It's all happening

Instagrams from the beginning of my week on the coast. This place is one of the good ones - and my friends are some of the best ones. I am fortunate to have such wonderful people in my life. It's a cliché, sure - but I'm over the moon and full of gratitude. It is life-affirming, being with the people who matter to you.

This morning, I watched the sun come up over the horizon and thought, here we go... 

 

(Don't fret, I am taking real photos... they'll come soon. For now, we have instagram).

Life right now

A few instagrams from last week. Sometime soon I'll find my way back to a real camera.

Mostly I'm just walking around the arboretum. If you need me, I'll be hanging out with the lycoris radiata.  

It's 8 days before my birthday.  

Do you have a charming one- or two- bedroom apartment? A tiny cottage of a house? A small old-fashioned place where Mabel and I can rest our weary bones? 

If you do, I will buy you flowers and champagne and so many things. Call me.

Coastal

I spent the weekend with friends down in Dare county. We stayed in Stumpy Point, a village precariously situated between miles of swamp and the north side of Stumpy Point Bay. It's a small place, population 200 give or take, with just one road. In the evenings, a dinner bell summons folks to the community center for supper -- and they go. Most everybody crabs or fishes for a living, and half of the houses are falling down, leftovers from hurricane Irene. They have a church, a cemetery, a ball field, the  community center, a trading post (read: it's a bar), a fire/rescue station, a water desalination plant, and a modest post office. Sounds like a lot, really it's not much.  Rusted crab pots line the road.

I drove down by myself on Friday afternoon, with Mabel.  (Heading east towards the ocean with a dog by your side, p.s., is awesome).

Some things --

Went bear watching in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, a beautiful place but don't ask me to get out of the car. 

Drove over to Nags Head and spent some quality time in the cold, salty Atlantic ocean.  I have so much love for highway 12.

Watched the sun set and the moon rise from a kayak out in the bay, and let me tell you: there is no better way to spend an evening.