Currituck....yep, lighthouse

Press forward.  Do not stop, do not linger in your journey, but strive for the mark set before you.  George Whitefield

Yep!  We found it.  And it was right where it had been all the time :-0

I love to get so tired I cannot think straight.  It is bliss at times to have exhausted one's mind. :-)

And if ever I do develop Alzheimer's (would that be considered a development?) --

Well, if I do, please put a notepad in my pocket,

so I can make note of things I want to remember. 

This would be one such thing. :-)

FANTASY, THE SEA & ME

If i am living my fantasy, when does reality set in?  Never mind.  I heard her knocking, and turned back to the ocean.   Let someone else answer the door. 

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/jack-johnson-all-at-once/9db290033598602e37c99db290033598602e37c9-295160055175?q=you%20tube%20jack%20johnson%20all%20at%20once

I enjoy Jack Johnson's music.  Love his lyrics in "All At Once"  but I am bewildered with the line "sometimes it feels like a heart is no place to be singing from at all".  To me the heart is the only place to sing from even when they are merely songs inside my head.     

Dining directions -- according to me...

I love little diners.  I never feel rushed in a diner.  They don't even seem to mind when you're taking silly pictures inside. 
They probably think you don't get out enough.  They're right!

 



Is it rude to play with one's phone at the table?

 Can you tell Nate loves taking pictures with his phone?  He loves to take pics and then send them to the kids.  They are often random -- not the kids, the pics.  Take that back.  The kids are often random too. 
I'm certain our girls never know when to expect a picture he has taken of a sunset, sunrise, their mom, a grandbaby or a cheeseburger.  I own a dinosaur phone.  They do not make my phone anymore.  I am awairing the day to get a chance to road trip to Antique Roadshow and see what my cell is worth.  Anyway, Nate cannot send pics to me because my phone is not capable of accepting them.  It is bearly capable of ringing. 
I am sure one day, when I get a new phone,  I will unexpectedly receive a picture of something beautiful. 

I am certain cloth napkins are envioronmentally appropriate, if you're Mr. DiCaprio or Clooney or Brittany.  Green.  That's the thing.  Why clutter our ozone with trying to dispose of paper products?  But my environment would flow right down the drain, much to my dismay, if paper napkins were banned.  Where would I jot my thoughts while, "Hi, my name is John, I'll be your server" scanters back to bake the bird?  I do promise to recycle.  Each note I make I will send to my paper collecting box inside my closet. 

Forgive us, Dr. Atkins.

Another little diner where we had breakfast on the way to Rodanthe.  Our waiter/server/cook's name was Jason.  The diner was cute.  As you can see they had the whole beach-boy thing going on.  I was so hoping when he introduced himself he would say something like, I dunno, maybe "Hi, my name is Moon Doggie.  Gidget will be your server.  She's just stepped out to do the mashed potatoes or the twist."  No.  He was pleasant enough.  Don't think he would know what a Moon Doggie, moonpie or maybe even the moon walk is.  Owners of diners just get younger and younger. 

 


 I do not like to go out to eat just to eat.  If I want to eat, I might as well stay home.  Go out to savor.  Most people do not dine out alone.  I, however, have been guilty from time to time of dileberately going it alone, just to see how it feels.  Just to see if I can make myself comfortable enough to order and eat in public, as if no one would notice.  They probably didn't.  If I  dine with someone I really want at least an hour.  I  need that time to chew, to taste, to listen, to laugh or cry with my companion, whatever the occasion.  Nathan finds this difficult.  If he slows to my pace, his food gets cold.  He moves it around alot with his fork.  He doesn't know what to do with food on a plate.  He inhales his food.  I often ask him if his taste buds get angry because the food is passing them at the speed of light.  This question puzzles him.   So we have somewhat resolved this issue by taking our time to order.  This seems to annoy some servers.  But when we take our time to order, we can chat and play or plan and then when the food comes, I'm okay if his taste buds are deprived, for mine are satisfied.  I think my dining companion and I do not merely share a meal,  We share our time.  I do not like to go out to eat with people I don't want to spend time with.  Like someone from the IRS I somehow do not feel I would find a compatible dining companion, or a used car salesman.  I want to savor the food, the time.  That's probably why I do not care for fast food.  I mean, the name itself implies hurry up and eat.  How is that a good marketing tactic? 

Is it rude to plan your next destination at the table?

P. S. We do not order slow, play with our phones, read our books or take a nap if there are other patrons waiting to be seated.  Just so you know. 



The winds of Currituck Sound.....sweet

TRADED IN OUR COCOA BUTTER FOR SUN & WINDSCREEN, SLEEPY LIDS BY SWIMMING POOLS FOR EYES WIDE OPEN IN THE SAND, SWIMSUITS FOR DOWN FILLED JACKETS FROM REI -- AND WE HEARD THE SOUND -- WE HEARD THE WIND -- THE CURRITUCK SOUNDS UP CLOSE & PERSONAL IN NOVEMBER.  WE DO NOT MISS JUNE (EXCEPT IN LOST IN SPACE) 

 



TODAY...WE DO NOT MISS THE BEACH



 

Mr. Buffett, some may say I blew out my   flipflop!!!! All I can say is it was well worth it :-)

yes, Heather & Sean, apparently Cheech & Chong ride again....

-- NOW THIS, MY SWEETS,  IS GROWING OLD AS GRACEFULLY AS I CARE TO :-) WITH EYES WIDE OPEN!!! (but in the winds of Currituck, squinting is allowed)

Jockey's Ridge...we dune it :-)

• Jockey’s Ridge was established as a state park in 1975 by local action to preserve the area. Residents obtained more than 25,000 signatures and petitioned the North Carolina General Assembly.The park is divided into three ecological zones: dunes, maritime thicket and the estuary. 
• Jockey’s Ridge is known as a medano because it lacks vegetation and has shifting sands.
• Geologists believe that strong water currents washed sand from offshore shoals onto the beach, eventually creating dunes that stretch for miles.
• The shape and structure of the dunes constantly changes based on weather patterns.
• Frequent lightning storms at Jockey’s Ridge create fulgurites, glass-like tubes structures formed when lightning strikes sand.  

The dunes stretch as far as you can see and then just beyond is the ocean.  It is as if sand mountains just melt to the sea. 



.

It is so bright here.  White, white, white...and then there's ocean.  Being used to the purple/blue mountains of North Georgia, you just kind of think that's how mountains look.  Then you have the privilege to see these dunes and you realize it's all relative.  Maybe a mountain by any other name, William, is a dune.



Here he is announcing he's going to see what's on the other side. 
 I think this was a Neil Armstrong moment. 



Such a small spot of beauty.  Don't you just love it when surprises lurk in the most unexpected places?

After we topped the hill and passed the "sand surfers", this is what we saw. 
The sea is just beyond the vegetation.

 

After we crossed over the first dune this was the sight. 
They are surfing on sand.  It was so much fun just to watch.



This young man is carrying a kite to windsurf.  I asked him how much the equipment weighed that he was carrying.  He said "about 110 pounds".  He was carrying it to the highest dune. 

Did I say eyes wide OPEN????

This place is amazing.  The tallest dunes on the East Coast are in the Outer Banks.  They reach 150 feet.  They are constantly changing shape.  The granules blow into various architectural wonders by the winds of Currituck Sound. 

I am in awe of the many ways beauty presents itself in this life. 



You guessed it.  He's right in the middle of everywhere, once again.
Note his footprints.  We would make tracks and then stand there for a second and watch the wind erase them.  Significant of how our existence is just a moment and then...there is the beginning....

IN THE PICTURES NATHAN WAS TRYING TO SHOW HOW AMAZING THE SAND WAS, DIDN'T QUITE COME THROUGH.  ALL OF THE DARKENED AREAS THAT LOOK LIKE SHADOWS ARE NOT.  IT IS THE SAND BLOWING.  IT LOOKED AS THOUGH THE WIND WAS BLOWING WAVES OF SAND ACROSS THE DUNES.  TO ME IT WAS AKIN TO THE EFFECT OF THE DIFFERENT HUES WHEN BLADES OF GRASS OR WHEAT IS BEING BLOWN AND IT LOOKS AS THOUGH SHADOWS ARE ON THE BLADES.  IT IS SOMETHING TO BEHOLD. 
 

Romancing the Steel...I mean, Sand....no, Stone....no stone.


          
I watch him walk away from me, heading off, a pioneer of wonder.          


Nate likes to actually be covering ground when he walks.






I think he's reciting: 
"I believe that every human has a finite number of heartbeats, I don't intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises." Neil Armstrong


I fully expected that, by the end of the century, we would have achieved substantially more than we actually did.
Neil Armstrong

But....all of a sudden Mr. Stills comes in and tries to convince me, "if you can't be with one you love, honey, love the one you're with". 
  "Romancing the Steel" soon to be released in a sand dune near you                                      
 

Then I explained to Mr. Stills how our house was such a very very fine house.  And we agreed with Ms. King that where he leads, I will follow -- anywhere...   
                                                                                  


                              SO...

I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
Neil Armstrong

I think we're going to the moon because it's in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It's by the nature of his deep inner soul... we're required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.
Neil Armstrong

I was elated, ecstatic and extremely surprised that we were successful.
Neil Armstrong




Just gotta tell y'all how very fun this was....

Like each day:  "We could hardly wait to get up in the morning". Wilbur Wright.

And I just have to say:  "Isn't it astonishing that all these secrets have been preserved for so many years just so we could discover them!"  Orville Wright

Hats off to the Wright brothers who believed, dreamed and made life more exciting, more convenient for all of us.  Just think you, or someone you know, may be making a difference right now that will be a wonderful legacy in another's life today and future generations. 

French Country!

We never figured out what this guy was advertising....or symbolizing. 

We pass this wee lil thing...sorry.  Anyway, Nate says, "Either Maggie has got us going in circles or I've just got a bad case of deja vu."  I love it when he speaks French with a country-boy drawal....
Maggie has certainly kicked us in the head this time:-)