It seems like I hardly have time to record what is happening these days.

I knew I was in trouble when I started seeing the signs for the area’s famous Bogue Sound Watermelons.

We have been enjoying tomatoes since June 1 and local corn since the first part of July, but watermelons are a sign that cannot be ignored.

When the watermelons come in, you know that the end of summer cannot be far away.

I wrote some Canadian friends and told them we were just sitting around waiting for the sweet potatoes to come in and the snow to start flying. I was trying to make them feel better since they have been fogged in for several days.

Obviously we will be waiting a long time for the snow to start flying. I have not seen any in my two years here.

Unfortunately I haven’t had time to be sitting around either.

I think part of my problem is that I am not as young as I used to be and that I am getting more physical exercise which means I have to call it quits usually by 11:30 pm.

There was a time when I could write until one in the morning and get up at six with no real problems.

Maybe living at the beach has made me appreciate sleep more and consequently need more sleep to function properly.

Today with the morning devoted to mowing and triming our yard, I barely had time to finish my real estate work in the afternoon. By the time I helped cook and clean up dinner, there isn’t a lot of time left for writing tonight.

In the mornings I have taken to riding my bike whenever the humidity isn’t oppressive. That takes up another half an hour.

All in all I am sorry that I’m not posting as much as I did last summer, but at least I have taken the time to stop and taste those Bogue Sound Watermellons.

Tonight’s seedless edition was delicious and nearly perfect.

Tags: Local produce

Summer is slipping by us very quickly.

It seems like June 1 was just the other day. Now July 4 is on the horizon.

So far it has been a great summer with only a week of really hot, humid temperatures. I ended up swimming in the ocean four times that week.

Ocean water is the best cure for heat in my book.

It must be true that time acclerates as you get older. I try to seize every day, but getting up very early and working hard sometimes requires a catch-up nap.

On Sunday afternoon after church and a quick lunch, I had to pull four hours of duty at our Cape Carteret real estate office. When I got home a little after five pm, it was the end to a very busy week.

This past week, I went fishing twice when we were on the water at close to 6 am.

One day we fished until 11:30 am when I stepped off the skiff while the lift was still rising.

I ran in, showered, shaved, changed, and gathered all my real estate stuff together, and met the family for lunch at Fairway at 12:10 pm.

They had already ordered my food. There nothing like knowing the specials menu by heart to get speedy service.

I finished eating by 12:40 pm and drove to the office where my clients pulled up just as I was getting out of the truck at 12:45 pm. They were fifteen minutes early. I felt lucky to have managed to get there when I did.

About an hour and one half later I was waiting for an offer to be picked up.

That night after a Chamber of Commerce reception I got a call from the seller’s agent. The sellers had countered with their bottomline. I called my buyers, and they accepted.

It was a nice change to find buyers and sellers on the same wavelength.

After all that we came home, and I cleaned the fish we had caught the previous morning.

Of course by then it was after ten pm, and a little late to start scrubbing the boat.

Saturday morning I managed to clean the worst of the dirt off our skiff before our much needed rains came. I even got the the tomatoes gathered.

Saturday afternoon the long week caught up with me. The after lunch nap of ten minutes turned into a snooze of two hours. I was dead to the world.

In the evening I managed to crank out an update to CoastalNC.org, a slide show of our trip down Hammocks Beach and one of our trip out the White Oak to Bogue Inlet one morning when there weren’t even any ripples.

By the time I got to the third slide show, one of the Arts Festival in Swansboro, I didn’t have the energy to do captions.

By the time you throw in some biking, swimming, kayaking, and beach walking, it is no wonder I sleep well at night.

Perhaps I should check those two posts, Technology cannot replace common sense and The great coastal tomato crop, that I wrote Saturday and Sunday, I am pretty sure I still have keyboard imprints on my face.

I have been patiently waiting for the season to come.

The last couple of weeks have finally brought some shrimp relief.

The shrimping boats are bringing in local shrimp and other assorted delicious seafood.

Today we actually saw one on our walk down the beach at Emerald Isle.

We have enjoyed a couple batches of fresh local shrimp recently. We did one our normal way of creating perfect shrimp, and I grilled one batch.

Both were excellent and confirmed my belief that there are no better shrimp than the ones that come from NC.

The weather is approaching perfection. We just need for the winds to drop a little more and everything will be right with the world.

I finally got time to stick my GPS back on the boat so today we headed down the White Oak and went out Bogue Inlet to the Point. It was good to be back out in the water.

I posted a set of slides of the trip from Swansboro up the ICW and out Bogue Inlet.

I will do a more exhaustive job of taking pictures the next time. I was busy piloting the skiff today

You have to watch where you are going with boats getting stuck near the ICW.

Tags: Seafood

This morning was one of those days that begs for you to get on the water. I had a few things which had to be done, and a lot more which needed some of my time.

I thought carefully about all the options and then I decided to go kayaking.

I once read something that helped me immensely with my decision making. It said to always choose that activity which you will find easiest to remember in ten years.

Would I remember spraying weeds or writing a post on a blog that might even be gone in ten years? The answer is no.

However, I will remember this warm, blue sky day when the winds softly carried me out Bluewater Cove towards the White Oak. I will also remember catching a nice flounder for lunch and just getting back in time to clean the flounder as the first raindrops from the afternoon storms started falling.

I made some memories today. For that I am thankful.

We made more great memories this past weekend when we visited Tryon Palace with our oldest daughter. We had a magical time, and I have posted pictures of the outside of the palace, the flowers, and the magnificent vegetable gardens.

It is well worth a visit.

Tags: fishing

We took a trip down to Myrtle Beach earlier in the week.

The trip just reaffirmed what I already knew. Carteret County (and Swansboro) is a much better spot for me.

I do not need all the night life, shopping, and multiple six lane highways.

It does not take long to realize that while the beach is still nice in Myrtle Beach, getting to it and enjoying it become challenges.

For a few years we lived in Columbia, Md. almost exactly half way between Baltimore and Washington. Obviously there was no shortage of wonderful things to do, as long as you did not mind sitting in traffic or fighting for a parking spot.

We ended up organizing our lives around the rhythm of the traffic. Whatever was happening in the natural world had to be shoehorned into traffic patterns.

That ends up being backwards. It reminds me of many of the trips that I took on business to California. I would often have some free time between meetings in Cupertino which was not far from Santa Cruz and even Monterey.

I rarely chose to go down there, because the traffic was so bad.

I guess my trip to Myrtle made me feel good about living in an area where I do not have to wait for a bad day to clear the roads before I can visit the beach.

When the weather is cool and damp as it is this weekend, we relax by the fire with the knowledge that the next great day, we will head over to the beach or find some time to walk the trails of Croatan National Forest.

According to my calculations it took at least three walks on the Croatan Tideland trails before I cleansed my memory of all those beach high rise buildings.

Tags: travel

Grouper is one our area's favorite fishes.

Certain there is nothing wrong with the occasional meal of fresh pan-fried flounder.

Of course when you can get them a tasty Spanish Mackerel, or some local Trout hit the spot.

However, our own local Grouper remains my favorite area fish.

The advantage of Grouper is that it is widely available in our area and likely to be fresh. I have enjoyed it at other restaurants in the area, but I am pleased to report that I have found the spot for the best Grouper Sandwich.

These days I am trying to make conscious choices which result in a diet of healthier food. With that in mind I was excited to find a grilled Grouper Burger on the menu at Ballyhoos.

I have now had Ballyhoos Grouper Burger at least four times. It has been consistently good so I can highly recommend it.

It has become my meal of choice when I am looking for good fish. It is well seasoned and sometimes is even a little spicy which I love. It is also only $8 and is a healthy portion of Grouper.

The folks at Ballyhoos are flexible enough to let me get some steamed veggies instead fries so the meal turns out to be delicious and good for me. I even had a nice Red Stripe beer with it tonight just so I could get the full health benefit.

My wife has decided that the Chicken Quesadilla is her favorite dinner at Ballyhoos. She got hers with a Spinach Tortilla tonight. Based on the taste that I got, its also a delicious meal.

The food always tastes better with good service. I can say the service at Ballyhoos is always professional, and it is a smoke-free environment.

It is a great place for a meal.

This weekend marked the beginning of the beach season if festivals are any indication.

We attended the Emerald Isle Saint Patrick's Day festival on Saturday.

Later in the day, after a short wait in line, we enjoyed the Swansboro Oyster Roast.

The weather could not have been more perfect.

I actually think that I could have worn shorts instead of blue jeans.

We had a great barbecue sandwich at Emerald Isle, but we were careful not to overeat since all you can eat Oysters don't come around every day.

Shorts would have been a good uniform for the Swansboro festival.

There was quite a crowd there, especially around the Oyster tables.

Also it is hard work eating your way through those piles of steamed Oysters.

There was definitely something for everyone on Saturday.

I can highly recommend the festivals which seem to always be the same weekend.

If you are smart, you will circle the weekend on your 2009 calendar.

What could be better than few dozen steamed Oysters or fantastic barbecue?

As long as you are not afraid to use an Oyster knife, and you have a good glove to protect one hand, this is great sport.

I find a towel helpful to keep my knife clean, and a beer to quench my thirst the only other ingredients needed.

If you love Oysters, you will go away happy and full from the Swansboro festival.

It was a great Saturday, I cannot wait until the next festivals along the Crystal Coast.

I am happy to see the season moving towards summer. Now if the weather will just warm back up to what it was Saturday.

Tags: Events