Ocracoke: There and Back Again

A delightful three days in Ocracoke truly helped my nerves. Here are a few random photos of my time there with my friend Mary.

Views of the 1823 lighthouse, from the deck of the house where we stayed:

 And a bit closer:

It's 75 feet tall and its walls are 5 feet thick.
I also painted a small watercolor as a gift for the home-owner:

We went to the beach once:

We ate at a Mexican food truck:

We painted on the deck during one of many rainy times:

But mostly we both loved riding around the village in the golf cart, stopping at various shops. I had loads of fun shopping for little gifts for the kids, and books for the grandkids.

I also bought myself a new breakfast coffee mug bowl. It's massive.

Here's a very cool coffee table centerpiece candle, made of oyster shells.

I would make one, if I had oyster shells.

Ocracoke was not too much damaged during Hurricane Florence in 2018, but it was decimated by Hurricane Dorian last fall. A 3-foot wall of water inundated the island, stayed for a few hours, and then left. Here's a lovely shop on a sandy, wooded path in the village, with high water markers for many hurricanes back to 1985. At first I thought, "Oh, Dorian's not there! It must not've been too bad!"

Then Mary said, "Um, look on the wall."

That's Dorian, back there. SO much water.

People tend to raise their homes way up after repeated flooding (if their insurance company allows them to). 

 Here's the Methodist church.

I got a picture of Oscar's House, where Adam and I honeymooned nearly 31 years ago!

They have extended on the right, making a shop. We stayed in the upstairs bedroom above the front porch, where those two little windows are. New owners have finally relieved our old hostess of her labors. The cedar siding looks nice and new.

Ocracoke is a unique village that defies time, defies disaster, and welcomes everyone.

 Old cemeteries along the sandy lanes in the village center.

For the Happy Tears!

I hardly know where to begin. What a week! Weddings are glorious, fun, hard work, emotional, exhausting, divine, heart-wrenching, and the most wonderful days in our lives ... all rolled into one.
For those wondering about my mother's flower-arranging skills:

The ivy was from her yard. The eucalyptus was from mine. The white roses and carnations were courtesy of WalMart. The Queen Anne's lace and purple cone flowers were given by our pianist and friend. The peonies traveled from my sister-in-law's farm in W.Va. I say my mother has a romantic British drapey look with flowers.

(This will be a long post. I recommend consuming it in segments with refills on tea.)
Here are photos from the bridal shower two weeks ago. (I know, I know ... I'm way behind.)

Sweetest hostess on the planet, Martha

Anna felt the delight of being spoiled, loved, and gift-given.

Anna with two other young ladies from church

This delightful gift -- Recipe for a Happy Marriage -- made the evening sweet.

I think there were 17 of us ladies there, which was delightful.

Now, photos of the finished cake! I know you've all been dying to see it:

It was as good as it looks, and everyone was so proud of Adam and Gloria. We had some left over, which we froze at church for next week's snack. And Adam had a niece asking him if he would make her wedding cake ... someday.

She was wearing these gift pajamas before the fact!

Much church decorating occurred, involving hefting of wooden furniture and tables, draping of twinkle lights and tulle fabric, nibbling on quick meals, and flying trips to WalMart for  one more thing.

a serving bowl in my wedding china pattern, Mikasa Rosemeade.

 They chose a neat idea for the guest sign-in, a tree (artwork by Julia) where each guest put a green thumbprint, and signed his/her name on said thumbprint.

 

We had a breakfast for bridesmaids and ladies in our family. My sister-in-law Anne prepared all the food beautifully. All I had to do was pull out dishes.

 We squeezed all the girlies onto the couch. (Our family has a bad habit of squeezing kids on couches for photos.) There are quite a few beloved girls missing too, but this crew is darling. This moment made my heart so happy.

Yes, Anna is sporting her daddy's old dress shirt. She basically wore it all day until time to don her wedding dress. I'm not really sure why, haha :)

The rehearsal dinner was so much fun!

 

What are Anna and Gramm smiling at, you ask? A surprise slide show of themselves as babies/toddlers/kids/teens/etc., designed by Gramm's brother. We all thoroughly enjoyed it!

 Afterward a few candid shots were taken by the river.

Where are the wedding photos, you wonder? Here they are ~

Gorgeous wreaths made my another sister-in-law

 Anna with her grandmothers before the ceremony:

Cousin Tammy and brother Marshall:

"Smile!" I said ...

Silly, happy girls!

"Don't touch the veil!!"

Lovely girls!

 "Who gives this woman?"

 "Her mother and I do."

Yes, we do, and very happily. Our darling girl has married a very fine young man, into whose arms we trustingly place her. We feel they are very well-suited, committed, and look forward eagerly to all the joys they will share.

These are only the candid shots I happened to remember to snap on my phone. Much better photos will be coming later from my dear, rescuing cousin, Tammy, who agreed to photograph the wedding on Thursday night after we learned that Michael (my niece's husband, and our first photographer) could not come because Hannah (my niece) is very ill. (Please pray for her.) 

The weekend, as all of life, was full to the brim of great joy and some sorrows as well. Families are like that, aren't they? But the union of Gramm and Anna -- that was sheer joy. They were beaming. May God bless them richly and guard them from all harm. 

Adam's mom gave us ladies in the family a handkerchief, as she said, "for the happy tears."

May they always be happy ones.