Rainy Day GoodWill

Black clouds in early morning make the coffee extra good as I sit on the little covered porch and watch the pouring rain, the blackbirds gathering in the chartreuse grass, the waterspouts gushing.  Perfect day to browse at the local thrift store. I have a special mission.

The kids are coming to the beach house for a week. Good gracious survival tactics needed.  Surviving in the bush among wild beasts was good preparation.  In the Serengeti the camp boys drew on my shirt, comical, delightful creatures dancing front and back.  Taking inspiration from Vivienne Westwood's Gold Label Collection of 2008 I will have the kids paint clothing.  Scouting Goodwill for light colored cotton shirts, skirt and pants, I buy at no more than $3 whatever offers a smooth surface.  It was a purple half price day and I was in luck, white oxford cloth boys shirts for the little guys, a khaki Safari shirt for the big guy, and for the girls a white linen blouse, a green dress, and a wide brim straw hat.  They will all will be covered in paint before long.

I buy fabric paint and face paint, brushes and plastic rolls. Prepare some African drum music to get the kids in the mood. Excitement builds as I imagine creative juices flowing through little fingers. Think I'll title the happening "The Enchantment".

Sam and Omie's

1937 charter fishing started on OBX. Sam had a little cafe on the beach to feed early morning fishermen and jaw in evenings about their big catch. 

Flip flops and tattoos   

Elizabethan gardens

Spanish Moss. Flame azaleas. Bubbling fountains. Gazebo by the bay. Perfume jasmine. Sighing wind in live oak trees. Birds. Birds. Birds. Stopping to capture what I can.

Boots. Hatteras hat. Sketchbook.

Gazebo. Sixteenth century replica. Reeds for thatched roof came from England.

Slowly lapping water bird twitter. A rush of wind in the magnolia trees.

Strolling at dusk in all white organdy and hat with veil. Around the bend mint Julips waiting in iced silver tumblers. A cello somewhere playing Mozart. Moss underfoot and fallen camellia blossoms

Cinnamon Fern.

Ancient live oak alive since1585 when colonists first arrived on Roanoke Island.

A white wedding I'll have under the oak with swaying Spanish moss and camellia blossoms under my feet