Lake Waccamaw, NC

Lake Waccamaw is situated about 37 miles north of Shallotte.  In college, while working toward my degree in marine biology, we took a field trip there for my ecology class, drawn by its unique properties.  I've always remembered that as a fun day, stopping in a long leaf pine forest along the way to see spittle bugs and Venus Flytraps, which are only found natively in the this area.  Later, as we neared Lake Waccamaw, small gators lazed by the side of the road, unperturbed by our bus as we trundled by.  I didn't wear a bathing suit that day, so couldn't go swimming, but I remember wading around near the dock, where we stopped to picnic and gather water samples - to study the unique neutrality of the water - and pestering the small snails littering the sandy bottom.  The water was warm, like bathwater, largely due to the shallowness of the entire lake, which is only 11 feet at its deepest.  It was a nice day.  My favorite kind of day, mucking about in water under a warm sun.


I've always wanted to return to Lake Waccamaw and, nearly twenty years later, I finally did recently with Brian and my aunt Kay.  Kay had recently visited the lake with my parental units and became enamored with the idea of a bike ride through its lovely neighborhoods.  Brian and I love to bike too and were equally eager to see Lake Waccamaw, so we loaded up our bikes and made the 45 minute trek with a stop along the way to enjoy an old-fashioned general store, complete with Red Rider wagons and washboards and tubs, alongside such modern amenities as Gorilla tape.  


I watched for gators as we neared the entrance to the Lake Waccamaw State Park, especially in areas where brown, swampish water ran alongside, but the mostly grassy roadside remained empty.  After checking out the visitor's center we wandered down one of the trails and had a picnic lunch near the water, surrounded by signs telling us all about the alligators found in the area.  But the alligators were AWOL.  Then we took a walk down another part of the trail.  Kay, who is taking a plant identification course at Brunswick Community College, stopped to examine plants along the way, peppering us with Latin names.  It was like being back in college, except I'm not the one that has to take the test this time.  After a while, Kay and I began to get bored, since the promised "sandy beaches" weren't appearing and we were mostly seeing the same stuff over and over again, including swarms of gnat type things that buzzed around our heads, then Brian stopped in front of us, peering intently at a pile of leaves at the base of a tree.  Turns out he wasn't staring at the leaves so much as this fella, hiding among the leaves:

He was very pretty and we speculated that it might be a type of rattlesnake but the head wasn't triangular.  Its tail was hidden in the leaves so there was no hint there.  It mostly sat stock still, clearly as nervous about us as we were about it - well, except for maybe Kay - until Brian got a little too close with a small branch and then, rather than getting aggressive, it slithered away around the tree, vibrating its rattleless tail against the leaves as it went.  While Brian and I admired him, photographed him, and speculated about his identification, Kay burned a path back up the trail.  After we caught up with her we returned to the visitor's center, where a friendly park ranger showed us some pictures and we identified our fetching little friend as a copperhead.


We decided we were done with the trails for the day and canvassed the nearby neighborhood for a place to park and ride our bikes.  The street follows the shoreline of the lake, which is a lovely ocean blue, so we spent a splendid while pedaling, about 10 miles, admiring the scenery. There was water on the other side of the street as well.  Green, murky looking water.  Water like an alligator might like.  We kept our eyes peeled once again for anything leathery and primeval, or big, black eyeballs peeping out of the emerald muck.  And, finally, our efforts were rewarded when we spied this fine specimen:

Seems like some Lake Waccamaw citizens don't want alligator-seeking visitors to be disappointed.


After we loaded the bikes back into the truck Brian drove us to the Lake Waccamaw Sailing Club where a pale moon hung over the water and small boats.  All in all, a lovely return to Lake Waccamaw.  It certainly didn't disappoint me after all this time.

The lovely Lake Waccamaw

My lovely Aunt Kay

The shell seekers

We've been spending a lot of time collecting shells lately.  Brian has an especially good eye and his OCD - I mean, his excellent attention to detail - means he scours every inch of every pile of shells finding the good ones.  We've been experimenting with making jewelry from them for the fun of it, a previously obsessive hobby I haven't had the energy to pursue in a long time, and add to our collection every time we go to the beach.  It's starting to get a little out of hand but we seem helpless to stop.

It was a beautiful North Carolina coastal day yesterday and, foiled in a task we were trying to finish, we decided to go to Holden Beach, which is only minutes from the trailer.  We had lunch at Castaways, which was much more deserted than its typical summer crowds, then went shell hunting.  I finally remembered to bring a bag this time, instead of us stuffing them, wet and sandy, into our pockets.  I walked proudly with my grocery bag until I glanced up from my "Sanibel stoop" once and realized that we were sharing the beach with apparent professionals.  We were constantly surrounded by folks carrying mesh bags and scoops, small rakes and, in the case of one couple, what looked like ski poles.  The use of the mesh bags and rakes was fairly self-evident.  The ski poles still have me a little perplexed.  Maybe they thought the dunes would be larger.

One shell seeker walked up to us, her eyes on the sand as she inquired, "Was that an olive you found?"  Perplexed, we asked her to repeat herself, certain we had misheard. She glanced up but continued to scour the beach around us, her mesh bag dangling from one hand.  "Did you find an olive?"  she said, in an authoritative tone.  We were still confused, since we were pretty sure we had never found any kind of olive on a beach.  Then she explained that one of the shells we were finding was called an olive shell.  Ohhhhhhhh.  Brian is especially good at spotting what we learned from this helpful shell seeker is called a Lettered Olive Shell.  They practically jump into his hands and some specimens are so pretty they look like something you might pay good money for in one of the souvenir beach shops.  

The Lettered Olives are a favorite but I think my absolute favorite are the shells of the Moon Snail because the colors are so gorgeous.  Rich browns and soft pinks and yellows swirl into a central point that has earned it the nickname of the "shark's eye" shell, according to our shell seekers.

We've also been collecting copper wire from the scraps left by the electrician working on the construction of my aunt's house next door.  Brian recently bought me a tool set at Harbor Freight that we've been playing with too.  So we're both spending a lot of time learning to bend copper wire into pretty designs, grinding shell pieces into interesting shapes, and drilling holes into the tough calcium carbonate of the shells.

Today a cold front is moving in, and the temperatures are dipping from our beloved 80's to the 70's, and the plan is to get some more work done on the boat.

Don't let the bedbugs bite

"It's in the bed!  It's in the bed!"

On September 30th I ended 9 years of working at the University of Virginia as a librarian and the next day I ended a decade of living in Charlottesville, VA, when we finally made our move to Shallotte, NC, to begin work on the boat in earnest.  Jimmy Buffett says "I'm just glad I don't live in a trailer," but we're quite satisfied living in an old trailer when it's only minutes from the boat and the beach.

We've been here nearly two weeks now and have been greeted by numerous Palmetto Bugs, which is one of the few things I haven't missed about living on the coast.  If you haven't had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with these insects just picture a roach about the size of a VW Beetle.  At first we just saw them skittering across the floor occasionally when we turned the lights on, but then one night I walked into the bedroom to find one staring defiantly at me from my nightstand.  A few nights later I discovered another one on my nightstand - this one floating in my drink.  So much for keeping a glass of juice by the bed for a middle of the night thirst.  Then, horror of all horrors, a night or two later I pulled back the covers to find one crawling across the bed.  "It's in the bed!  It's in the bed!" I shrieked at Brian, who was a good man and despatched it with haste.  The battle of the bugs continues as we search for a nice, poisonous hotel for them to occupy instead of our bed.

In the meantime, work on the boat has progressed slowly as we have settled into this new life and routine.  The weather teased us by being unseasonably cool when we first arrived but we have been treated to sunny days and temperatures in the 80's recently.  We finally made it to the beach and yesterday we spent several hours on the boat.  Brian repaired the hatch in the main berth, which had two broken hinges and one or two leaks.  We removed the old, crumbly foam mattress that we think may have been original to the boat and I started cleaning many years worth of grime from our berth.

The cleaning continues and also the planning for the electrical system and for our new (used) watermaker and autopilot, which Brian got super good deals on through Craigslist and eBay.

Photos to come soon.

Taking a stab at embroidery

I'm taking up a new craft and, so far, it is a fun fit.  I'm trying out embroidery and I started off with a gift for a couple that are good friends of ours, Laura and Rich.  Rich has a blog called Cthulhu's Library so I decided to embroider a bib with a Baby Cthulhu for them.  I think it turned out pretty good for my first attempt.  Just don't look at the back!

I think my craft skills will come in handy on the boat, especially in sail repair.  Speaking of which, we will have some "new" sails soon.  Brian has found some good deals on Ebay and we should have them in a few days.

In other boat news, we will be on our way back to Shallotte to see the boat and more family this afternoon.  I can't wait to hit the road and watch the sky broaden as we leave the enveloping landscape of mountainous Virginia and enter the flatter world of coastal Carolina.  I really hope to get in some beach time on this trip!

The domestication of Tina

I recently appropriated, with much glee, my mother's set of Kitchen Craft stainless steel cookware from 1963 and her 1969 Singer sewing machine.  Yet more evidence of my growing domesticity, all things being relative, of course.  For a woman whose idea of a home cooked meal has typically consisted of pasta, with my favorite Paul Newman vodka sauce, topped with a healthy mountain of powdered parmesan cheese, my recent adventures with the pressure cooker make me feel practically like Julia Child.  This newly discovered affinity for actually preparing meals of a sort has stemmed partially from my growth as a foodie, the need to prepare meals once we're living on the boat, and watching too much Food Network when I still had cable.  I can watch someone else make food all day long.  The realization that I might want to learn to cook came when I realized that, at the end of the show, Giada wasn't going to come to my house and make that yummy pork tenderloin with port reduction sauce for me.


Though I never had much of a desire to cook it's a little more surprising that it has taken this long for the sewing bug to catch hold of me.  I'm a crafter at heart, thanks to the genes of my paternal grandmother, who always had something homemade to give me when I visited, so sewing seems like a natural fit.  But I didn't take Home Ec (Cooking and sewing?  Puhleeze) in high school and hadn't really given much thought to what I might be able to do with a sewing machine until I met my friend, Kathy, who is a sewing whiz.  She has made her own curtains that wouldn't be out of place in a Pottery Barn catalog.  If I didn't like her so much I'd have to hate her.  Plus having the boat has really stoked a fire in me to learn to sew and she is going to teach me how.  I want to make window coverings and new cushions and who knows what else.  Ideas are flitting around my head like fast little moths.  They're very hard to catch.

But what I really wanted to write about tonight is the delectable, kitschy booklet goodness that came with the stainless steel cookware and the sewing machine.  Gosh, I love the 60's.  And my mother for being so organized that she still had all of the paperwork to go with these things.  Check it out.

"What's new for tomorrow is at SINGER today!"

And on the back we have the "exciting" portable stereo (play your records on the beach!), the portable typewriter, the portable TV (I bet all the cruisers had these in the 60's - looks like it could even double as an anchor), and the portable phonograph (I didn't even realize they still made those in the 60's.  Where's the big tuba piece?)

And then there is the cookware.  I am so thrilled to finally have cookware that will allow me to prepare a gourmet meal in my evening gown.  And thanks mom for your labeling skills that let me know this is a booklet for the cookware and not a guide to being a Vanna White trainee.

This cookware is going to be such a help when I am having a party and preparing for the beau monde (aka the hoity toities) such delicacies as prune whip...

prune custard pie....

And, of course, the always delightful cabbage, pineapple and marshmallow salad.

All kidding aside, all of this begs the question, what were you people trying to do to each other in the 60's?  The only reason I can imagine preparing any of these delicacies for a soiree is if I really, really, deeply detested everybody that was going to attend.  Or if I wanted to help them maintain regularity.


It also makes me wonder what we will be making fun of 40 years from now.  How are those cool iPod commercials going to look to the youth of 2050?

Of family and boats

I think we all have a vision of what our most perfect day would be.  My vision usually involves some combination of my family, a beautiful summer day, the ocean (or some other salty body of water), and some form of watery entertainment.  It is frequently snorkeling, often kayaking, and now , of course, it is often sailing.


Last weekend very nearly matched my idea of the perfect day.  My grandmother, who originally bought the land in Shallotte, even came down for a four-day weekend.  I haven't seen her so happy in ages.  I never realized that she just might love it down there as much as I do.  She told us how she and my grandfather used to tour the waters of the Shallotte River in a little gator boat and how much she loved it.  We weren't able to take her out in our boat but she did get the grand tour of Kozmik and got to enjoy some evening breezes on our last day at Greg and Susan's at the Shallotte River Inlet.

Three generations.

Granny Peg at the helm.

On Saturday we got to do a little sailing on our friend Lola's Freedom 30, Suvarov.  The Myrtle Beach Yacht Club, where she has a slip, was hosting a "race" that day.  We came in dead last.  But it was a beautiful day on the water with some great people so we were fairly unconcerned by that.  Although Lola, who was a bit nervous about racing in the beginning, is now thirsting for a winning victory.  I think it brought out the competitor in her once she saw it wasn't going to be like the America's Cup.  And I finally got to see some of the stuff I've been reading about for so long put into action!  Points of sail, luffing, uncontrolled jib, jib sheet, mainsheet, telltales...it all makes a little more sense now.  I'm learning bit by bit and even got to steer a little.

At the helm of Suvarov.

A fellow racer.

Happy to be on the water.

Sailing 101.

We also had to move Kozmik Kaos to a new location on this trip and, as luck would have it, Lola found us the perfect spot further up the Shallotte River.  It's at a crane and welding place that used to be a boatyard and it's owned by some really nice people.  My mother's name is Jean Smith.  The owner's name is Gene Smith.  When I introduced them he said, "When people see us they always think of cleanliness.  They say, 'Hi, Gene!'"  He's not only funny but also pretty brilliant and an inventor.  He invented a medical apparatus to help people that take care of bedridden patients.  You sure do get to meet some cool people when you have a boat.  Gene the inventor met us Sunday morning to guide us up the river and we had a really beautiful and peaceful trip upriver to her new home.  She is now made fast to a non-floating dock.  On one side is the welding place and on the other is the beautiful Shallotte River, a winding ribbon of water and grass that is full of life.

Kozmik Kaos wending her way up the Shallotte River.

My aunt Kay, who has just retired to Shallotte after many years working overseas in various countries, just bought an inflatable kayak.  I don't think I've mentioned my kayaking affliction here.  I haven't gotten to do nearly as much of it as I'd like but I LOVE to kayak.  My favorite two places I've kayaked are Big Pine Key, in the Florida Keys, and the Intracoastal Waterway at Wrightsville Beach, NC.  I have been nagging Brian about how much I want a kayak to carry on the boat and we are on the hunt for a nice inflatable for ourselves.  We find ourselves drawn to the Hanauma two-person kayak.  Those see-through windows would be fantastic in the tropics!  I could hardly contain my excitement when Kay told me she had ordered a kayak.  After it arrived we took it out to the public launching place near downtown Shallotte.  Kay, Brian and I took turns paddling around in it.  Brian, who had never been in a kayak before and was a tad nervous, took to it like a pro.  Kay then paddled from the launching area down to our new dock where my grandmother waited so nervously you would have thought we were on the Congo.


The next day we all had a little coffee and breakfast on Kozmik and Kay, Brian and I did a little more paddling in the river.  I inspected the bottom of the boat, which is threatening to grow into a full-fledged reef.  We have to do some scraping pronto or we'll be finding Nemo in places we don't want to see him.



Tina kayaking on the Shallotte River.



A slightly more relaxed version of kayaking.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

For his recent birthday, Brian decided to shed a few pounds of hair.  After 4 years of growth, and an average of 22 inches of hair, he has started all over again.  Before I went all Delilah on him I made him pose for some pictures displaying his hair in all its copious 80's hair band glory.

Now he's sporting more of an alternative, Billy Corgan look.  I think he pulls it off well but I also happen to like bald guys.

He's donating the bounty of his hair to a very worthy cause, Wigs for Kids, which makes wigs for children that have lost their hair from health conditions, medical treatments and burn accidents.  We had a plethora of ponytails to send them when all the snipping was finally done and I can say some lucky kids are going to get some very pretty waves and curls soon.  

Hopefully they will split it between several children because it's an awful lot of hair for one person.  A small child could be a little overwhelmed by it all and might end up resembling a familiar (to some of us of a certain age) TV character.

Not exactly a confidence-instilling look!

Back to the boat

We had a quick visit with our boat in Shallotte last weekend.  The weather was beautiful on Friday afternoon and I even managed to bake myself in the sunny cockpit in between projects that day.  But mostly we worked.  And worked.  And worked some more.

Brian went through the entire existing electrical system.  Most of it was corroded and he stripped those bits out.  He verified what he'd already suspected:  he'll have to start almost completely from scratch with our electrical system.  That's probably why he looks so overjoyed in this picture.

We also decided to go ahead and strip off the horrible carpeting that was serving as the headliner.  The glue doesn't look great but I still think I prefer it to the pale blue carpet.  Now we just have to decide what we're going to permanently replace the carpeting with.  Teak is one option we're considering.  (Thanks for the suggestion Jim!)

I also finally got around to making some temporary window coverings.  The existing curtains were, well, not exactly attractive and were also falling apart.  The little hooks they attached to were old and breaking.  So I took some Ikea window panels, made out of natural fibers of some sort, that I was no longer using in the house, cut them to size, and velcroed them to the little railings that the curtains had been attached to.  I started out sewing them together and making nice, neat edges.  Then Cap'n told me he'd like to have them all done by the end of the weekend and I realized there was no time for perfection.  So the edges are a little raw, and the fit isn't exactly perfect in places, but it works as a temporary measure.  It was pretty hard work trying to get it all done so fast - and in the company of some horrific, bloodsucking sandflies that took over the boat on Saturday - but I had a great time doing one of my favorite things - creating useful stuff by hand.

I didn't get any photos of the finished product so that will have to wait for our next trip to the boat.

We also removed this old mirror in the head and will replace it with an actual medicine cabinet of some sort.

It wasn't ALL work and no play though.  We had a chance to visit with our friend Lola, whom we met on SeaKnots and connected with on our last trip to Shallotte, and also with Jim (Cut) and his wife Debbie who both have a lot of sailing experience.  Brian and I and Lola have boats, but little experience.  Jim and Debbie have lots of experience but no boat.  Funny how life works sometimes ain't it?  We had dinner at the lively Inlet View Restaurant and formed the Shallotte Sailing Club.  Here is the Board of Directors:

From left to right: Debbie, Lola, Jim (Cut), Brian, Tina (Thanks to Lola for the photo!)

We got a very late start the next day but got to visit with Jim on our boat a little while before heading back to the hills of Virginia Sunday evening.  He brought a Sailmonster burgee to fly on Kozmik Kaos and we managed to get a picture with the emblem showing in spite of the, shall we say, gregarious winds that day.

(Thanks go out to Jim for the photo!)

I can't remember if I've told the story here yet but we've been lucky enough to dock our boat at the home of some truly wonderful folks, Greg and Susan, that live on the Shallotte River Inlet.  We were hoping to be headed for warmer, more southern parts by now but, alas, we are still in Virginia.  Greg understandably wants to be able to use his dock for his own boat now that fishing season is upon them so we will be looking for a new home for Kozmik this month.

Learning to love pressure

Cooking that is!


In all of my reading I have discovered that many cruisers use a pressure cooker to make easy meals that save on propane and water.  I'm not much of a cook, and I've always been afraid of grills and basically anything that combines cooking and gas or anything potentially explosive, so I wasn't exactly in love with the idea of a pressure cooker at first, despite the many reassurances I read about the safety of the new cookers.


Then I mentioned to my mom that it sounded like I needed a pressure cooker and, wouldn't you know it, she had just found one on sale and had bought it but hadn't used it a bit.  It was sitting in its box in the basement.  Soon I was the proud, but slightly wary, owner of a T-Fal pressure cooker.  Now I just had to learn to use the thing.  It sat neglected on the kitchen counter for some time while I read and researched but I couldn't quite get up the nerve to try it.  Finally, last weekend, Brian the Fearless declared that we should make dinner in the pressure cooker.  So I looked up an easy recipe for pork chops and we went to the store to get the accompanying carrots and potatoes in the recipe.  That evening we had possibly the best pork chops and carrots I have ever tasted in my life.  And the pressure cooker didn't explode or do anything dangerous or heinous!  We survived to have a really delicious meal.  We could cut the pork chops with a fork.  Yes, a fork!  And the carrots...mmmm...the carrots were the epitome of carrotness.  Sweet and tender.  We were officially hooked on the pressure cooker and have since made pinto beans and scallops in it as well, both of which were quick, easy, and to-die-for.  If the pressure cooker had fingers we'd both be ready to put a gold band on one of them by now.


While we're talking food and cooking, let me tell you about my new all-time most favorite cookbook, The Cruising K.I.S.S Cookbook II.  I got it at the Annapolis Boat Show - signed by the author!  It's meant specifically for cruisers but has loads of great information for any new cook.  She has recipes, galley equipment recommendations, cooking terms, conversions, provisioning recommendations, useful tips and SO MUCH MORE!  It's unbelievable what she crammed into such a compact tome.  One of the things I especially love is how she not only provides specific recipes but will also tell you how to cook something basic but then tell you different ways to flavor it or prepare it.  I wish I had discovered this book years ago!  It even has a section for pressure cooking.  We may never cook another way again.

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55...

A colleague of mine shared the video below with us today and I just had to share it as well.  As much as math has plagued me my entire life I do appreciate the fact that, really, math is at the core of just about everything in our universe.  Take a look at a field or meadow sometime.  Perhaps it may seem chaotic, especially to our human eyes that want to seek order and symmetry, but look closer at the flowers, pine cones, and leaves that you may find there and you will find order out of seeming chaos.  The development of many things in nature are ruled by what is known as the Fibonacci sequence, a sequence of numbers that manifests itself in a beautiful symmetry all around us.  Our earth is a way cool place.  You just have to take the time to learn a little about it to truly understand just how amazing it is.

Back to Kozmik Kaos

I'm baaaack!  After going into mental hibernation for the past few months my brain and body are finally starting to wake up after their long winter nap.  This winter piled us under a whopping total of 55" for the year.  The first 21" in December was kind of cool and pretty.  I had never seen that much snow before.  By February, when we were getting storm after storm - and dire predictions of 40" - I was past being winter-weary and nearing crazed desperation.  Even Kozmik Kaos had a dusting of snow this winter!

 The bad weather seems to have finally broken and this past weekend we made a run for Shallotte to see our boat for the first time since November.  The weather was very March-y and I had a cold but it was so good to see Kozmik Kaos again that we didn't even care.

We spent some time taking measurements for new sails, a new mattress, and new cushions for the salon.  We also gave her a good cleaning.  My aunt Kay scrubbed her down with a verve that I'm afraid I'll never live up to.  There is a great deal of rubbish and stuff crowding every inch of the boat still.  Fred Sanford would feel right at home.  I think it must have taken the entirety of her 33 years to accumulate all of the parts, tools, supplies, and general junk we have been trying to clear out.  But my "side" of the boat, the galley and main berth side, is finally starting to feel like ours and once I get some window coverings and a new mattress she will feel even more like home I think.

We also made a new friend during this trip.  Lola, also a sailing newbie, and I discovered each other on SeaKnots and she only lives about 3 miles from where our boat is currently docked.  So we got together to check out each others' boats and have a bit of seafood for lunch.  

Family, friends, and boats make for a pretty sweet weekend.  The only thing missing was some sweltering hot weather.  I'm hopeful we'll have that soon though.