Southport NC - A Snowy Surprise

Normally you don't mention Southport and snow in the same sentence, but every once in awhile the snow gods smile down upon us and send us a little white stuff to crow about. It was just a dusting but it sure does show up pretty on our coastal flora. Most times our snow comes up from the South and East as this one did. The dominant weather pattern of West to East here on the North Carolina coast will dump snow in the mountains and piedmont and about as far as the I95 corridor, and then we always just miss it by a few degrees. We've learned not to get our hopes up.

So even a little snow is a BIG DEAL! Schools were already closed for Martin Luther King day and a teacher workday so I dare say some young ones got their first ever glimpse of the white flakes. Growing up in the Shenandoah Valley, sledding and snowball fights and fort-making were as much a backdrop for my childhood as the beach life has been for my kids. It's in their blood. We moved to Southport 28 years ago and I have loved it all the while. We just have one still at home now and she'll be gone before you know it. We have a little place in the mountains and if we can figure out a some way to live and work in two places, I'll be a happy girl.

On the home front, I've been amazed how empty the town seems, and wondering where the tourists are. Normally they're here in good numbers, even in winter, strolling the streets and hitting the shops. I was blaming the economy until a local merchant mentioned the fact that the Southport - Ft Fisher Ferry is closed for repairs, has a lot to do with it. Well duh... I forget sometimes how much of an impact the ferry has on Southport and its retailers, funneling travelers right through downtown, every hour. The repairs and improvements are supposed to be completed by the end of this month. I know for our shop owners and those who depend on it to commute to work, it'll be none too soon.

It's finally gotten cold enough around here to have a fire. Thank goodness! I mean I loved those 70 degree and even 80 degree days in December, but I need a change of seasons. And my plants have to go dormant so they'll be ready to go again come March. We have plenty of firewood to go with all the basketball heating up in the ACC this year. Add a little popcorn and I'll fight ya over the couch. 'Tis the season....

On a more somber note, the latest unemployment figures in Brunswick County are 8.8% for the month of November, up from 7.1% in October. Service sector jobs, particularly those that depend on "new construction," are the hardest hit as you might imagine. I have to point out that the self-employed, which includes a large percentage of various building trade workers, aren't included in the unemployment numbers. I know many who are hurting right now. Surprisingly, there are still folks looking at real estate in Brunswick County. Not that many are buying, but those who have the funds available are once again choosing real estate over the stock market. I am invested in both and I can tell you I sleep more soundly at night with my real estate holdings than I do my current investment portfolio, which I now actively manage. My faithful mortgage broker, Pat, keeps me updated. She's my role model 'cause she has actually found a way to work two markets, one in the mountains where her family is, and one here in Brunswick County where her husband's business is. In spite of what the media is telling us, lenders are actually lending money. First time home buyers have a real advantage as well as anyone with a credit score of 725 or more.

So I'll leave you with a few pictures...as pitiful as they are if you live in REAL snow country. But we'll take whatever white stuff we can get...and keep dreaming... of those "sleigh bells in the snow."

Bay Street frosting....

A Coastal Cottage....

On the Banks of the Cape Fear

My Neighbor

And lastly, the great Christmas Eve blizzard of 1989, which delivered upwards of 18" of snow to the NC coast.