Living on Topsail Time

Wow. From the title, this had better be a great post. Today on Topsail Island, our neighborhood of Sunset Harbor had a community work day. I will be completely candid and tell you that my wife, Kathy did not participate in this project. Bugs, perspiration, hauling tree limbs and pulling stumps out of the ground just isn't her idea of fun. We had a great turn out otherwise, most of the homeowners and some of the temporary residents pitched in as well. It was a wonderful opportunity to connect and talk. This is a small neighborhood of only 12 homes. We look out after one another. No land available for sale and no view that we currently have can be compromised. We have serene views of the sound and Intracoastal, although we would have to build an 100 foot pier across the marsh if we wanted to access the water. Sunset Harbor is full of the beautiful old live oaks that make this little part of Surf City dramatically different. All in all, a great place to call home.

First Fay, now Gustav. We are old hands at this storm business after spending so many years on Topsail Island. My wife is fond of saying, "you pay your money and you take your chances, especially if you want to live this close to the ocean." The trade off is the unbelievable sounds of the waves crashing on the beach just a few streets over and the views from our sound side home of the Intracoastal. Lots of marsh between us and the water but the sunsets, especially in the winter are magnificent. Most folks think of the beach as a summertime place to go but candidly, the fall and winter are the absolute best seasons to be here. The crowds are gone and the beach walks are mostly just us and our dogs. Yep, I am glad to see the fall arrive. Now, if we can just keep it a secret for a while longer...

Always good, no matter what your line of work may be, to have a day or so where you are not totally immersed in the business of "doing business." Wednesdays are that day for us, although we work every day, even if it is just catching up on email or making a few calls. The weeks since StarPower, we have been busy putting our new systems into place, working on our goals and trying to become better agents and a better team. We are looking forward to the Labor Day visitors to our island and the fall season.

Wow! We know that Florida is experiencing heavy rains as a result of the tropical storm but it is absolutely gorgeous here on the island today. Low humidity and light winds. Spent some time at the local farmer's market this morning and picked up some of the season's first scuppernong grapes. While we are not big fans of the wine made from those grapes (just up the road in Duplin county) the grapes are just wonderful. Reminds both Kat and me of our childhoods, when the grape arbor in the back yard was a perfect shady place to hide out on a summers afternoon. The added bonus was all those grapes, as long as you could fight off those vicious yellow jackets and wasps to get to them. Visit your nearby farmers market and see if they have a few containers of scuppernong grapes, find yourself a shady place to sit and experience a little bit of heaven!

Topsail Island is a barrier island just off the coast of North Carolina. The ocean waters here are an unbelievable blue, shocking when you consider that this particular blue is normally seen in the Caribbean waters or in the Keys. It always surprises friends when they view photographs from the beach. "Where is this?" "When did you travel to Key West?" The fact that these waters and the wide beaches of soft Carolina sand are only two hours or so from Raleigh, seven hours from the mountains of North Carolina and within six hours of Washington, D.C. and the same from Atlanta. (Well, give or take an hour or so). Easy driving distance, get here in a day and spend long lazy days on the beautiful Topsail Island beaches.

Come and enjoy!

We traveled to Orlando by car for the Star Power conference, and arrived on Monday evening, which allowed us a full day on Tuesday to rest, relax and plan. All of our team members were staying in the same hotel, just moments from the site of the event. We decided to make a trip over to Epcot and spend the day (all except for Judy Carlton, who had not yet arrived). Kathy and I had not visited Epcot in quite a few years and we were looking forward to seeing new exhibits but were disappointed. Pretty much the same. We did visit the aquarium and took a few shots of one of my favorite sea creatures, the sea horse. There were some other extremely interesting fish, as you can see.

Just before we went into Epcot, Linda Blackburn's step daughter, Ashley, took a photo of us. Note the sign "Year of a Million Dreams", appropriate, don't you think? That's Bob Ramsey, his wife Kathleen, Linda, me and my wife and business partner, Kathy.

We had a great time in Florida, always do. Glad to be back home on Topsail Island! 'Course, it's great to be a real estate professional in North Carolina!