CEDAR ISLAND, NC

Just got back from a restful two days on Cedar Island, NC. A friend owns a year round home there but he uses it only when the cold weather in New England tells him it's time to head south...so my niece Wendy and I accepted his kind offer to visit and we headed out there last Friday night. 

Cedar Island is a very small and lightly populated coastal island in eastern North Carolina. Although it is blessed with a natural beauty it would not appeal to the usual beach combing tourist. There are no overcrowded beaches or seafood restaurants and it would probably be completely left to it's own devices if it were not for the famous Cedar Island Ferry service.. 

Four times a day cars and travelers are ferried to or from the village of Ocracoke, the last leg of the Outer Banks, a string of very narrow peninsulas and barrier islands that are separated from the mainland by the Atlantic Ocean and Pamlico Sound. Each ferry can take up to 50 cars or equivalent vehicles and reservations are made well in advance. 

Although it is fairly pricy to go by car it is only $1 per ticket if you just want to go along for the ride ...which we did. It is a 2 ½ hr. trip each way so we'd had our fill of the ocean by late Saturday afternoon. However, that was forgotten the next day and I snapped the picture you see above as we meandered down the deserted and narrow beach strip.

One of the loveliest things on the Island was the pampas grass that grew in abundance, especially around our host's property. I couldn't help but include it with this nice picture of Wendy. All in all a delightful respite and well worth the 4 ½ hours that it took to get there.

Time to speak up …

I just put this sign out on my front lawn. As many of you know I live in North Carolina and it's a scarey place to be right now...at least for me. My house sits close to the road on a busy street and I felt compelled to offset the Trump signs sprouting up around me.

I wonder how long it will last there before one of the “crazies” decides that I don't have a right to my own opinion. In 2012 my Obama sign lasted about 4 days before it was stolen. I wasn't too upset though because it gave me a great excuse to write a scathing letter to the editor of our local newspaper. They printed it too and I was pleased to see that we got some positive feedback.

I painted this sign because I love the message “Democrats for Sanity”. It's not original. I have a bumper sticker with those words. However, it is particularly apropos of this election season and I hope it will give some of the people who see it something to think about. 

 

November 8^th will be here before we know it and a big dose of “SANITY” is badly needed. . 

My “I Hate to Exercise” Exercises

I've posted this before but it was 6 years ago and, since I have achieved such good results from this easy exercise regimen I thought you might want to read about it again. These are the warm up exercises for Tai Chi and I do them faithfully every morning. I have checked with Doctors and Physical Therapy people and they all agree that these exercises are perfect for elders and even those convalescing from injuries or sickness.

These are 18 exercises that are designed to relax and tone all the major joints in the body. It takes me about 12 minutes each morning, and, although they are deceptively simple, these basic exercises have proved to be remarkably beneficial. I found them (complete with illustrations) in a Simon & Schuster book called “Step by Step Tai Chi” by Master Lam Kam Chuen. You may even want to go on and do the whole program but the warm ups do it for me … and I love the colorful descriptions of the different exercises such as “paint the wall”, “circle the moon“, “play the accordion”, etc.

It is now over 15 years that I have been doing this and I can’t imagine starting my day without it. I have severe scoliosis and, although the curvature gets worse each year, I am able to keep it in check with this regimen. On the few occasions that I do miss I can tell it by early afternoon. My back starts to ache and I don’t have my usual energy level...and all of this just because I didn’t devote a few minutes of my precious time to doing what’s good for me!

GOOD LUCK and believe me, if I can do it you can too

Painting a mural … just for fun !

A friend of mine is a retired art teacher and a very loyal once-a-week letter writer. She is known for the amazing flower and vegetable gardens that surround her home and today's letter proves to me that she is still in teacher mode !

Part of her letter concentrated on “what having to plant and tend a garden teaches you.” She goes on to say “For one thing, it teaches that YOU are not in charge. Nature sets the rules.” and “If you don’t have self-discipline, you won’t have a decent garden,” she says. 

I really felt bad as I read these words. I like to have beauty around me but I have NEVER had the discipline to plant and keep a garden going. But, wait a minute. I DO bring beauty into my life but it's with a paint brush instead of a spade. I can't even take credit for the content of the mural that I picture here. It's a copy of a Kandinsky that I've always loved … but so what if it's a copy. I had a great and undisciplined time painting it !!

A College Athlete's Act of Kindness

 

 

 

Last week some Florida State football teammates were visiting Montford Middle School in Tallahassee, Florida. One of them, Travis Rudolph, a wide receiver of the Seminoles, decided to break for lunch and when he noticed a young boy sitting alone he asked if he could join him.

This simple gesture could have gone unnoticed except that someone took a picture of them and sent it to the boy's mother Leah Paske. She was overjoyed and posted the picture on the Web. Junior High can be a scarey place for many students but is even more so when that person is “different” than his peers … and her son Bo would fit that description because he is autistic.

This story really touched my heart because my granddaughter Faye has Asperger's Syndrome, which is a type of autism, and she will be going into Junior High this week. She is such a loving and sweet girl but she is not your typical young teen and her folks and I pray that she will be accepted for who she is.

When Rudolph was interviewed he said he saw that Bo was alone so he asked if he could sit with him and he said “Sure”. That was the beginning of a lively conversation with Bo heading it off and telling him how much he loves the Seminoles….and, guess what? The next day Bo was surrounded by class mates at lunchtime.