- The view

Retrospective (7/4/2016)

Patch #176 Beach towel 4

Original Post

This has been my view for the last week, sometimes sunny ...

sometimes not ...

Today was the last day for the kids to get sand between their toes ...

and play together ...

As an added treat, I noticed on Facebook that my cousin's granddaughter was at Hatteras lighthouse yesterday. We've never met, but I sent her a message and invited her over. Bless her heart, she accepted the invitation and came to meet us all after dinner. Three generations of cousins ...

and one last look at the sea.

- Color wheel

Retrospective (7/4/2016)

Patch #175 Beach towel 3

Original Post 

Primary colors ...

Secondary colors ...

Okay, I admit it ... any excuse to show off my grandkids ... 

- Because there can never be too much ...

Retrospective (7/4/2016)

Patch #174 Beach towel 2

Original Post

Art ...

Wine ...

Love, Laughter ...

Cookie dough ...

- Food is love

Retrospective (7/4/2016)

Patch #173 Beach towel 1

Original Post

Don got t-shirts for everyone this year. On the front "Food is love" and on the back ...

Making cookie dough (because really, why go to all the trouble of actually baking cookies?), usually involves one-on-one lovin' complete with "now add the sugar" and "now let's taste to make sure it's okay." 

Today, we had a crowd, so stadium seating and a challenge: "whoever is quietest gets the first taste" ...

Logan (far left) and her friend Peyton were great assistants (twelve is a great age). They determined the winner of tasting round one was ...

Griffin!

Of course in the end, everyone won a round. Then they shared with the moms and dads ...

And believe it or not, the grown ups shared back ...

- Strawberry moon

Retrospective (7/4/2016)

Patch #172 Strawberry Moonrise

Original Post

Tonight was our third annual vacation concert with the Wilders, so I hung the Remember 2016 cloth on the mantel to soak up the music ...

Incredibly good food was prepared by folks from San Francisco to Chesapeake and, as with most pot luck dinners, everything worked out beautifully. There were crab cakes, seared tuna, steamed shrimp and ham biscuits ... green salad, pasta salad and broccoli salad ... fresh creamed corn, chorizo and goat cheese stuffed peppers, and smoked Gouda grits ... fruit salsa with cinnamon pita chips and blueberry cake. Not to mention free-flowing adult libations and homemade juice pops for the kiddos ...

specially designed with a straw in the side of the base to enable sipping rather than dripping, in theory anyway ...

The icing on the cake was the strawberry moon ... the first full moon on the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere since 1967. Not surprisingly, my phone camera couldn't capture it, so you'll have to take my word for it that the moon lived up to its name, rising over the Atlantic with a color that recalled Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill wine ... which, I hasten to add, I only ever drank once, but memorably. 

- A day at the beach

Patch #171 Father's Day

From beginning (photo courtesy of Keith Cline, sunrise photographer par excellence) ...

To middle ...

to end (note: high tide makes for an interesting photo shoot) ...

With thanks to our kids for hiring a pro to take family pictures ... I'm sure you'll see a couple or three posted here when we get them next month.

- A new chapter

Retrospective (7/3/2016)

Patch #170 Line 'em up

As we drove into Avon, the James Taylor mix CD began playing Line 'em up, so I snapped a picture of the power poles marching by...

I could perhaps be forgiven for changing the lyrics to "light 'em up" in anticipation of 60 candles, but my family was kind, lighting but one candle per decade.

Original Post

If this is what sixty feels like, then I'm totally okay with it.

Dinner on the Outer Banks with all our kids and grandkids ...

followed by a "This is Your Life" slide show ...

put together by my fellow Gemini (whose birthday was yesterday) ...

After which everyone got commemorative t-shirts ...

to be worn at the end of tomorrow's sunset photo shoot. Accordingly, M and M made sure I'd be appropriately attired ...

And as the moon rose over a restless sea ...

candles were kindled ...

Fortunately, I had lots of help blowing them all out ...

And now the house is finally quiet enough to hear the surf outside, while the moon presides over the end of a perfect day ...

Yep, I think I like 60 just fine!

- Shark attack

Retrospective (7/3/2016)

Patch #169 (cue theme from Jaws)

Original Post

AKA lemonade and grenadine. A classic Outer Banks kid pleaser ...

Beach Week is now officially launched!