Dear Family and Friends,

This is my letter to the World
That never wrote to me-
The simple News that Nature told
With tender Magesty      E.D.

I have been receiving your emails...one by one they come across the
cosmos..some are chatty about your summers scattered across the universe..some are a
bit short...where are you, you ask, have you disappeared? Hmmmm.....I have
disappeared a bit...into this moment in time..this place...this life where I know
which side of the table is mine...where all the forks go..where the extra
toothpaste is kept..where the phone now often rings for me.

My vocabulary has changed from I to we....from Philip's house to home..from
the House at White Picket Gardens to the House with the White Cemetery.

My activities have changed..from theatre directing to shop keeping..from
driving to walking/biking...from roast beef to fresh caught clams in the
sound...from ironing girl things to Philip's t-shirts...from indoor showers to
showering every day outside under stars or sun or rain...from Book Club to informal
book talks at Community Pot Luck dinners...from traveling to tell stories to
walking down the lane to share my love of stories at the Ocrafolk Opry.

My sights have changed...from asphalt roads to sand...from highways to
water...from Indiana corn to sea oats...from Annie's Attic in my garage to the
treehouse and gypsy wagon...from ponds and lakes to a sea of water.

My sounds have changed...from car horns to the ferry horn...from the ice
cream man to the church bells which ring four times a day in our back
yard...from crickets to the noisy sound of frogs in the swamp after the rain.

I would not paint-a picture-
I'd rather be the One
Its bright impossibility
To dwell-delicious-on
And wonder how the fingers feel
Whose rare-celestial-stir-
Evokes so sweet a Torment-
Such sumptuous-Despair     E.D.

The particulars of these past couple of weeks are so many that it is
difficult to begin...we both had eye Dr. appointments off island, which took the full
day..four hours of ferry and driving and then back again.
My report was great, although my vision is still very limited in my right
eye, the surgery was successful. We both knew it would be..I have never felt
healthier than I am at this point in my life.

Amy (Philip's daughter) is waiting for the baby to come...she will be leaving
the island on Friday. It is too difficult and unsafe for her to wait here
for labor to begin (ferries can only go so fast, and we are four hours from the
nearest hospital)..so we are working her hours at the shop as well as our own.
It is sometimes difficult to live over the shop...even when Philip is not on
call...he is needed. Our day off is Sunday....so I try and make the list for
the day (including Sunday Passage)..but last Sunday the phone rang early with
an invitation to go clamming..and then it was cleaning the clams and croquet
and music and supper at the Jolly Roger, and we walked back into the house at
10:30.

Evenings are dinners with friends, the ghost walk, the Opry, late night
cribbage games at the kitchen table, and our daily two mile walk past the light
house.

My birthday was last week. Sundae, a lovely young woman on the island with
two children and married to the sailing Captain, made me a crown of roses..I
wore them every day and every where I went..to work, biking for groceries.
Philip made my birthday so special with flowers and small gifts that he knew I
would love...gin and tonic on the pizer...towards dusk we rode our bikes to a
wonderful restaurant for dinner and rode home through cool darkness. New
friends stopped in with wishes and silver spoons and plants for my garden (it does
grow well!!), and poems.

Family News: Abe and Kristin should be home from Hawaii and their first
anniversary...let me hear from you. To my friends and family in Indiana..I will
be home soon enough to catch up on news and share stories. Mom and Dad are
loving the House at White Picket Gardens with cool nights and flowers and
raspberries in the garden. Aaron and Karen are home in Indiana enjoying Matthew who
just turned three (Happy Birthday, little one...I have not met you yet, but
will soon.) My sister, Leslie, is embarking on a new personal journey..I wish
her well. My new website is finally up and wonderful. I have a daily journal
on the site that I update almost every day so that you can keep up with the
daily activities...you can even drop a note if you like!! www.louannhoman.com
You might even want to check Philip's diary, we often write about the same
subjects at the same time!! www.villagecraftsmen.com (Click on the Ocracoke
Journal, he is a great writer!!)

My poet for the day is Emily Dickinson. Thank you for being patient with my
writing...words will always wait...know that I am well, know that I am happy,
know that finding love at any age is worth each change that comes our way.

I reckon-when I count at all-
First-Poets-Then the Sun-
Then Summer-Then the Heaven of God
And then- the List is done-

But, looking back-the First so seems
To Comprehend the Whole-
The Others look a needless Show-
So I write-Poets-All

Their Summer-lasts a Solid Year-
They can afford a Sun
The East-would deem extravagant-
And if the Further Heaven-

Be Beautiful as they prepare
For Those who worship Them-
It is too difficult a Grace-
To justify the Dream     E.D.

Lou Ann

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