10 Cuttin Sage

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 ...

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)....

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...

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 h...

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 we...

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...

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 o...