A Visit to the Coast – Part 1 – Cape Lookout

Karen McCullough Posted on by

Liz points out the location of their boat business, DownEast Marine, on a large map!

Last weekend we got to spend a weekend with our daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter and grandson-in-law, and great-grandson on Harker’s Island, near Beaufort, North Carolina.

We had a wonderful time, checking out Beaufort, having some great meals, visiting the NC Aquarium at Pine Sholls. More on the Aquarium trip later in the week.

There were a few extra little moments – getting to hold and cuddle my great-grandson, passing the giant Blackbeard statue at DownEast Marine (the boat business owned and operated by daughter and son-in-law), and seeing a family of bears (mama and two cubs) run across the road in front of the car. Unfortunately, I couldn’t whip out my phone fast enough to get a picture of the bears. They were moving fast and disappeared into the underbrush quickly.

We also had a chance to cruise the area in daughter and son-in-law’s own boat.

Once the boat was launched into the sound off Harker’s Island, we (four of us; the family with the young baby decided he wasn’t quite ready for his first boat trip) headed for Cape Lookout and its most famous landmark, the lighthouse there. It’s a quick twenty-minute jaunt in the boat, but navigation is tricky because much of the water is shallow, no more than a couple of feet deep in places. There are channel markers, but they can be hard to see.

Cape Lookout is an island that marks the southern end of the Outer Banks. It’s accessible only by boat, but there is a ferry (people, not cars) that runs from Harker’s Island.

Harker’s Island in the rear view.

Cape Lookout island has a lovely beach, with soft sand, shallow, clear water, the lighthouse, and a small museum and gift shop. After anchoring the boat a few feet out, we (my husband, daughter, and myself) splashed onto the beach, through knee-high water that in August was very warm. Son-in-law decided to stay with the boat which let us leave our bags there.

We walked the beach to the lighthouse, stopping to admire beautiful shells, crabs, and other unusual sea creatures along the way. Small fish swam in the very clear water almost to the very edge of the light waves lapping the sand. A few other boats were moored with visitors, but we apparently beat the ferries, which meant only a couple of dozen other people in the area.

A short walk took us to the keeper’s house at the base of the lighthouse, which has been turned into a museum. Going out the back door of the keeper’s house, puts you with a hundred yards of the lighthouse itself. It’s not currently open to the public due to safety concerns related to the structure, but I doubt we would have attempted the climb in any case.

We didn’t plan to spend a lot of time there since we had other goals for the day. However, the clear blue sky offered a perfect backdrop for taking pictures. The museum does have a room with a 360-degree panoramic image of the view from the top. It’s pretty spectacular. We gave the gift shop a pass as since none of us had brought money or credit cards.

On returning to the boat, we caught Alan lounging in a floating chair off the side. But he has been driving us around, so no one is complaining.

Leaving Cape Lookout, we turned to the west and navigated our way around the Rachel Carson nature preserve with its tidal islands and shallow waters. We had only one minor incident of running aground, but the boat is a skiff (meaning flat bottom and shallow draft) so it was easy to get it off and running again.

The rest of the trip was kind of a sightseeing expedition, traversing the narrow channel between the Beaufort waterfront and the Nature Preserve. More about that in the next post.  More pictures below.  (Click to enlarge.)

Approaching Cape Lookout

Liz dropping one of the anchors.

On the beach

Alan lounging

 

I’m a Great-Grandmother!

Karen McCullough Posted on by

Vinnie at 3 weeks

In May, 2022, my oldest granddaughter gave birth to a baby boy. He’s a beautiful, adorable baby, of course!

I’m still trying to process being a great-grandmother. I’m not really that old. (Am I?) Early seventies isn’t really old, right? I don’t feel old. (Except when I’m having a Covid relapse, but that’s happening less and less frequently.) I walk a mile and a third to a mile and a half almost every day and do strength exercises as well. I work in the garden most days. (When it isn’t 95 at nine o’clock on the morning.) I stay pretty active.

Most of my grandchildren are still children. But my oldest daughter had her children early, which made me a grandmother for the first time at the age of 42.  And now, that grandchild just had her first child.

Vinnie is adorable and precious.

Vinnie at 2 months

But I’m wrestling with what it means for me, personally.

His birth reminds me that my time is winding down.

I’ve had a good life. I’ve been married to the love of my life for more than fifty years, raised a great family, watched my children accomplish some amazing things, have wonderful grandchildren, and achieved a number of career goals. I’m blessed to have lived to meet a great grandchild. I don’t take that for granted. I know it’s a privilege not given to all.

Regrets? I have a few, but honestly I feel like if you don’t have a few regrets at my age you either haven’t really lived or you haven’t examined your life in any serious way.

But there are still things I want to do. I haven’t written all the books and stories I have in me. There are many places I want to visit. I’d like to see the rest of my grandchildren grow up.

I’m trying to take care of myself in hope that I’ll have more years to do all those things. At the same time, I want to live in the knowledge that every day I still have is a gift.

Cover Options for Playing at Murder

Karen McCullough Posted on by
Playing at Murder is off to beta readers, on the way to an October release, if all goes well.

I’m trying to decide between two possible covers for it.

The basic design is dictated by the pattern of the series, which starts with A Gift for Murder and continues in Wired for Murder. But each book has a ribbon at the bottom featuring an image that represents the product category of the trade show which forms the backdrop for each story. And there’s room for another item to the left above the title.

Playing at Murder is set at a trade show for toys and playthings.

Two different approaches to the cover. Which do you prefer?

Why I Watch the Tour de France

Karen McCullough Posted on by

(Hint: It’s not because I’m a big fan of professional cycling!)

One of the wonders of modern television is the vast array of sporting events that can be viewed live, no matter where or when they happen.

I like almost all sport, but time constraints mean I have to pick and choose which events I watch. Some are de rigueur due to their rarity and/or my rooting interest, like the Olympics, the World Series, the Super Bowl, and the NCAA Basketball Tournaments.

There are a few sports I don’t follow closely but enjoy watching certain events. One of those is the premier event of professional cycling, the Tour de France, which finished earlier today.

Our son got my husband and I interested in the race quite a few years ago, when he watched it at home. At first I was drawn in by the gorgeous French scenery (and that’s still a major draw), but this is the race that everyone dreams of winning, so there’s a lot going on beyond the obvious.

Grand tour road race cycling is an odd thing to watch. They are long events (three weeks), so there are long boring stretches when the racers seem to just pedal, pedal, pedal, with no obvious racing going on at all. Then suddenly someone will jump out in front, and usually everyone else will rush forward to catch up. Occasionally small groups will get away and sometimes stay away. For the most part, the last twenty minutes of a four-hour stage is when interesting things happen.

And yet there is always more going on. The more you learn about the race, the fascination with all of the permutations and tactics grows. Although there is only one overall leader, who wears the yellow jersey, there are other races within the race. There are contests for the best mountain climber and for the best sprinter, with places designated inside the race route for those contests, with points awarded for those who reach the spot first. And each day there is a stage winner, the person who crosses the finish line for the day first.  Those are all coveted prizes and competition for each is fierce.

The tactics can be complicated and interesting, though fate often takes a hand in the outcome. Crashes happen, often tripping up cyclists guilty of nothing more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The bikes they ride are fine-tuned machines built for speed rather than endurance so pieces break, chains drop, and tires can go flat. Weather certainly played a part in this year’s tour with day-time temperatures on the course sometimes reaching over a hundred degrees.

Even though the race is contested and won by individuals, it is very much a team sport. No cyclist can compete without the support of strong team-mates, who can surround and protect him from road hazards, provide food and water during the stage, set the pace for the race, and even provide an extra bike to the leader should he (or she, since there are women’s races) have a crash or a mechanical issue. The overall contenders have to be individually strong enough to overcome all challenges, but the team provides necessary support.

This year’s race amply demonstrated the advantage a strong team can provide to the highest level cyclists. The winner of last year’s race was again matched up with the man who was a close second. But the defending champion lost half of his eight-man team by the end of the first week, either from illness (Covid is still a factor) or accidents. Last year’s runner-up had a stronger team around him to begin with and more of them made it to the end. When the stronger team goaded the defending champion with a flurry attacks (basically an attack is when a rider jumps off the front of the pack, hoping to get a lead), the man had to respond to all of them himself, and ultimately it wore him down.

A good recap of the race can be found here. (https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/incredible-vingegaard-wins-tour-de-france/ar-AAZV9Mm)

There are stories within stories. The race itself started in Denmark this year and the ultimate overall winner was a Dane. Two other Danish riders won stages. Another Canadian stage winner dedicated his win to his older brother who’d been killed by a hit-and-run driver while out jogging. Several young American cyclists made a good showing this year.

And, yes, there is a dark side. Even non-cycling enthusiasts have heard about the time when doping was endemic to the sport, and drug cheaters made the news. The sport has made significant efforts to clean things up, and testing is constant, but it would be foolish and naive to overlook the possibility that it still goes on.

But there is still that wonderful scenery. They take the race title Tour de France seriously in the television coverage. The helicopter provides amazing views of lovely countryside surrounding the race route, gorgeous chateaus, rivers, bridges, mountainsides, etc. It’s a feast for the eyes and a wonder to the armchair traveler. I’ve taken a few pictures of the TV screen with some of those amazing views.

Gardening in July

Karen McCullough Posted on by

Summer is in full swing now. In North Carolina that means daytime temperatures averaging in the high 80s with frequent ventures in the 90s. And the humidity is often so dense it feels like cutting through a blanket just to move.

Gardening is confined to the early morning hours these days, and it’s mostly maintenance –feeding, deadheading, weeding, and occasionally moving plants that aren’t happy in their locations. It’s not a good time to put in any new plants.

But it’s payoff time for a lot of the work of spring. The daffodils, tulips, lily-of-the-valley, and irises are done for this year. The roses still produce flowers sporadically after the massive bloom of May. Daisies, petunias, coreopsis, vinca, daylilies, and gladioli are in full bloom. Zinnias, marigolds, cosmos (all raised from seeds planted in early April), along with the dahlias are just now budding and should be spectacular in a a couple of weeks.

On these hot days, I love sitting in the shade on the back patio to read, rest, write, and just enjoy the flowers.

Goals Update – 2nd QTR 2022

Karen McCullough Posted on by

It’s the end of a quarter, so it’s time to assess how I’m doing on the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year.

The first goal was to finish Falling for the Deputy, which is now done and released. You can get a copy here. Next up was completing the third book in the Market Center Mysteries series, Playing at Murder. I’m happy to report the first draft of Playing at Murder is done, and I’m deep into the revision process. That should be finished by the end of July. It then goes to my editor and a couple of beta readers. I’m aiming for a fall release. I’ve also started the preparatory brain work for the first novel in a potential new series. With any luck, I’ll start actual writing on it some time in August.

I’ve made less progress with the five short story goal. So far I’ve started two, but haven’t finished either. I’m not giving up yet.

I’ve also looked into doing audiobooks, but have not yet found the right narrator for the stories I want to start with. The search continues.

On the personal stuff, after a break for vacations and family visits, I’ve resumed the photo scan project. Having that done by Christmas looks reasonable. Likewise, I’m resuming the attempts to get rid of stuff after the recent break. Still lots to do.

May Beach Retreat at Edisto

Karen McCullough Posted on by

May was a busy month for me and my family, featuring a beach trip, visit from my daughter, along with her husband, and four sons, and a large family party. Plus we became great-grandparents!

The second week in May, we headed to Edisto Island for our annual beach trip vacation. Along with my sister-in-law, our two daughters, their husbands, and my younger daughter’s four sons, ages 5 to 10, we spent a pleasant and fun week in a large house right behind the dune.

We were blessed with near-perfect weather. Daytime temperatures were in the low eighties every day. Nights dipped into the sixties. Most days were sunny and clear. It was early enough in the season that the beach wasn’t crowded despite the glorious weather.

Three years ago all of the boys were intimidated by the surf and refused to go near it, but they’ve gradually been getting more comfortable with it.  You can see that the three oldest boys had a grand time in the water and the sand. The youngest, who is four, nearly five, preferred playing in the sandbox under the house rather than on the beach.

Nature Dilemma

Karen McCullough Posted on by

A couple of days ago I looked out my office window, which gives a nice view of the back and side yards of our house. Something small wiggled in the grass just off the patio. A mouse, I thought at first. On closer look, I realized it was a baby chipmunk.

He (or she?) was tiny, no more than a couple of inches long and looked ridiculously vulnerable, particularly since we’ve seen both hawks and owls in the neighborhood. No parental figure was anywhere in view.

My first instinct was to go out there and collect it, to protect it, but I hesitated and then did what most of us do when we need to know something these days. I Googled.

I read several articles on what to do if you found a baby chipmunk in your yard. The upshot seemed to be that unless it was visibly injured or ill, the best thing to do was nothing. Leave it alone. Mom or Dad is probably watching even if not obviously around. Chase away any predators you might see hanging around. Check back if it’s still around in a couple of hours and call a wildlife rehabilitator at that point.

So I left it and got back to work. An hour or so later, I looked out again, and it was gone.

I have no idea if a predator got it while I wasn’t looking or a parental type came around and shooed it back to safety.

I like to imagine chippie junior tucked back away in the burrow under our patio, where he can get bigger and stronger and ready to tackle the world.

A case of what I don’t know actually makes me happy.

April in the Garden

Karen McCullough Posted on by

The side yard

It’s finally here! The month when nature in central North Carolina covers itself in glory. Dogwoods, fruit trees, azaleas, tulips, and iris bloom in a riot of colors. Daytime temperatures are generally comfortable enough to make working in the garden not just feasible, but a joy.

Our last frost date around here is April 15th, so there are still a few days before it’s time to plant the annuals and summer bulbs, but there’s plenty to do to get ready. Beds have to be cleaned out, turned over, and amendments added. Old vegetation needs to be cleaned away and there are always things that need to be trimmed back or transplanted.

As I do that, I admire the plants already in bloom and dream of what it’s going to look like in a month or two. The roses are leafing out nicely in preparation for their May explosion. Hydrangeas, daisies, gazanias, and other perennials show new stalks.

I need to do as much as I can now. By the beginning of June it will be getting hot, sometimes too hot to work outside other than in the early morning.

For now, though, it’s glorious and I’m ready to go.