Whistler's Mother's Day

Yesterday was most assuredly a “family” day.  Fred and I met with my daughter, Cyndi and her husband Bill and the four of us drove two hours southeast to Wilmington, NC.  If you were to travel east across the country on I-40, it ends at Wilmington which is right on the Atlantic shore.  

Wilmington is a charming little city, full of history and southern ambiance.  Certainly a writer’s and artist’s haven.  I wouldn’t say it was in the Deep South, but you could sure see it from there when you looked through the moss-covered trees.  

The city was established in 1733, first called New Carthage, then New Liverpool, then New Town, and finally Wilmington after Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington.  It is a subtropical climate with Cape Fear River slicing right through the middle.  Parts of Iron Man III were filmed at Wilmington.  There, so much for the encyclopedia version.  Now for the human version.

We took a guided trolley tour around the city’s historic district, and learned that a house with a red historic marker meant that the house was at least 75 years old.  A black marker meant it was at least 100 years old.  Almost every house had a marker of one color or another.  It would take a week just to walk around and check out every historic marker in the town.  But, here’s the one that fascinated me the most--a street marker showing the location of Whistler’s mother‘s home.  We’ve all seen the picture he painted of his mother, now we know where she lived.  I thought it was appropriate to see, on Mother’s Day, where a very famous mother lived.  :-)

After a short drive to the beach where we could see the white sand being caressed by  mild Atlantic Ocean waves, we ate lunch on a restaurant’s outdoor patio with gentle breezes blowing by. We then walked two blocks to a famous donut shop for dessert, Britt’s donuts, along a boardwalk populated by beach denizens.  Approaching the store, we saw a line and got in it.  We learned that there is always a line at Britt’s.  Britt’s has been around for over fifty years and is still going strong.  What is amazing is that they only serve one style donut, glazed, with coffee and soda.  Period. We watched them dip the donuts in the hot grease, turn them, then use a yard long dowel to take them out and line them up on the dowel,(like a curtain rod with curtain rings on it).  They then dipped the hot donuts in a glaze and hung them up to be sold.  We ordered a half dozen and ate the first two right there while they were still hot.  Oh my!!  

Lined up at Britt's Donuts

I spent the day with one daughter and got phone calls from my other two children while in Wilmington, so it was a day to be fully aware of my many blessings.

Quote of the Day: Life is beauty, admire it.  Life is bliss, taste it.  Mother Teresa