Slow down, speed up

It is a long drive down to North Carolina. By the time we arrived it was nearly dark. The winter light passing so quickly you can almost miss it!

We've come to the Cape of Hatteras along the long shoals and barrier islands of the Outer Banks. It is a place my family has always come, even before I was born. It is always nice to come back, like returning home. Home, has changed though. The quite fishing villages, long strips of empty highway adrift in blowing sand, salt marshes, and back bays have become endangered by development.

It is a good thing much of the barrier islands are protected as National Seashore and Wildlife Refuge, since almost every bit of private land has been devoted to McMansion condominiums and vacation houses. Loved to death. Here by the old lighthouse off the Cape it is not too bad though, and things haven?t changed much.

My grandmother has rented a huge McMansion herself to accomodate our enormous family for Thanksgiving. All 25 or so of us. It is a very special moment for her and one of the only times to get the family together like this again. It is meant to be a vacation, a rest, a slowing down but with all of the rowdy characters in my family this vacation is about to speed up! Still, in this giant three story house with every conceivable convenience, I like the simple vistas over the salt marshes best.