Day Nine

Last day and we are going home.

Clean out fridge. Check. Dump trash. Check. Return bikes to rental shop. Check. Pack bags. Check. Put on Thule. Check.

Ensure a tight fit on the Thule... Hmm wait a minute...

Day Eight

The look on Janine's face reflects our mood. This is Saturday, the last full day of our vacation. So we spent it the best way we could, with as much time on the beach as possible.

Packing can wait until the night. It's always easier to pack when you are going home...sigh...

Day Seven

We have been going to the same area for vacation and staying in the same house for a few years now. One of our habits is at some point to go to the Red Drum, an old fashioned seafood restaurant just off the beach, away from the main drag. They are noted for their Carolina Chowder. It is a clam broth based soup rather than the cream based New England style, or tomato based Manhattan style. Typical of most Southern cooking it is well seasoned with plenty of thyme and even a bit of oregano.

As always we start out with oysters and steamed little neck clams, washing those down with some Maryland craft brewed ales. The fish special was Sea Bass, which Bobbie had the night before, so Sarah has the salad with fried oysters. As usual, John had a steak. After a bowl of the chowder and the rest, I only had room for a dinner salad.

Winding it all down we were all just a bit sad knowing tomorrow was our last full day.

Day Six

The weather and the seas Thursday were perfect...except perhaps for surfing. Here's John giving it his all. In his defense, there were four accomplished surfers who were becalmed earlier in the week. Even after the storm the waves were too low to propel even the experienced.

Janine followed John into the water to the same effect. There is usually a sand bar about 50 yards out. Sarah started out toward it this year, but soon had enough and came back to read her beach book, Pride and Prejudice with Zombies. Bobbie had some nice walks, a little time in the water and her vacation pleasure with Vanity Fair magazine. For me, I read Brave New World on the beach, but only so long as I had my SPF 80 sunscreen on.

Finally, here's John on his way in.

Day Five

On Wednesday everyone wanted to go to the Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo. Here's Good Queen Bess herself looking like neither Cate Blanchet nor Bette Davis.

The gardens were started about 50 years ago by the Garden Society of North Carolina. Much of the statuary was acquired in the postwar UK when wartime deprivations and socialism forced the gentry to liquidate many estates.

The exception is the statue of Virginia Dare seen below. It was sculpted by a woman artist about 100 years ago and has quite a story. It was originally created in Italy and changed hands several times including being lost in a shipwreck in passage to the US. It was in the North Carolina state historical society for a long time until someone got the bright idea to place it here. It's a fitting place so near the lost colony of Roanoke. (For more click here. This is a romantic interpretation of Virginia Dare who most likely did not survive to adulthood.)

Day Four

Tuesday's weather was mixed but it didn't stop us from going to the beach. The surf was still a bit rough, but the water was comfortable as it had all summer to warm up.

Sarah took this shot. She has a good eye for the sea and sky scapes.

One of my favorite things is the evening light at this time of year. It seems that the sun lingers near the horizon giving a warm light and long shadows. It also means the sun can highlight some areas like treetops and housetops.

Day Three

The weather on Sunday and Monday continued the trend from the previous week - rainy and about 60. Here's the beach with the seas were calming down at high tide. So it was a good day to unpack and get organized. Not much else.

Day Two - PM

As we ate lunch Sunday, we were not in a mood to wait until two to leave Williamsburg to arrive at four, the posted check in time. So we headed on down to Duck anyway. We found the rental office open and ready for us at 3:00 sharp. I guess in the off season there are fewer houses to clean and turnover. By 3:30 the luggage was out of the car. With the rest of the afternoon ahead of us, we walked down to the rental shop.

We all rented bikes this year. While John and I got mountain bikes, the ladies of the family got these nice multi-geared cruisers. Don't look now, but Sarah got a pink one. By 4:30 Bobbie, John and I drove down to the Food Lion in Kill Devil Hills to buy food for the week while Sarah and Janine went to the beach. Evidence is below.

Finally, after all the food was put away, we ate dinner at one of the small burger and BBQ places in the village of Duck. We all slept well that night having arrived safe and sound.

Day Two - AM

On Sunday, check in time for the vacation house was 4:00 and it's a two and a half hour drive from Williamsburg to Duck. So we checked out of the Super 8 after the continental breakfast and headed to "downtown" Williamsburg at about 10 AM.

As we parked we noticed that the lot was between the downtown area and part of the Williamsburg "reserve." Our curiosity drove us onward until we were in the midst of it all chatting it up with the reenactors. In fact here is Janine at the herb garden.

At first we though the lad in the background was one of the reenactors, but actually he was a very enthusiastic spectator.

His mom told us he loves it. She told us when he was four he wore a fire fighter's outfit every day. When someone told him they liked his costume, he replied, "It's not a costume. It's a lifestyle." As the family of performers that we are, we all loved that one.

Day One

Last week was our annual vacation to the Duck, NC. This was the first year in the new Mazda 5, aka Magenta. (OK, so I confess. Someone gave us a DVD of Rocky Horror Picture Show.) It's about 2/3s the size of our old van. The good news is that we actually fit in with all our stuff. As I said in my previous post, the rack fit great and with slight adjustment, so did the Thule box.

As usual we took two days to drive down stopping off in Williamsburg on the way. It's great to stop after only six hours in the car, arriving in the mid-afternoon. We overnighted in adjacent rooms at a Super 8. The rooms were clean although redolent of Pine Sol at first. It was a good value as the kids' room had an extra 10 feet because it was on the corner.

We were definitely not alone in Willamsburg that night. Good news for William and Mary fans. They beat Villanova that night at home by two touchdowns.

Good Fit

After John and I got the roof rack installed, I was impressed by its sturdiness and robustness. When we got out the Thule box I was even more so.

On the old car the racks were only 23 inches on center. It used a clamping system that attached to the top of the door openings.

The new car is a generous 32 inches wide on center using on a bolt-in system. This means a very stable mounting. In fact the rack is so wide we had to drill new holes. The widest setting for the existing mounting holes was not wide enough by at least an inch.

Most importantly, this was the first year John helped me install the Thule. In years past I had to wrangle that thing by itself. While it is not heavy, it sure is bulky and hard to manage in even the lightest breeze or through doors. Now with John's help, it's an easy five minute job at most.

Getting everything in there? Ah! That's more an art than a science.

A cultural landslide....

Recently, a friend of mine was kind enough to give me an old Magnavox radio/phonograph set. It's a beauty with a full sized cabinet, record changer and even a shortwave band. I have not yet tested if it works, but it looks great.

He also threw in a set of records with the modest title you see here, circa 1958. It's a really neat idea, but some people would probably rip it as middlebrow. But that is the point. This family is learning together listening to music that is widely regarded as beautiful because of its harmony and complexity.

The Basic Library of the World's Greatest Music was a subscription series. Each week subscribers would receive classical music records in the mail with a listening guide. It's a pretty good collection and I like it. It focuses on the swath of mainstream classical music from late baroque to late romantic. No Monteverdi. No Schoenberg. Once I get a turntable hooked back up I will let you know about the quality of the recordings.

This series is set apart by the fact that it includes entire symphony movements not just the part that inspired popular music. Later classical music collections sold on TV only had the popular parts. All you would hear are excerpts of the recognizable tunes lifted for pop songs. For example a particular classical music collection sold on TV in the 1970s featured the first movement of Rachmaniov's second piano concerto "which you all recognize as Full Moon and Empty Arms." But that was all. Owners of that collection missed out on some very good music.

Again, I like the overall idea of a steady stream of decent music delivered weekly. But the best thing here is the family gathered around the record player. OK so the sound quality is poor and even Don Draper probably didn't wear a suit to listen to music in his living room, but this is a family event. Even if the kids wander off after a few minutes, at least they saw the records, and listened to the beginning of the music. Here is an activity more engaging than watching Uncle Milty on TV and you got to keep the records to listen to later. And if some of the music might be a little hard to understand you can always refer back to the booklets. Most importantly, what do kids want the most from their parents? Their attention!

(Bonus points to those who can identify the headline reference and say so in the comments.)

Rack Installation

On Saturday John and I installed the rack bars on the new car. These are custom fitting racks that bolt directly into the roof. Unlike the old van which used a clamp system, albeit a very nice one (Thule).

The first step was to snap out the four small covers. Then we had to match up a rubber seat at each anchor point. After we aligned the racks on top of the seats and anchor points, we tightened the bolts and wing nuts. Finally the cover locks on top sealing in the entire mechanism.

The Thule box will fit on top to carry our luggage on vacation. It will have to because the new car is much smaller than old one.

Everybody was ...

...Kung Fu Fighting.

Monday afternoon we went to a Labor Day party where there were plenty of kids. They all gathered in a circle and started a slow motion dance with a game called Ninja. (Yes Sarah, I corrected it.)

Despite the fact that someone explained the rules to me, I still have not caught on. It seems that one must strike another's hand or head (gently, of course) to force the other person out of the game. Only one move is allowed by one person at a time. This session lasted well over 20 minutes as there must have been 20 kids in the circle.

Whatever the case all of the kids there had a great time bringing the summer to a close. (After which we all went home and put away our white pants and stopped ordering gin and tonics. Just kidding!)

On the waterfront

A few weeks ago Sarah and Bobbie went to New York City for the weekend. They traveled with one of Sarah's best friends to celebrate her 16th birthday.

Here they are at the Battery using the railing as a ballet barre.

After a 6:00 AM start, they arrived at about 2 PM for a 36 hour visit. They had a grand time overall, staying near Times Square catching Next to Normal on Broadway and enjoying the crowds.

Now in case you don't believe it, here's they NYPD to provide proof.