A Halloween Memory

When special days of any kind roll around, they bring memories.
One Halloween I remember was when Trip was twelve.
Around that time, I had been helping an immigrant Romanian couple with their English. Both scientists, they had fled their oppressive government for a new life and were eager to learn anything American. Using French, and any props, expressions and hand motions that I could, I tried to teach some basics of our language, our currency, the time change (as we are having tonight), customs, and since it was the day, Halloween. They let their son who was about Trip's age come to our house and go Trick or Treating with him in our neighborhood. What fun! When I took Liviu back home to his upstairs apartment, and he poured out all his candy on the table, the parents were wide-eyed.
After so many years, that is about all the memory I still have of that evening. But when October 31 comes, I wonder what became of them. I hope they have fond memories of their first Halloween in America and can tell the same story I just did.

Ginger Lily

"A highly prized perennial often grown in the Deep South."
When the rain let up, I went out to take a pic of the only blooming thing in my little yard.

while waiting

It is about 11:30 a.m., and I am on the big computer while the plumber is fixing a drippy sink pipe left from the lousy job the jackleg remodelers did back in March.


When I called this recommended plumbing company, I was immediately put off by the "We may be recording this call for quality purposes" recording and hung up. I had enough of that annoyance while working for a hospital! A little later I called back and a young woman answered. Everything she said was scripted. The hospital wanted us to respond in a scripted way too, but when you are talking to actual human beings, it sounds so cold and ridiculous. Beggars can't be choosers, so I made an appointment for this morning. Right on time, the nice plumber showed up. He has been willing to communicate, get on his knees in a tight space, and hopefully fix the problem. Now I hope it won't be too expensive.


It is another messy rainy day outside. The irises I planted behind the house a couple of weeks ago are sending up leaves! It is the first gardening I have done since being here. One of my new Wilmington friends, a wonderful artist, gave the bulbs to me when she divided hers and said they will be beautiful. I can't wait! I was missing gardening so much I considered being a volunteer weed puller at the Arboretum. Now...not so much.


When I moved here, I wondered if I would ever run into someone I knew and who remembered me when I was a child. No, I haven't. But once I met the daughter of neighbors/friends that I remember, even though I was only about six years old. She would have been a baby when we lived near each other, but still I was thrilled to have met her. And last week, I met two women who graduated from the only high school (for whites) back in 1962. I had briefly been in ninth grade here with people we both remember. In Margaret's building is a woman who went to high school with my mother. That is pretty cool.


The plumber is about finished. He was efficient and nice and gave me a few options and quotes. It looks like I won't have to pay as much as I anticipated. Thank goodness.

portrait of an autumn leaf

an Airlie morning

What a beautiful fall day! It iwas too pretty not to be outside, so I drove over to Airlie, one of many destinations in and around wonderful Wilmington. I discovered it is bigger than I thought by almost getting lost wandering in the spring and camellia gardens. By the creek, the swan couple was spending the morning grooming, washing themselves from the water, shaking their tail feathers, leaving nothing uncleaned. They were fun to watch.

Henry again

Didn't know which one I liked better.

pix from my afternoon walk

Maggie

Basking in the sunlight.

evening scene

How nice to be able to make a quick trip to the beach late in the day.

Oreo Henry

Such a cutie. At about eleven weeks, his eyes haven't fully changed color.
I told him this was just the first of many photo shoots.

pricey tomato

On the way to somewhere else yesterday, I spotted a truck parked beside a table of veggies covered by a white canopy. I had not had many good tomatoes over the summer so I pulled in. I looked over the tomatoes and selected just one irregular shaped heirloom figuring it would be nice and meaty inside. The worker weighed it, and I asked, "How much?"
She replied, "Five."
Five whats, I wondered. "Five . . . dollars?"
Her partner in the crime of highway robbery piped in, "Do you know how hard those are to grow?"
I had five dollars, and I thought of worse ways to spend it, so I paid for the pretty tomato.
I figure for that price, I should feature it on my blog.
It is quite delicious.

WB today

The beaches around here were hit pretty hard by the recent flooding, so I went to the south end the afternoon to check it out. The sky and sea were beautiful, but on the land/sand, you could tell there had been a storm. The lifeguard station was still KO'd. Erosion had hit the dunes, some sea oats were flattened, and a lot of the sand that had been added last year had washed out to sea. Still there were plenty of people there enjoying the day.

Rain, rain, more rain

So far my house is fine, but folks to the south and west are actually experiencing a flood and are being evacuated and rescued. I feel as if I need to do something to help, but I am going to hunker down at home as requested by the powers that be. At the time, the rain was not bad enough to stay home from church this morning, and since I have joined the choir, I have an extra reason to go. Choir people are good about showing up anyway because we love to sing! Especially for a greater good.

what the rain brought

Wilmington did not get the worst of the recent heavy rains, but we did get a lot. Today however is sunny and breezy, and the roads are dry and clear. After a trip to the studio, I thought I would check out Greenfield Lake across the street. Also I really needed just to get out and walk. I stopped to take a picture of how high the water had come. I squatted a bit to get a good angle, and then I saw an alligator moving right up through that little passage of water onto the land in front of me. Omigosh! I backed up, took a second to photograph him, and hightailed it outta there, stopping to tell a group of people under the picnic shed that an alligator was coming their way!