Author: bethdlayton

Boone and Ocracoke. One in the northwest corner of North Carolina and the other, part of the Outer Banks on the coast. You can get further west if you are in the southern part of the state, but Boone is just a few miles from Tennessee. And Ocracoke… well, part of Hatteras Island is a little further east but it’s still on an island and one can easily walk to the Atlantic Ocean in a matter of minutes. Mountains and coast.

Sounds like two completely different worlds and lifestyles. And in many ways, that is true. But in the nearly two years that I have lived here on Ocracoke Island, in the Village of Ocracoke, I have thought often of the many ways my those two worlds of mine are alike. (Not my only two worlds, of course; there is Lewisville, in the Piedmont where my family and I have lived for  more than 25 years.)

Boone has changed a lot since I grew up there in the ’50s and ’60s; so has Ocracoke in those 60-some years. But there are parallels to life in Boone when I was a child (and some of those things persist) to life in Ocracoke, even now.

I’ll start with the weather. Oh, the weather! People everywhere are dependent on the weather, of course. It determines what we wear, whether or how we travel, even some occupations. But in Boone, even now but much more so 60 years ago, the weather was a big deal, a big concern, especially in the winter months.

Snow. Oh, the sweet anticipation for children at least. And fear/dread, I am certain, for the adults. Until I was ten years old, we lived in a house with a coal furnace. the only access to this furnace was around back of the house. So on the coldest nights Daddy would have to go out in the snow to put more coal in the furnace. Fun? I doubt it. Especially that infamous winter of 1960 when Watauga County had record snowfall, with drifts well over 6 feet. And then there were the tire chains. I remember seeing both my parents out in the blowing snow struggling to get the chains on the tires. Literal metal chains. the tires had to be lined up just right with the chains, back and forth, until they could be looped over and locked.

And yet, bless Daddy’s heart, he would come in from a long day of work and the three of us would run to greet him with the questions: “Do you think we’ll have school tomorrow?” How much do you think we’ll get?” And all he wanted was to come in, take off his boots, and get warm. Until he died in 2012, I would still call him whenever snow was expected to ask him those same questions, laughing. But still a bit serious!

Here, the biggest fear is hurricanes or tropical storms (and Nor’easters can strike too, as I learned firsthand this year!) Three weeks after I arrived on the island, TS Hermine struck. Some folks left but I stayed around. The worst of this one was the storm surge afterwards. I watched from my deck as the water continued to rise the day after the wind and driving rain shook the house all night. There was some water damage from the flooding, but nothing significant.

And then a couple of weeks later, Hurricane Matthew came in, bigger and stronger. I left the island for a few days but came back to flooded roads, water in my storage room, and more delays in school. I parked the car over a mile from the house and walked back and forth to get things back to the house.

Just as with impending snow storms in the mountains, the anticipation of hurricanes is frightening and yet exciting. so many people are dependent on the ocean for their livelihood. Many fishermen had just put out their nets for what should have been an extended period of time. They had to decide whether to pull in the nets and know they would lose income or to leave them out and risk losing even the nets. And of course there was the potential for damage to property– boats, vehicles, homes.

Related to the subject of weather is the strong tourist impact on both Boone and Ocracoke. Each fall thousands of people flock to the North Carolina mountains to see the leaf show. And so the weather is again the focus: Has it been too wet/dry? hot/cool? Will it rain just before the peak and take off all the leaves. And so on. And since the mid-60s until the present, the same sort of questions arise with regard to ski season. Is it too warm? Will it snow early? Or– gasp!– not at all? Will the cold continue late into the winter months? All these questions- and the answers– determine a lot of the local economy. Restaurants, hotels, ski slopes, Tweetsie Railroad (that blast from my past!), Horn in the West (rain? no show!)– so many people depending the elements for their livelihood.

It is the same on Ocracoke. Many of the year-round restaurants make the majority of their year’s earnings between Memorial Day and mid-October, give or take a week or two. Something like Hurricane Matthew can be catastrophic. Reservations are cancelled. Shops and restaurants close. Worse, access to the island is suspended.

How can I compare Boone and Ocracoke without talking about school? It is sort of what I do and have done since 1958. Whoa. That looks serious when I actually put it out there. But, as they say, it is what it is. Truth.

Every discussion about Ocracoke school includes talk about how our students are together from pre-K through graduation, with the exception of a small percentage who move in or out. We have one class of each grade level through elementary school. Sometimes middle school and high school classes are split into two groups because of (still small) numbers. But even so, most students have most of their classes together all the way through the 14 grades. Everyone in the school has lunch at the same time. In high school almost everyone plays soccer and basketball just so we can have a team. Many of them are related and even those who aren’t might as well be, because they have known each other so long so well. Many of the teachers are relatives if not actually the students’ parent. (My own children went to the high school where I taught, so they know that feeling!)  Their parents all know each other, even if they aren’t related. They see each other and the teachers at the post office, the Variety Store, church, on the street, everywhere.

(My elementary school and a group of teachers from AES, including Mrs. Ennis Davis, front row, second from right, mentioned below. Photos from digitalwatauga.org)

Going to Appalachian Elementary School in Boone was similar. We had two or three classes of each grade level but those of us who lived in “town” also went to church an Scouts together. So if we happened not to be in the class for one grade or another, we still saw each other often. One friend, Tanya, and I had the same teacher every single year at Appalachian Elementary School– even in third grade when Mrs. Davis had to suffer through having a combination 3-4 class! And then at Watauga high School, we were still in many of the same classes. And THEN we both went to Appalachian State University and, I’ll be darned if we didn’t end up on the same hall in the same dorm our freshman year! Still friends this day! (I hope this sort of friendship continues for our Ocracoke kids.) (Last day of third grade. Tanya is on the far left. And me? I guess you can find me!)

And speaking of school… another similarity between Ocracoke and Boone: Many of our teachers were parents of our friends and classmates. We saw them at church. We played at their homes. The same is true here, of course. And there is some of that everywhere, but in small places like these one can count on it!  For the most part, in Boone, they were able to avoid putting a child in his or her own parent’s class because there were always at least two options. At Ocracoke School, almost every teacher who has a child will eventually teach that child in the classroom! (My own daughter was in pre-calculus class with me– my sons were not as fortunate!– and although we have always gotten along well, she did not like that situation at all!)

Christmas in Ocracoke reminds me of Boone in my childhood. Outdoor decorations were a big deal then and they are a big deal here now. I know people everywhere decorate in various degrees, from a simple wreath on the door to full-out light shows, but in “old” Boone and in Ocracoke, there were/are judges who drive around and vote on best displays. I love looking at what residents do here. And I still recall the simple (canvas? paper? not sure) Nativity Scene my mother put up for several years in the first house I lived in. Most memorable was the year that my beloved yellow cat Alfalfa curled up in front of the manger, thus ensuring first place in religious outdoor scenes. Here on the island, many of the scenes take a nautical turn. One of my favorites has swans pulling Santa’s sleigh. 

Speaking of Santa, the Variety Store has a friendly waving Santa in their upstairs window. That evokes memories of the life-size, velvet-clad Santa who waved to us each December from the wind of Belk Department Store in downtown Boone! And wait! It gets better: Santa makes a live appearance at the Variety Store one afternoon in mid-December, just as he showed up at the Sears-Roebuck Catalog store without fail when I was a child. (That Santa looked strangely like Mr. Petrey, my friend Douglas’s dad who was also my seventh grade math teacher and a member of my church! I sure wish I had a picture of that Santa!)

Ocracoke is famous for its Fig Cake (I make a pretty good one myself, I might add!) The story goes that the fig cake was “invented” by a local woman who used what she had– and that happened to be fig preserves. In the mountains, folks are fond of apple cakes, whether with fresh apples or with apple butter. On both ends of the state, and countless towns in between, cooks are using whatever is plentiful!

A couple of other rather light-hearted comparisons: here on Ocracoke we have the Variety Store, which does indeed have a great variety of things but not always a great selection within categories, and so for serious grocery shopping most people take the ferry to Hatteras Island and drive about 20 minutes to the Food Lion in Avon. Things were never quite like that in Boone but there was a period of time when the Winn Dixie has burned down and many of us drove to Lenoir, about an hour away, to buy our groceries. That time brings back a sweet memory for me. Not only was my family together for a few hours but those trips down the mountain were the first time I recall smelling honeysuckle (what we called honeysuckle vine; “real” honeysuckle to us was what is now called flame azalea). To this day, that smell reminds me of those grocery trips.

And one more: washing dishes! I have been fortunate to have a wonderful little house to live in here. It isn’t fancy but it is perfect for me. Except it doesn’t have a dishwasher. Not a deal breaker, obviously, but I admit I have missed having one. A dishwasher is particularly convenient when there aren’t many dishes at a time, so they can be stashed out of sight! And so I frequently stand at the kitchen sink, washing dishes and looking out the window…. just as I did while growing up in Boone. My parents bought their first dishwasher after I went away to college!

One of the most notable things about Ocracoke is how remote it is. We all know it is accessible only by ferry, and getting anywhere else involves hours of travel. If one takes the shorter ferry, about an hour in length, there is then a long, slow drive up several other barrier islands until one gets to the mainland via a couple of bridges. Or one can take the longer ferries (2:45 or 2:30 in length) but still have to drive at least an hour to get pretty much anywhere. It is a three hour drive to the state capital after one takes the long ferry, for example.

Boone, of course, is quite landlocked so no ferries are involved in getting there. Highways 321 South towards Charlotte and 421 South (officials south but it runs mostly east-west in the western part of the state) are the main arteries leading to Boone. Both are four lanes these days but it was not that way  during my childhood. Trips to Shelby to see my father’s family took us down the very curvy 321, driving perilously close (it still sort of scares me!) to steep drop-offs in the mountains. And driving east to Winston-Salem or Raleigh was no better; not only were there the same narrow, jury lanes on 421 but there was also the dreaded Wade Harris Bridge in Wilkes County, site of frequent wrecks as the road narrowed even more to cross the Lewis Fork Creek and gorge.

(My picture of a bridge similar to what we drove under on our way to Shelby; we called it Papaw’s Bridge! and Postcard showing the dangerous Wade Harris Bridge, from digitalwatauga.org)

I have been surprised how much living in Ocracoke has reminded me of my past. The long walks in the mountains and the long walks in the beach. The beauty of nature all around me in both places. The love and loyalty that people in both areas have for their homelands. Most of all, I loved living in Boone and I have loved living in Ocracoke!

Home, sweet, homes.

Ocracoke had a lovely visitor this spring, one never before seen on the island: a Trumpeter Swan! (In fact, there have been no reports of a trumpeter swan anywhere on the Outer Banks prior to this.) And I was here to see it!

The swan was first noted on March 5, soon after a Nor’easter which left me stranded off the island for an extra day. The water was at a record low in the Pamlico River and sound and ferries did not run for several days. This in itself was new for me, being stranded off the island and unable to return! Gave new meaning to “waiting for the ferry”!

When I first saw a picture of the swan on Facebook, I was disappointed that I might not get to see him (actual gender unknown) before he rejoined his family. So when I got my first glimpse of him on the morning of March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, I felt the luck of the Irish was with me! More than that, I truly felt blessed and, upon first sight, I whispered a prayer of gratitude for the opportunity. Little did I know that I would have more than six weeks to watch him.

He was beautiful. Graceful. Huge. And mesmerizing. I couldn’t stop watching him. Or stalking him!

Pretty much every day (okay, every day!) I walk. On the rare days when I decide it is absolutely too cold or too windy or too wet (lightning is rare but that’s a big deterrent!), I walk laps around my little house. Usually I walk on the beach. Sometimes I walk in the village. Or both. But once the swan appeared, my walks always started on South Point Road where he was hanging out in the marsh, the ponds, or the ditch along the road. Often he was in a far pond back off the road (a vantage point from which he appeared huge), but occasionally he was in a pond closer to the road and a few times he was in the ditch that ran along the roadside; those were really special visits for me. I was able to hear his plaintive call. (A member of the Trumpeter Swan Society– yes, there is such a thing– thinks he was calling out in search of family!) I got to see him up close, watch his feet come in and out of the water as he swam, and then watch as he gracefully moved from swimming/ floating to walking towards the pond.

The Trumpeter Swan was considered nearly extinct in the 1940s. A flock was discovered in Alaska in the 1950s and restoration efforts since then have increased the population. It is thought that this particular swan probably came from the Midwest. Our concern here was that, being a first year swan (called a cygnet– great word for Scrabble and Jeopardy!) he might not have the instincts necessary to get him to leave once was blown off course by the storm. The last time I saw him was on April 29, before I left the island for a workshop. He was seen a couple of days after that and has not been seen since. We assume/ hope that instinct did indeed take him back to his family.

This swan is the largest water bird native to North America (for more information about swans in general and this one in particular go to http://www.ocracokeobserver.com and search for the two articles posted by my friend Peter Vankevich, including my own video recording of his call) with a 6-8 foot wingspan and weighing up to 30 pounds.

I had the good fortune of spending part of more than six weeks with this magnificent creature. I had hoped to see a snowy owl this winter; several years ago Ocracoke had a snowy owl visitor and I was hoping it would return while I was here.  That didn’t happen. But the Trumpeter Swan, with his prolonged stay, more than makes up for that.

There was the mystery of where he actually came from and whether he would leave. And there was the fun of learning about him and sharing him with others. But most importantly, there was the beauty, the majesty, the grace, the peacefulness… and the anticipation each day as I went looking for him. The Trumpeter Swan is yet another gift from God in my time here on Ocracoke.

 

Some people come to race. Most people think of it as a race. I go to walk. It’s what I do! Regardless of your pace, Ocracoke Island Runfest Weekend is a great two days in late April! This year’s events were named in honor of the 300th anniversary of the demise of Blackbeard at Springer’s Point here on Ocracoke: the 5K/10K “Scallywag” and Blackbeard’s Half-Marathon.

This year and last, I signed up for the 10K on Saturday and the half-marathon on Sunday. Never had any intention of winning. I walk. And because I am in, shall we say, an advanced age group, there aren’t many competitors. So I placed third in the 10K and second in the half-marathon. Same results this year. (2017 race photo)

(Awards presentation after the half-marathon– apparently the woman in my age group who finished before me wasn’t able to stick around for the ceremony!)

For the record, I wasn’t the last one across the finish line and those who came in after me were younger. But they finished too, so they — we all– are winners. This year I wanted to walk faster than last year. That didn’t happen in either event, but my times were comparable. And this year I might have been a little slower for a very good reason! Her name is Deborah. A dear friend from high school/ Girl Scouts/ church in Boone came up from Tampa,FL, to walk with me on Saturday and to cheer for me on Sunday! Photo ops might have added a few minutes to my times. I’ll take it.

(My personal photographer and long-time friend, Deborah/Debbie Rhoades; maybe I should post a photo of us from “way back when” as well!)

Why am I writing about this? Because it is such a great event! It was a topic of conversation all week beforehand. In one class, students who were going to be  volunteers were talking about “laggers” and I pointed out quickly that I was not going to be a lagger, but rather a walker. Big difference! Some of the students ran in the 5K (but not the 10K OR the half-marathon, thank you very much!), and many of them were volunteers and/or cheerleaders along the route.

All along the way, there were so many people supporting us. Directing us along the route, providing water, yelling encouraging words… friends, students, colleagues, fellow walkers and runners. Planning these events is a lot of work, and obviously our race director Angie Todd and others, including Greg Honeycutt who started the races in 2012 (and who at Appalachian State with me, “way back when” although we didn’t know each other then), did an amazing job of pulling it all together.

(Friends Flavia, Ruth, Debbie and Louise providing directions, support, and encouragement!)

The courses showed lots of thought, from including scenic spots like the lighthouse and British Cemetery, to starting the half-marathon an hour earlier and getting the long (and this year very windy) trek to the campground out of the way first, to providing an amazing buffet (thanks to Red and Ashley from Gaffer’s) and liquid refreshments from 1718 Brewing Ocracoke afterwards. Both years participants received shirts (upgraded this year!) and finisher’s medals. Overall and age category winners also received awards. (Last year’s loot) And those who “raced” both days this year got a great hat to keep us cool in future walks!

(and the “swag from the 2018 events)

This year was especially fun for me because I had Debbie to keep me company on Saturday and to be my personal photographer on Sunday. If you are reading this you probably know that my camera is almost always with when I am walking. But I rarely get on the other side of the camera, and that’s how I like it! But it was fun to have Debbie following me around in my golf cart, snapping photos along the way.

Thirteen miles is a long way to walk, non-stop, alone (others were walking, of course, but this year I did not actually have a walking buddy).  But all along the way were volunteers who cheered, danced, sang, encouraged. The shouts of “Beth,”Miss Beth,” and “Miss Layton” kept me going. And at the very end, as I crossed the finish line (not in the pain that this picture indicates!) on the second day, Angie herself (who ran the Boston Marathon just a couple of weeks earlier) said, with conviction, ” I am so proud of you!” And she meant it. Still makes me feel good. Thanks, Angie!

Ocracoke Runfest Weekend is another example of what makes Ocracoke special. A lot of people went to a lot of trouble to make this event happen. And I personally felt a lot of love and support. Everybody knew I wasn’t a serious racer. But they also know-how much walking and Ocracoke, in different ways, mean to me. And all along the routes, on both days, that spirit of caring and welcoming and encouraging was evident.

Will I walk again next year? That’s the plan. Will I improve my times? Well, I have almost eleven months to “up my game” so we shall see. Stay tuned.

Snocracoke! Snowcracoke! Call it what you will, I got my snow! One of the experiences I wanted while I live on this island was a real snowfall. And I got it!

I have always loved snow. I grew up in Boone so it is good that I liked snow! Looking back, I realize how much different it was for my parents when the snow started falling.

I can still see my Daddy putting those horrid chains on the tires, out in the snow, carefully laying out the chains and slowly backing up, moving forward, latching the hooks. I think back to how he had to go outside and around the house to put coal in the furnace the first ten years of my life.  And I remember all those nights he would struggle to get home in the snow after a long day of work. My brother, sister and I would meet him at the door, still in his boots, asking, “Do you think we’ll have school tomorrow? Do you; do you?!” Because Daddy knew these things! And then we would listen to WATA on our transistor radios (this was not last year, folks!) to hear the announcement: “Watauga County Schools will be closed tomorrow.” Let me assure you that, although the media is different, the agony/ecstasy of that much-antcipated announcement is no different today. For teachers and students. And for parents who no doubt see it differently. (I’m a parent but I have always seen it from the other side!)

Last year, my first on the island, had its share of meteorological challenges. Three weeks after I arrived, tropical storm Hermine appeared.  A couple of weeks later Hurricane Matthew arrived. Lots of excitement and lots of damage. But winter came and there was no hint of snow. We did have one uncharacteristically long, cold spell. My heat pump stopped working and I woke up to 40 degrees inside my house. But still no snow. I just thought that seeing snow on the beach would be magical.

Fast-forward to January 2018. Overnight on January 3, snow fell. We had a snow day. (Magic words to student sand teachers!) Snow days are harder to come by when a school doesn’t run buses and everyone can actually walk to school!

But there was not a lot of snow. Nothing to write home about. (Especially when home is Boone!) It was also very, very cold- which contributed to the sparse snowfall. And the cold continued. And we dripped our pipes. And still they froze. Mine included. This was no longer much fun. A friend/neighbor graciously let me use her shower. I brought home jugs of water to flush the toilet. And the Girl Scout coped. But I still did not have the snow I really wanted.

It was snow and it was cold, and I was prepared to accept this as the snow I hoped for. There were beautiful ice formations (not including those inside my pipes!) and I walked and took pictures and enjoyed the moments. But deep down I really wanted to see more snow.

Another fast-forward, two weeks later. On January 18, we woke up to 7.5 inches of beautiful snow! I am reminded of the morning in Vilas (outside of Boone) where snow was not so rare a commodity; we opened the blinds and my 4 year old, quoting from The Snowy Day, looked out and said, “Snow had fallen during the night.”

And so my wish was granted! I bundled up and headed for the sound nearby and then to school and the lighthouse and Springer’s Point, and finally to the beach. I wanted to see it all covered in the beautiful heavy snow. All told, I walked about fourteen miles. It was wonderful! And beautiful. And everything I had hoped for in my island snow!

My parents instilled in us children a love for nature and the beauty of our world. Our Sunday drives took us to the Blue Ridge Parkway and along mountain roads. Our brief and infrequent vacations took us to the coast and to the Great Smoky Mountains. We literally stopped to smell (and, sometimes, dig) the flowers; to gather branches from cotton plants beside the road on our way to visit grandparents; to picnic beside a river or stream; to look at the Brown Mountain Lights. And when it snowed– and it snowed a lot in Boone– we built amazing snowmen; we sledded on a piece of sheet metal with wooden sides (notice there is no mention of brakes or steering mechanism) in an apple orchard. And yes, Daddy put chains on the tires and walked around the house to get to the cellar to put coal in the stove. Did I mention how much more fun snow was for us than for them? And so I “inherited” my love for all things nature, including snow.

Snocracoke. Snowcracoke. Snow on Ocracoke. Call it what you will. I got my wish. I got my snow! And I have my snow angel in the sand to prove it!

 

I try to be grateful for my many blessings. Even when I am disgruntled for one reason or another… a meeting after school when I really want to go to the beach and walk; students asking too many questions about something they “ought to know”; passersby throwing trash in my yard; a dirty microwave (really?!) that someone else should have wiped down; you know, the usual daily annoyances. But it is easy (oh so easy) to feel sorry for oneself.

One day a couple of weeks ago I surprised myself by a sudden feeling of gratitude as I wrapped a clean towel around me after my shower. I’m not sure why, but that particular morning I was supremely grateful for the sweet smell (or lack thereof, since I use a fragrance-free detergent) and softness of that towel. And of course for the warm water in the shower that came before the towel!

So fast-forward to tonight, after five days without running water. As of 5 PM this evening, not only were my pipes thawed but the break was repaired and water, glorious water, is flowing through my pipes! We are so spoiled, aren’t we?

I have been carrying home jugs of water… picture Laura Ingalls Wilder toting buckets from the spring. (I loved her as a child, when I read the books, and again later in the television series; but I never really wanted to be her!)… so I could flush my toilet. But all week long, as I filled those jugs, I was grateful for the workplace where I could fill them.

And I have been grateful that, except for one hour during the night while Winter Storm Grayson was at his worst, I did not lose power or heat. And I have thought of those long, cold, snowy winters in Boone. And I have been reminded of my sweet Daddy who had to go outside, around the house, to put coal in our furnace in the middle of the night to keep the fire burning and thus keep us warm, no matter how deep the snow was.

And here on this beautiful island, I was able to walk where I needed to go… even if just to take pictures of the ice accumulating in the sound. And even after the roads were passable, I had a reliable car to take me where I needed to go, including the ever-open Variety Store because I had to have onions and butter (bread and milk are not vital to my existence!) Travel was never a problem. Okay, so the ferries did not run for awhile but I didn’t need to go off -island. I did not for a minute feel stranded. And once again I thought of Daddy. I can still picture him putting chains — heavy, unwieldy metal things– on the tires so he could get to work on those many snowy days. No wonder he was not thrilled when we met him at the door after a hard day’s work, saying “Do you think we’ll have school tomorrow? Do you? Do you?”

And yes, until he died, I would call him any time snow was in the forecast just to ask that question. We laughed about it, but maybe he was not amused!

What else am I grateful for? The many friends who offered their showers — and in a couple of cases, even a room with a bathroom– to me while I was without water. And especially my new friend Debbie whose offer I accepted, because of proximity. And Susan, who brought me quiche to reheat after I told her (not really complaining, just commenting) that soon all my dishes would be dirty: “just put it on a paper plate and throw it away!” And it even had spinach and mushrooms, two of my favorites! Laura, who loaned me a heating pad to wrap around my frozen pipes (didn’t help any more than my hair dryer– too little, too late– but still a kind gesture. And Adam who found someone to come fix my broken pipe. (I will say that I think I could have fixed it myself if I had the tools, but… face it, I do have delusions of self-sufficiency!) And my landlady Lynne and friends Phillip and Amy who kept in contact as we dealt with the problems.

And I am grateful (and more than slightly embarrassed) that I had enough clean clothes to last me more than a week… and that doesn’t even count the stuff that is still at my other house or the out-of-season stuff. And that my kitchen here is fully-stocked with both dishes and food. And so tonight, I actually enjoyed washing dishes– yes, by hand; sure do usually miss my dishwasher!– and doing laundry. And I was exceptionally grateful that I had the running water to do so.

I can’t say enough about the wonderful folks at the Ocracoke Sanitary District Water Plant (I think that is the official name!). They had already come out during the Christmas break to turn my water off and then back on just in case something happened while I was away. And in the last week they came out to shut it off so that there would not be a flood if the thaw happened while I was asleep or at school. And when the temperature finally rose above freezing , they came out– as soon as I called– several times until we were able to not only get the pipes thawed but also repair the break. And each person who came (Dave, David and one other young man whose name I don’t know) took the time to visit with me. They were not simply doing their job; they showed that they cared about me and not just my water!

Life is not perfect. Mine or yours. And everything does not always run like clockwork. And there are glitches. Pipes freeze and burst. But I wore my pajamas inside out, and I got my Ocracoke snow. Not a big, fluffy snow, but snow nonetheless. And yes, I lost my water; but I gained so much more.

Thankful. Grateful. Blessed.

Serendipity, according to Merriam-Webster.com, is “the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.” Serendipity? Divine providence? “It was meant to be”? All of these have been used to describe why I am here on Ocracoke– by me and by others.

I certainly was not looking for a job on a barrier island. Well, I guess I was, because here I am! And as someone told me long ago, “they aren’t recruiting door-to-door.” (Okay, so he was talking about IBM when I was considering leaving education after my first stint but wasn’t actively doing anything to better my situation.)

The backstory: I was thinking about retiring or even looking for another school when the district where I was teaching announced a RIF because of budget cuts. And as often is the case, “last hired, first fired. And it just so happened that I was the last math teacher hired. In the right place at the right time? Perhaps. Had I made the decision sooner to leave my long-term position in another district, I might have been the next-to-last hired! And that would not have been a good thing for either me or the school.

And so I began looking at employment opportunities in various districts across the state, but mostly within driving distance of home. For some reason, on Saturday night of Memorial Day weekend (2016), soon after learning I would be laid off, I searched for Ocracoke School. Turned out they needed a math teacher. Who’d a thunk? I had jokingly told my family during a couple of brief day trips to the island that I was going to teach there, but none of us believed it. Maybe they still don’t.

Sent an email that night. Had a phone call early the next morning from the principal, who was golfing in Tennessee. We chatted and set a time to Skype later in the week. The time came and I sat in my classroom looking at my little phone, unable to get Skype to load on my computer. So on that tiny screen, with a custodian unlocking my door and proceeding to dustup my floor while I talked, I had a short interview with three people alternating in the  chair at their computer and by the end of the day, I had a job offer!

And then it occurred to me that I would need a place to live! Preferably a furnished place; putting my mattress on top of my car, driving for five plus hours and then riding the ferry for nearly three more hours sounded pretty daunting. And then I remembered that my sister-in-law’s mother has a little house here. A few texts, emails and phone calls later and the problem was solved. 

Thanks to the encouragement and support, in various measure, of family and friends, I made the decision to teach at Ocracoke School. Fast-forward about ten weeks and load up the car. And I mean REALLY load up the car! It’s an eight hour trip and if you don’t take it with you, chances are you won’t find it on the island!

Head east and board the ferry toward my big adventure. Five or so hours on the road and then nearly three hours on the water, and I arrived. 

 

The very next day, I walk into Ocracoke School not knowing anyone. I had literally not met a single soul in person, since the interview was virtual! But what a wonderful group of colleagues I found that day. I have had the great fortune to teach with a lot of fine educators– fine people!– at all my schools. But this group welcomed me so heartily. Many of them grew up on the island. Most of the others have been here a long time. Everybody knows everybody. It would be easy for them to simply accept or tolerate a newcomer, an older teacher who lives alone, but they have embraced me and made me feel like I am one of them. And the school is such a special place, from the wooden dolphin out front to the much-used playground in the back and the all-wood space in between.

Being here is more than just teaching in a tiny school, made up of about 175 children in grades pre-K through 12. It is also about living in an environment unlike any I have ever known. The first 22 years of my life and then eight additional ones when I first got married (and had my three babies) were spent in Boone, in those beautiful Appalachian mountains. The rest of the years before I came here (never mind how many!) were spent in Raleigh (between the Boone stints) and Lewisville, both in the state’s Piedmont flatlands.

I have always enjoyed the beach but have also always said I would not want to live at the beach. And yet, here I am. And the beach, the sand, the ocean… they call to me as I never imagined they could.

Almost every day I can be found walking on the beach. If it is simply too cold or too windy (I was warned: Q: You say you have been here; have you been here in the winter? A: No, but I grew up in Boone. Response: You’ll be fine!), then I walk in the village where one is a bit sheltered from the wind. And not only does the physical climate change from season to season, so does the entire atmosphere. The hustle and bustle of the “visitor” season ends; many restaurants and shops close. The island settles into a slower pace. When I go out to walk at lunchtime or after school, I know almost everyone I meet. And when I am walking on the beach, I rarely even meet anyone. (Few, it seems, are as stalwart as I when it comes to walking on that glorious stretch of sand!)

Serendipity? Seems an apt word. For the big things, yes. But also for the lesser ones. Little things that hardly make a difference even in my own grand scheme, much less the grander scheme, but still “right place, right time” moments.

Each year a golf cart is raffled off as a fundraiser for local causes, including the Ocracoke Community Park. When I visited in June last year, to check out the island and my house, I bought one ticket. Four months later I got a phone call telling me I had won the golf cart! An additional bit of happenstance: Who called me? A guy who is friends with an old high school friend of mine, who was at Appalachian State when I was there! (PS I certainly never expected to own a golf cart!)

You might have noticed my outfit. Not exactly regulation teacher wardrobe. One of the surprising joys of teaching in this union school is getting to interact with the little people. I have made visits to their classrooms as Mrs. Pumpkin (new role for her coming tomorrow), Lucky Leprechaun, and the Easter Bethy. When I see them in the lunchroom or on the playground– or even in the village with their parents– they greet me with hugs and squeals and “you’re the Pumpkin/ Leprechaun/Bunny!” (And actually, I heard one of the older elementary kids say, “Look! It’s a carrot! Um… no!) What fun!

Last November when I returned to the island after Thanksgiving with my family, I headed straight to the beach. It was a beautiful, warm Sunday afternoon. And a pod of dolphins was enjoying the water just offshore. Camera always at the ready, I started snapping. Right place, right time? You be the judge.

The Ocracoke ponies have been around for a long time. Last May a new little one, Miss Jobelle, joined the herd and Ocracoke students were given the opportunity to visit her within days of her birth. Field trips are not my thing, but I was happy to chaperone this one! Just another stroke of good luck on my part, being here for this experience. Jobelle is growing up to be a fine mare; she and her mother are still in a separate area but are closer to the other horses, and they will soon join them in the large enclosed (for their safety) Pony Pen.

Whether wonderful discoveries on the beach are made because of being in the right place at the right time or simply because I am there a lot– or something in between–I must say that I have come across some wonderful finds! The lovely little bird below is a snow bunting, rarely seen this far south. (Rarely enough that my photo is featured in the local newspaper this month!) People frequently post about having come here or to other beaches and “never found a sand dollar/ sea star/ Scotch bonnet.” One spectacular late evening last winter I found a dozen sea stars and a dozen intact Scotch Bonnets (our state shell, but still a rare find)! And this intimidating crab– how can one not be impressed by him?!

And by the way, I never even knew there was such a thing as a white pelican, much less dreamt I would see them!

How did I end up teaching at Ocracoke School? It was meant to be? Divine providence? I don’t really know. Once I had 39 (yes, thirty-nine!) students in a single class– with lunch in the middle of class and the mandate to prepare them for not one but two state end-of-course tests. This year I will have a total of 36 students in my six classes! Yes, we still have state tests. And yes, my space is much smaller also but still… if you have ever taught school, you know the difference this makes. For 19 years I drove half an hour to get to work at my last two schools. Now I can walk to school in half that time. Don’t get me wrong. I still earn my paycheck. There are challenges here just as there are in any school. In any job. But being here, in this place, in this time of my life, there are definite benefits.

Here is another example of being in the right place at the right time. This year, when I came back after Thanksgiving at home with my family, I went to the beach– of course. I noticed a few mounds of sand near the high tide line, but I walked in the opposite direction as I usually do. There were a couple of fishermen near there so I figured the sand piles were something they did. A couple of days passed with the same scenario. After three or four days, the mounds were still there so I decided to check them out. The beach is ever-changing because of the tides and wind. And this is what I found: 

The words “GIVE THANKS,” painstakingly spelled out in sand. Each letter was about three feet high and at least eight inches deep. I read them. I marveled at the work involved in creating this message, which I had overlooked for several days. And I gave thanks. And that very night, the next high tide was higher than usual and it wiped out the letters.

And I give thanks. For this place. For this opportunity. For this decision. Serendipity? Meant to be? A blessing? Yes, a blessing.

 

 

Autumn on Ocracoke is a lovely time of year. For most of September and much of October, we were on various degrees of storm watches and warnings. Both Jose and Maria brought us winds and flooding but nothing serious– certainly nothing to compare to the damage in Houston, Puerto Rico and other places. As the hurricane season winds down, the weather has been lovely. I am writing this on the night of November 5, 2017; We had strong winds (winds that shook the house more than tropical storm Hermine three weeks after my arrival on the island last year!) and heavy rain last Sunday night. Since then, as October gave way to November, it has been a week of lovely sunrises and sunsets. I will have another post soon about fall on the island, but for now I will simply share images of the week. Enjoy.

Approaching the island on August 20, 2017 as I begin the second chapter of my Ocracoke adventure… you know you are there when you see the lighthouse! So now I am more than two weeks into the new year, and I am about to feel settled back into both the house and my classroom. But the sight of the lighthouse was preceded by a fully packed car

which, as days go by, I realize did not contain some things that would have come in really handy! Like a real raincoat. (See “storm” below!) Ocracoke School shirts. Somehow got here with only one. Dolphin Spirit Fridays will be a bit monotonous until I get back home to pick up some more!

Let’s not forget why I am here! Without the school, I would not be living on Ocracoke Island. I am the entire high school math department, with some outside help in the form of online opportunities for our students. There simply is not enough time in my day to teach all the courses our students need, so I teach the ones with the highest enrollment or the greatest need for a face-to-face teacher. My classroom is about 12′ X 15″ and this year sports newly refinished floors along with a strip on the outside wall that is all new, replacing wood damaged by hurricane waters. There is lots of technology available to us- Chrome Books for all the students, a laptop cart, SmartBoard. Lots of the technology across the state is supported by various grants. Unfortunately, schools (all across NC) have not been allocated funds for new textbooks in far too long and I do believe we need print media as well as technology and the internet. But that is another story for, perhaps, another day!

The first teacher workday of the year also happened to be the day of the solar eclipse. Ocracoke had about 90% of totality. Girl Scout that I am, I made three different viewers and was able to not only see the eclipse but also to take pictures of it with my cell phone inside my biggest box, a camera obscura! What fun! And then it was back inside to move furniture, unpack boxes, and start planning.

And now in the first two weeks, I have boarded the ferry for a couple of stocking-up trips to the grocery store and brief visits to a couple of other lighthouses.  The entire Outer Banks offer so much to see, so much beauty, so much history. I really need to take a week and spend it taking in everything that is there on the islands north of here!

And then there is another reality of life on a barrier island: the storms! Last week we had the threat of a tropical storm. The storm was never named and we did not even miss an hour of school, but still there was flooding. Enough flooding to remind us of the power that Mother Nature holds over us. (This flower pot was in my post last September after Tropical Storm Hermine passed through here three weeks after my arrival on the island. The water level rose to the very top of the pot then!) And this very night (9/6/17) we are all on alert as we wait to see what path Hurricane Irma will take. She is a huge and powerful storm and wherever she goes, her impact will be immense! As we watch and wait, we are aware of all the damage and suffering in Texas after Hurricane Harvey.

The beach. Ah, the beach! These impromptu trees, decorated over time by beachgoers, are such fun, so inspirational. This one has lasted longer than any I have seen so far. Just yesterday, a couple spent a long time (it seemed like a long time because I wanted to take a picture of the tree and the spot where the lifeguard stand stood beside it just the day before!) hanging a couple of shells and taking photos. And this little scene on the right shows the small but happy cluster of sun-and-sand-and surf-lovers hanging out at the lifeguarded part of the beach before the stand was removed at the end of Labor Day. And then a few hundred yards away, there is nothing but wide open space and an occasional walker like myself.

And of course there have been almost daily walks (sometimes more than one a day!) around the island and on the beach– hence the lovely view of Silver Lake Harbor. This is my time to think, reflect, pray. Wherever I am, as long as I am able, I will walk. But what a lovely place to do that during this time of my life.And at the end of the day…

These hearts– and mine– go out to my friends, my new family, in Ocracoke. You/they have been on my mind constantly since I heard about the accident at the Bonner Bridge site over a week ago. Here I am in Lewisville, air conditioning running, water heating, lights ablaze… and yet, I find myself checking constantly for updates from the electric companies, waiting to see the latest developments. It is kind of like being here in the western Piedmont waiting to see what will happen after a snowstorm– in Boone! Doesn’t really affect me, but still concerns me.

But wait! It does affect me, because it affect them. So many of my friends and students have been affected. Obviously, the first couple of days, before the generators were up and running everyone on the island was affected. It was hot; food spoiled; water was cold…. none of that is fun. But even in the days since, so many have lost income. Many, many teachers (myself included for most of my career) work during the summer to supplement their income. So much of the public continues to believe we only have to work ten months and “get two months off.” We do “get” two months off, but we are not paid for it! (And for that matter, we have no say-so over any of our vacation days for which we are actually paid. But that is another story, for another time!)

And most of our students also work at least one job– many of them more than one– during the school year. And they work that many or more in the summertime. And these young people are not working to buy accessories for their fancy car; they are working to buy their own clothes and, often, to help support their families.

There are the business owners, from restaurants to lodging fishing/island/golf cart/kayak rentals to shops of all types. Losing more than a week of an already short season is devastating. All of these people are still recovering from Hermine and Matthew in the fall of 2016. Those of you who do not live there do not realize how short the earning season is for so many of the year-round population. Many of those business owners also work part-time jobs during the off-season, just to stay afloat.

Despite what some have said, this is not something the islanders should or even could have been prepared for. If that were the case, we would all have a spare water heater in our basements, an extra car battery in the garage, even a generator (not cheap!) just in case. Yes, living on an island presents challenges and limits choices. But an accident like this cannot be planned for. Thank goodness most of the name-calling, blaming the victims behavior stopped pretty quickly. Nobody was unaware of or unconcerned about the losses sustained by visitors who had to change their vacation plans, but blaming the real victims was uncalled for.

Social media and the regular network media as well has reported at length on the situation. Unfortunately, not everyone was kind. And not everyone did what they should. As usual, there are always people who think that the rules do not apply to them. Almost every day when I am walking on the beach, I see people who breeze right past those markers warning people to stay off sections of the beach to protect the wildlife. The same people who think it is okay to throw out their trash, run that red light or stop sign, park in a handicapped space, you get the picture. But for the most part, people have been gracious and kind and understanding. There was a food pantry of amazing proportions on the island today. People are donating school supplies so our students’ parents don’t have to miss another day of work to buy them. There are all kinds of kindnesses coming out of this crisis.

I love Ocracoke. I love my friends there. I love the community spirit that thrives there. Yes, many places would do the same thing for each other. But, I dare to say, not on the scale we see in Ocracoke. I am certainly not a selfless person, but this crisis has consumed me this week. And I am but a drop in the bucket. Many, many people are pouring their goodwill into the bucket that is in need of filling in Ocracoke. They thank you. I thank you, on behalf of my “family.”

Ocracoke is back. The visitors are able to return tomorrow. Things will return to the usual hubbub of late summer. But there still has been almost immeasurable loss. We should not forget that. And rumor has it that a worse than usual storm season looms…. Stay tuned!

The origin of the Ocracoke ponies is uncertain. You can research it if you want to; I won’t talk about that here. I will talk about the excitement surrounding the addition of a pony to the family.  Horses are important here, and the birth of a pony is a really big deal!

A bit of background… Ocracoke is also fondly known an Pony Island. There are other ponies further up the Outer Banks, so they are not exclusive to Ocracoke, whatever their origin. But Ocracoke did have the only mounted Boy Scout troop in the country during the 1950s. (This makes my Girl Scout heart happy!) In 1959, after the construction of Highway 12, the National Park Service created the Ocracoke Pony Pasture to protect the ponies from increasing traffic.  Down from a high of around 300, only a couple of dozen are present today.

In addition to the pony pen, Ocracoke has the Pony Island Motel and Restaurant

There are a couple of painted ponies remaining on the island from the centennial celebration of the Wright Brother’s flight in 2003. One found its way to the roof of Ocracoke School and another still stands at a little shop that sells, among other things, ice cream and horse rides on the beach.

But I digress… the purpose of this post was to announce the birth of Jobelle Margaret on MAy 7, 2017. The proud parents are mother Jitterbug, who now lives here on the island but came from Shackleford Banks, and father Rayo, who still resides on Shackleford Banks. The second-graders of Ocracoke School suggested the name Jobelle in honor of the

gallardia flowers that grow on the North Carolina coast; the flowers are called Jobelle here on the Outer Banks in memory of Joe Bell who brought the flowers here from California early in the 20th century.  The pony and her mother will be isolated from the rest of the herd for up to a year.

The students were invited to go to the Pony Pasture and meet Jobelle. I was fortunate to be able to go along with the high schoolers. We met Jobelle and Jitterbug when the little one was eleven days old.

Jobelle is a beautiful baby and a welcome addition to the Ocracoke herd!