10 Cuttin Sage

This post seems hard to write because it’s been a year now since we bought 10 Cuttin Sage and I’m feeling the need to do some type of grand finale. I’m wondering if I should end it here since this would be a good place to do that.  I’ve gotten a little addicted to writing it; and I would hate to disappoint my 2 followers (Mom included. Thanks, Mom for supporting me!)  We took a trip there just a few weeks ago in October with my husband’s parents so that they could see the house. My mother was supposed to go but she decided to wait until next year to see it.  We arrived on the anniversary date of the day that we closed one year ago and two days before the anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. (There is no feeling like the one you get when you close on a beach house and then have to evacuate the next day due to a hurricane!). We were very blessed that no damage occurred to Ocracoke Island except for a little water here and there!   So on October 25th we celebrated the first anniversary of

First an apology to my ornithologist friends out there who might be (but probably aren't) reading this blog.  Anywhere you've seen the word "heron", please substitute the word "egret".  I have admitted my inadequacies in photography, history, and measuring distances. Now I admit that I know nothing about birds and bird watching.  I thought an egret was a heron. The problem with a blog is that eventually a person's ignorance is bound to come out with a blunder somewhere.  Anyway, the beautiful white birds with long, graceful necks that look like a cross between a swan and a flamingo are egrets and are prevalent in the marsh grasses behind our house. I'll include a photo of them soon! Last month, I visited the island again; this time with my college roommate and dear friend for many years, a reconnection that was years overdue. That's one of the beautiful things about the empty nest. You can travel in September!  We spent our days drinking coffee

My Uncle Jack passed away at the age of 80 in May of 2009.  He was my father’s identical twin.  Unfortunately, Jack was born severely mentally handicapped due to a birth injury and spent the rest of his life under the care of my grandmother until her death, and then subsequently in a home for mentally retarded adults in Deland, Florida.  After my Dad’s death I became his legal guardian.   Jack unexpectedly developed a severe case of pneumonia. My mother, husband and I flew immediately to Florida to be with him in his final hours.  As guardian, I had to make the decision to take him off life support.  It’s a terrible position to be in even when you know you haven’t got a choice.  My mother couldn’t understand why I was in agony over it when the inevitable was going to happen within the next day or so.  All I could think of was, what if he doesn’t go to heaven???  It just suddenly seemed like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. My mother in her wisdom reassured my over and o

I thought it would be a good idea to include a little island history for the Outer Banks history buffs.  However, I’m not one, so I intend to spend as little time as possible quoting historical facts and figures.  Besides, I would hate to get something wrong and really offend serious historians! Other than Blackbeard the Pirate, who was supposedly beheaded on or near this island in 1718, no other event is as prominent as the sinking of the British ship HMT Bedfordshire off the coast of Ocracoke Island during WW2.  There are many other shipwrecks off the coast of the outer banks and some might be prominent, but I don’t know about them. There may have been some other really big historical events on Ocracoke, but I don’t know about them either!  (For more info on Blackbeard, just visit the island!) Just off the Silver Creek harbor is British Cemetery Road.  The road ends about a mile at the Sound (don’t quote me on that because I’m no good at judging distance). Or at least it seems li

I can’t believe it’s been two months since I’ve posted! I almost forgot my password to log on to this thing!!  The summer has blown by like last year’s Derecho. We successfully launched the oldest daughter (the Teacher) into a brand new life and career 3 hours away. Ouch!!!  The youngest (the Future Event Planner) is moved and settled into college life for the 3rd year.  The nest is once again empty, quiet, peaceful, a little lonely, but now there’s more time with hubby (the Doer of All Things Well), thinking, writing, planning, and working on what God has in store for me for the next phase of life.  Now that our project on Ocracoke is finished, I don’t have as much to say about it in a blog.  I will certainly keep it updated, but perhaps not so often. And I’ll probably focus more on the Island in general. I have always had a thing for doors and windows and other architectural details. I have an entire album of doors and windows that I photographed on a trip a few years ago through F

I so love it when houses have names.  BUT I don’t care for corny names like “Fantasea”, “Seaduction”, or "Vitamin Sea”.  I’d like to find some of those beach house owners and ask “can you not think of anything more creative then ‘Island Daze’ or ‘Reel Lucky' or 'Seas the Moment’?  Is this all you can come up with for your real estate business venture????” We’ve discussed changing the name of 10 Cuttin Sage. I mean, the name of the house is it’s address and that’s a little boring.  Here’s what we’ve come up with so far: Are We There Yet? Hull of a House Sandy Cheeks Bodo’s Retreat (a problem because Bodo, the Golden Retriever is not going back to the beach ever again) Salmon Again? The Tackle Box Obviously, we can’t come up with anything better than anyone else. I thought of the name “Dove Cottage” because mourning doves have a special significance for me. There is a dove that has nested outside my bedroom window for the past two springs. I love to hear her mel

We arrived back home from Ocracoke this past Saturday night after a week there with our family of 4, 2 friends of our daughters, and Bodo, the Golden Retriever.  I had planned to update this blog while I was there, but the thought of burying my head in a computer screen, even for a few minutes a day, seemed unacceptable to me. My eyes were constantly drawn to the beautiful views outside in the marsh and canal off our dock, and I didn’t want to miss a thing! We had a mama duck with 7 ducklings swimming up and down the canal past our dock all week. Sometimes we would pass them waddling in a yard up the street on our way to the village. They were so cute. The geese were prevalent last week, as were white herons. While kayaking through the canals, we approached a huge heron who allowed us to get about 3 feet from him, dove his elegant neck into the water to catch a fish, then took off in a flutter and flurry of wings into the trees by the canal. He really was not afraid. The weathe

So............. Just days from now we will be on our way to Ocracoke Island to stay at our very own (completed) beach house!!!  Now my utmost desire is for us to actually VACATION there. However, my husband is not one to sit around even on vacation; just not able to relax much. He is a “Doer of All Things Well”.  Maybe we need to pretend like it’s not our house; that it belongs to someone else for a week so that we don’t obsess about all the details (such as making sure the ice maker is producing at stated capacity, listening for any and all hums, buzzes, vibrations, knocks, murmurs and other onomatopoeic sounds that an appliance can possibly make that aren’t normal.)  My hubby has Superman ears and will listen to any and all things not human to make sure everything is working correctly. Of course, I’m kind of glad he’s like that.  A freight train could hit our house and I probably wouldn’t notice. However his super human skills make it hard for him to relax. A surefire clue will

This week marks the second week of having renters in 10 Cuttin Sage.  It’s a strange feeling knowing that people are staying in our home.  I have to divorce myself of thinking of it as our personal home and begin to think in terms of a business investment.  I wish I could be a fly on the wall there. I like feedback! I want feedback now!  I’m wondering, “do they like how I decorated it?”  "Do they like that wonderful, freshly painted screened porch (that I spent a week painting, btw) with the gorgeous view?”  “Does the kitchen have everything they need?”  “Are the new mattresses comfortable enough?" (I think they’re great!).  “Do they like the paint colors I chose?”  "Do they appreciate that my dishes are a vintage 1980’s Franciscan Sea Sculptures pattern?” (My first set of dishes that my parents gave me as they launched me out of their home and into my first apartment and career.)   I’m also wondering, “Have the kids spilled Kool-Aid on the rug, yet?” "Has anyone

It’s a sunny morning here at 10 Cuttin Sage.  But it’s been sunny every morning here this past week and then it clouds up and rains every afternoon and evening. So I’m thankful for the morning sunshine and I have learned to really appreciate it when I can. Right now, I’m sitting at the dining room table with the french doors open wide to the screened porch. The temp is comfortable enough to do that. There is a gaggle of seven geese outside on the canal. They float downstream; they float upstream; they float back downstream. Their honking sounds a little like European compact car horns. They seem to enjoy the area around our dock! The seagulls, however, are the really noisy ones!  They fuss and fume and argue like siblings fighting over the last cookie!!!  Wildlife is very funny! See how beautiful it is this morning???? I finished painting the screened porch yesterday.  Now I’m waiting on delivery of a table and 6 chairs. I’m also waiting to put together 3 adirondack ch