From the Daisy Patch

It’s a whopping 61 degrees here and overcast — feeling more like early May then mid-July.  I’ve dropped the kids of at their respective camps, and am working for a bit at a coffee shop before heading out in a bit to get Alice again.  The couple to my left seems to be a guy who is leaving his wife for the woman he is sitting with and they are scheming on how to get his kids.  Nice.  Maybe that would a conversation better reserved for a more private location or perhaps, they should be at least speaking in lowered voices!  To my right is an older gentleman.  He is sipping his coffee without the benefit of any reading material or a companion.  I often wonder what the background story is:  does he just enjoy sitting, contemplating and getting out for a cup of coffee?  Has he lost his wife and has gone to a coffeeshop in hopes that someone might strike up a conversation with him to relieve his loneliness if just for a moment?   In front of me is an elderly couple.  They are getting up to leave and the wife helped her frail husband on with his coat.  A  simple act but one suffused with devotion.  Little pieces of life in a coffeeshop…

We had a great vacation in North Carolina.  Each time we go it leaves us wondering why we live so far away from family — especially when the weather there was the most pleasant we’ve ever encountered (low to mid 80s).  And fortunately, there were no horror stories while traveling — just a long, long trip. 

The kids loved being with their cousins.  Here they are with Scott’s brother’s little boy Nathan.

After a couple days at their house we headed over to my parents’ beach  house.  We got to see my baby brother for a day before he headed back to Atlanta.  Pat just opened a new restaurant, Verde, and needed to get back to it.  Can’t wait to check it out on my way to CHA!  My sister was at the beach a few days longer with her kids, and my other brother left after us.  Here are all the cousins with a friend of my niece’s.  They all love being together — really wish it happened more frequently.

Then we tried for photos with just Mike’s kids:

And then decided maybe we just needed the older ones… (Alice and Morgan were as thick as thieves this time around.)

The kids loved playing in the surf

Other than hanging out on the beach and reading (and a little scrapbooking for me!), we did very little this time around.  Usually we hit the antique stores and all go out to dinner.  It was nice to just relax and enjoy family.  We did however indulge on a near daily basis in takeout from Big Oak Drive In and Bar-B-Q.  Ever since they were written up in Southern Living the place is always packed!  We love the shrimp burgers and the east carolina barbeque.  If you’ve never had either, I highly recommend them — although your arteries might not be loving you afterwards.  Here is a recipe for eastern carolina barbeque (it differs from regular barbeque in that it is a clear vinegar based sauce rather than a tomato based sauce and is made from the whole pig and not just the dark shoulder meat).  This is just a recipe for a the sauce.  You would first need to cook a pork butt, unless you have access to a whole hog (we were invited next door for a 4th of July BBQ where they did just that!).  After all of the photo prompt  Ronda did of food, I’m annoyed with myself that I didn’t think to take a photo!

And here’s how one newspaper describe Big Oak’s shrimp burgers:

“Even the most refined palate needs one good dose of fried seafood at the beach. If you pass through the hamlet of Salter Path, pull your car over to the tiny Big Oak Drive-In, stand at the window and order a really good shrimpburger with fried shrimp, slaw and ketchup, an order of crunchy onion rings and a vanilla shake. After all, this is a trip to the beach.”

Winston-Salem Journal
Winston-Salem, NC

Hope you had a lovely Monday and I will try to be a much better blogger this week!