. It is an inside look of her thoughts, activities and how she is moving through life.

I wrote back and told her that it really got me thinking about my Blog and where i go with it and how I want you, the reader, to experience it with me.

I don't think of my Blog as a diary, although I do think of my columns as such. My Blog is a brief glimpse into my soul or even my recipe book. I find it comforting, amusing, and quite bold on my part that folks want to read these inner thoughts. But then again, on Facebook, we share the minutest details of our daily life including grams of fiber for our breakfast (OK, really stretching on that one) to serious topics of illness and death.

I find that each day, when available, I need this daily fix of comedy, drama and soapbox material from Facebook.

I also think that sharing the color of life, in small pieces, is what my Blog is all about as well. I have the good fortune of traveling and living different life styles along the way. It is fun for me to share outdoor showers, biking through villages when on Ocracoke as well as snowstorms in Indiana or moonlight on the moors of England and Ireland.

So, I will continue to write about observing small vignettes of life, while once in a while trumpeting the views of Paris from the Eiffel Tower.

Thank you for listening, for reading, for finding my blog an integral part of your journey.

Lou Ann

Happy Birthday, Philip

Birthdays are magical days and today I wish Philip a Happy Birthday. We stayed out late last night out in the yard on the sleeping bag watching for shooting stars. It was even cool enough for me to wrap the sleeping bag around me. The sky was crystal clear as we watched the Big Dipper take a bow for the evening and Cassiopeia rise to glory.

There is something so enchanting about just watching the stars late at night. It is humbling and magnificent all at the same time. We shared stories of birthdays come and gone. I love telling about my children's birthdays on the farm and watching the stars there as well for the summer birthdays of Adam and Aaron. We would all fall asleep out on the blankets as the shooting stars canopied our dreams.

Abe's birthday comes in the heart of winter for skating and sledding and playing cards into the wee hours of the morning.

So, happy birthday, Philip, may all your wishes come true.

This week's column...Sittin' on the Pizer...

       Just click on the link:    Sittin' on the Pizer...