I truly don’t know what happened to today. I got up early with great plans, but one thing led to another and the day disappeared with only two pages in the can. I accomplished non-writing things, but that wasn’t part of the pledge, was it? And tomorrow we leave, so I doubt I’ll get much done before we take off, but I’ll try. Clearly, I need not only a pledge but a full-fledged New Year’s Resolution.

So what did I do today? Well, our new little beach condo needs some serious sprucing up, so my friend, interior designer Elizabeth Samuels, came over with a carpenter/electrician/knows how to do everything sort of  fellow who took measurements and will come up with an estimate for the work. Liz brought her pup Sam over, so the dogs needed to play together on the beach. Then I had to enjoy the view from the deck for a while and before I knew it, it was time to meet friends for dinner.

On my first research trip to Topsail Island a couple of years ago, I had an appointment to meet with Ken Bogan, the Surf City fire marshall (I think that was his title) to help me figure out details of the arson fire in Before the Storm. Ken turned out to be a real gold mine, and he and his wife Angie spent hours with me so that I could pick their brains on all things Fire. We became friends–they are delightful people–and tonight we met them for dinner. We had a great time.

 Once we left Ken and Angie, we went to visit our friends Glen and Sterling. Those of you who have been reading the blog for a long time may recognize Glen’s name, since he’s a frequent commenter. We quickly became friends and he and Sterling have been so supportive of me and myTopsail Island writing. You can see above that Glen gets into decorating for Christmas! I wish I’d had a video camera with me, because this light show is timed to music! 

It was a great day, filled with wonderful people and a lot of fun, but not much work. We’ll be home some time tomorrow and then I’ll have a serious discussion with you–and myself–about resolutions.