We purchased this house at Nags Head on the Outer Banks of North Carolina several years ago.  Nags Head had been a traditional family vacation spot, and I had always wanted a place here.  Concerned about storms so close to the ocean, we had not wanted to live right on the Beach Road as we do, but rather nearby across on the mainland in Currituck.  When we saw it however, this little place seemed so attractive and with such great potential--in an excellent location, zoned right for a studio/gallery--yes, in need of some TLC, but very reasonably priced. 
    So here we are right across the street from the ocean.  And though we have had several hurricanes we have fortunately had no flood damage and there are no trees to blow down and destroy our roof as has happened to many as far west as Raleigh.

    In fact, however, the place needed considerably more than a little TLC when we moved in that first autumn.  Built early in the 1950's as a strictly minimal summer cottage, most of the windows were rotted out, the roof needed to be replaced, the chain-link fence enclosing the back yard had rusted out, and the heat pump died with a frost-bitten shudder just after Christmas.  We hastily installed a gas heater as the first in a long series of steps in the slow process of transforming the house and yard into the comfortable and inviting place it has become.  And we can walk just across the street to the ocean--even in winter, many days, it is not too cold to do so.
    At this point in time, (February, 2004) most of the major work is done.  The living-dining area, the kitchen, the bathroom, both front and back entry-ways, and the front bedroom have been remodeled and redecorated, leaving only the middle and back bedrooms to be completed. For much of the time since moving in, however, we have lived in the midst of a construction site, with workmen walking through our living space days and evenings, often unpredictably, with our belongings in such a jumble we can never find anything, and with the dust and grime of construction invading every plate, cup, and saucer. 
    To my family, who will inherit this fair corner of paradise, we say, ...