Shackleford Banks Adventure (with a capital A)

First the play Shadowlands last night was a grand experience! Got home around 11:20 and was in bed around midnight.

Alarm went off at 5 this morning... and I was at Port City Java (the Wilmington answer to Starbucks) by 6. Met up with 9 members of the Cape Fear Audubon Society and headed for Shackleford Banks. I did not have to drive! Took about 2 1/2 hours with one stop. We met about 8 more people there, including the leader John Fussell, III, author of A Birder's Guide to Coastal North Carolina and our leader. Ferry ride was eventful for those who know one bird from another.... we saw all kinds (who knew there was more than one kind) of godwits, willets, plovers, dunlins, sandpipers, terns, oystercatchers, herons, egrets, warblers and more! I loved the passion of the leader and people; the weather was perfect.

Somewhere during the festivities my camera stopped working. I kept getting an ominous Error 99 message. I tried everything I could think of but could not get it to work. I had charged the battery overnight and didn't think I had another battery. When I got home just now I found the other battery in the camera case. I had it with me all the time! That seems to have done the trick. And now I can not get my computer to load the SD disk, other than these two pictures. So it has been/is a technical challenge.

We did see horses! That is (get ready Anne) AWESOME! To first hear horses in the distance and then see them appear on an island in the middle of nowhere is a first for me. I was told there are 114 horses on the island and they are completely wild, never fed or watched over. Amazing!

Our leader was a bit more adventuresome than some of us were ready for. We spent at least an hour ankle to shin deep in the marshlands. My sneakers & socks were not happy.

Stopped for dinner on the way home and arrived back at Lion's Gate around 6:30, showered, hosed off my sneakers, put on my pajamas, and now am ready to pour a glass of wine and be done for the day.

Joined the Senior Ladies of Wilmington meetup group at Panera Bread yesterday morning and met some more fabulous women! Then caught up on some "chores" during the afternoon. One (of the many) joys of being retired is being able to do chores anytime I want to.

I discovered that the shrub behind my deck is a gardenia and the flowers smell better than any perfume I have ever owned (not sure if that is a compliment to the flowers or an insult to any perfume I have every worn).

Since I didn't get to the beach yesterday morning, I went back up around 6:00 and walked my two miles. Then picked up my camera at John's.

This morning I joined the Audubon society for a tour of Mason Inlet. This was my third try. First time Buddy Cat was sick and I spent the morning finding a vet, second time No Show Earl had created a surfer's paradise and there was no parking. And today I met even more great people, but it was high tide and we could not get all the way to the end and there were very few birds. Still I discovered another entire part of Wrightsville Beach that I look forward to exploring. Stayed on the beach until noon.

This afternoon I am going to drop off some things at Goodwill... and I thought I had gotten rid of unwanteds before I moved! See my delightful new insurance agent/friend Gina (a friend of John and Jess's) to get car insurance. Go back to Circa 1922 from 5-7 to sample their bar/tapas specials and then go to see Shadowlands at the Big Dawg Theatre downtown.

I am excited about heading to Shackleford Banks tomorrow. It is about 2 1/2 hours north so the group will be leaving at 6:15 a.m. The trip is to be (and I quote the Audubon Society) a ..... Special outing to Shackelford Banks with expert birder author, John Fussell. Peak migration! Marbled Godwits, Wilson's Plover, possible Long-billed Curlew. Fee for ferry. Carpooling encouraged. Bring water, food, sun protection and insect repellent. Be prepared for a two-mile walk.

Although featured as a birding trip the island is also known for the wild ponies and excellent shelling. I hope my camera and I will have lots to share in my next blog!

Busy Day

8- 9:30 a.m. Bird Walk at Airlie Gardens... lots of great people.... saw more BIG spiders than birds

9:30 - 12:30 Went back to Fort Fisher and Carolina Beach State Park to look for some birds to photograph... got some good pelican pictures... love that I can just take off and go there whenever I want!

1:00 - 2:00 "Alex" was here to fix my compter.... new hard drive and motherboard (what is that?)

2:00-3:30 - Computer had to reinstall many, many, many files... wish Brian Z was here

3:30 - 5:30 - tried to get computer back to being "mine", still have to upload my music and photos

7:00-10:00 Dinner at a tapas place in downtown Wilmington called Circa 1922 with another meetup group called Women of Wilmington..... great waiter, wonderful good... going back to enjoy the bar menu Friday 5-7

Came home to a close encounter of the raccoon kind to discover a large raccoon raiding the bird feeders on my deck. So now I have bring them (all 7 of them) inside every night!

Time to Catch Up!

Having MAJOR computer issues... luckily I found out that my laptop is still under warranty... spent over an hour on the phone with a technician today and the end result (get ready) is that I need 1) a new hard drive, 2) a new motherboad, 3) new casing...... not sure why they don't just send me a new computer... but someone is to ring my doorbell in a few days and install all of the above... I guess I will renew my warranty!

So... Sunday, September 5 I was on the beach in the morning (of course) and then got ready to go to John & Jess's for a Birthday BBQ.... I decided to try to make something I saw on TV that used puff pastry (Barefoot Contessa's Savory Palmiers) and IT WORKED. I have never used puff pastry before and can now cross that off my life list! The BBQ was wonderful... John, Jess, Dave, Andy & Jenny (friends of John & Jess's who were in their wedding, and just got engaged) were all there. Lots of good food, laughter, and conversation and a perfect birthday cake from a local place called Apple Annie's Bake Shop (which I will be visiting!)

Monday, September 6, MY BIRTHDAY.... I decided to start a new tradition and was on the beach until noon.... don't think I have ever been on the beach before on my birthday. The day was filled with phone calls, Facebook birthday wishes, cards, etc. Spent some good time on my deck, ate leftover birthday cake and realized (to quote my friend, Tom V) now that I am retired "every day is my birthday".

Tuesday, September 7 ( the day is not over, but I'm not sure how much longer my computer is going to cooperate)... I GOT MY NC DRIVER'S LICENSE THIS MORNING!!!!!

Left my camera at John & Jess's house so pictures will have to wait.

Birds from Airlie Garden

After the beach this morning I spent some time in Airlie Garden and took some pictures of juvenile white ibis, green herons, and butterflies. Enjoy (I did)!

Earl?

Earl was a "no-show". I think the winds gusted to about 25 mph one brief second Thursday afternoon but that is all. I did go over to The Oceanic on Wrightsville Beach and joined two other new "friends" from the Senior Ladies of Wilmington to watch the ocean from the bar. The most interesting was to see amost 100 people standing on the beach "watching" the ocean! I hope all my hurricane encounters are of the "close kind" like this one.

My social calendar is filling up thanks to my discovery of www.meetup.com which I have been told exists everywhere. You just put in your zip code and area of interest and up pop chances to meet new people. So try to keep up with me:

tomorrow - 9/4 attending a production of The Secret Garden at Thalian Hall with two other "senior ladies" with dinner downtown before the show

Sunday - 9/5 going to John & Jess's for a birthday bbq

Monday - 9/6 attending a Humanism Class at the Unitarian Class (can't ignore my intellect:)

Wed. - 9/8 Bird Walk at Airlie Gardens in the morning and dinner at a tapas place downtown (Circa 1922) with another group of women, this time of all ages

Thurs. 9/9 meeting at Panera Bread at 9:30 to meet more women from the Seniors group, including one who has started a camera club

Fri. 9/10 going to see another play (Shadowlands) downtown and this time going out to eat after the play

Sat. 9/11 - going with the Audubon group to Shackleford Banks, 2 1/2 hrs. north near the Outer Banks ... trip is being led by John Fussell who wrote "the" book on birding in NC

so ..... I am having a GREAT time..... can't wait to share it with you....

not going "Back to School" day

This is my first not going "Back to School" day in forty years... if you count the years I was a student in school this is the first September in 57 years that I haven't been heading into a classroom!

I wondered how I would feel and, in the words of James Brown, "I feel good!" Of course I miss the wonderful people I worked with, but also know I am in the right place.

Had a great time last night with the Senior Ladies of Wilmington. There were only 6 of us there but it was good to have some "girl conversation". A couple of us are going to try and go back tomorrow night to see what the ocean looks like during a tropical storm!

That's right, no hurricane but Wilmington does have a tropical storm warning starting tomorrow morning. That means I have to get the deck cleaned off tonight so there are no projectiles blowing in the wind.

The bar stools I ordered arrived today and I managed to put them together by myself. They match my dining table chairs but need some cushions (a bit hard on the butt!).