My Thoughts

The weather is ideal for getting back outside to fully enjoy spring before things turn warmer and get busier. To that end we have some fun reading.

I’m not sure about you but spring to me always inspires the thought, “I wonder if Britt’s Donuts is open yet?” It doesn’t mean I always act on the thought, but I do admit to having it.

Movies have been filming on Pleasure Island, with that in mind we planned an excursion to look at the murals that have been installed all over the downtown Carolina Beach business district. What a wonderful way to engage people and encourage them to walk around the town. When you add to that draw a concert and fireworks every Thursday night there’s enough to call a field trip to the southern end of the county. Don’t forget your cash (for Britt’s), credit card (parking), hat, and walking shoes. If you indulge, check the schedule of Britts’ hours (Friday 4pm – Sunday when I visited).

Another fun part of the shoulder season is getting out with your pet. For ever-growing numbers that includes their horse and still others their farm animals. While writing the feature on local meats a few months back, I met a large-animal veterinarian who made me think about the availability of large-animal vets in our tri-county area. Thus, we have that story for you, as well as an update on what’s going on at NC State in veterinary medicine. It’s truly amazing. In the 1980s my favorite horse, Patrick, had an extended hospitalization there. I’ve never forgotten how impressed I was by the care he received.

Another feature spurred by a previous story is David Norris’s look into the many iterations of the name of the creek that separates Landfall, and to its north, Queens Point. We call it Howe Creek, but that has not always been so.

There’s good news about the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust, which is raising money to buy the south end of Topsail Island. And spurred by a call from a long-time reader, a look at where the county and towns stand on efforts to remove derelict and abandoned boats out of the waterways.

For Robert Rehder fans, there’s the story of the tom turkey that got away due to the intervention of a hen.

It’s May and that means it’s Mother’s Day month, so a happy and blessed Mother’s Day to all our mothers, grandmothers, great grandmothers, and mothers to be, plus everyone who’s kind to others as a mother would be.

—Pat Bradford, Senior Editor/Publisher