February 2022

Pots of Gold Wrightsville beach’s South Lumina Avenue had the top highest sales in New Hanover County with all three oceanfront properties bearing the well-known street address. Two were cash sales.  “The stock market’s been good, people have a lot of cash and if they want to buy something and they’ve got plenty of cash,…

The music of Miles Davis can transport the listener to a relaxed yet spontaneous state, gliding wherever the tune might land. On the opposite end of the spectrum, sitting in nature can lead to hearing the earth’s own music — a chorus of birds, the melody of the wind. For artist Lori Joy Peterson, both…

Valentine’s Day is a holiday for lovers. Specifically, it’s for lovers of dessert and chocolate and things that are heart-shaped.  These recipes lean into the instantly recognizable heart-shaped theme but bring with them a lightness and twist of flavor. These cookies and mini cakes are the sweet treat to cap off a Valentine’s Day dinner…

When ocean temperatures fall below 60 degrees and icy winds whip through the surf, most inshore fishermen hang up their gear and retire for the season. That doesn’t apply to a local band of hardcore anglers who hunt the lovely, elusive speckled trout. Known to visit local surf sloughs during winter, “specks” are sought by…

My first job as a freshly minted fisheries biology graduate from the University of Michigan in 1968 was in Alaska with the U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries as a summer technician on pink salmon smolt research. Smolts are second-year salmon leaving their natal stream for ocean existence. The field station home for the six of…

During the evening of Jan. 23, 1961, newly inaugurated president John F. Kennedy held a strategy meeting with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy to discuss the growing threat of Russian nuclear escalation. As they discussed the nation’s nuclear arms program, 272 miles away a United States Air Force B-52G…

Two days before Christmas, residents along Harbor Island’s Motts Channel were treated to a unique sight. A flock of more than 30 American white pelicans landed in the protected waters near Seapath Yacht Club. Puzzled residents at first thought they were Airlie Garden’s beloved white swans, an infrequent guest in the creek when the pond…

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) underwent a major overhaul, effecting new commercial and residential policies beginning Oct. 1, 2021, and policy renewals beginning April 1, 2022.  The legacy rating system was primarily based on the lowest floor of the structure in relation to the base flood elevation and corresponding flood zone. Under the new system,…

This is not intended as medical advice, but a suggestion to gain readily available knowledge to better care for yourself or loved ones, and/or aid in recovery.  2022 dawned with more than a few in my world feeling poorly, actively sick, or even hospitalized, some in dire straits. Plenty more were recovering. A word we…

The “newest” building in the Wrightsville Beach historic square is the Ewing-Bordeaux Cottage, but it is not new at all. The 1924-era house, moved onto the square at 303 West Salisbury St. in January 2018 from its original location at 405 N. Lumina Ave., was built as a summer-only beach cottage and was one of…