The Blessing Of The Fleet in Colington Harbour.

As you know, I live in Colington Harbour. You can go here to read a bit of the history.

Saturday morning, I escaped from the house and went up to the harbor to watch the annual Memorial Day weekend Blessing Of The Fleet.

Here's one of the beautiful old oaks, Quercus virginiana,

in the park overlooking the Albemarle Sound.

The park area has really grown up since my children were little. Picnic tables, grills, playground equipment have all been installed. When Daughter Hawthorne was a baby, I'd take her to the sound in the summer. There was an extensive beach back then, but now, the wave action has worn it away and it's been bulkheaded to prevent further erosion. Notice all the Spanish moss in the trees. Spanish moss will not grow where the air is contaminated. It is not a parasite, but an epiphyte, or air plant, deriving it's sustenance from rain and wind. And it's actually a member of the pineapple family. And plus of pluses, back in the day, I could take DH and my Lab, Rosie, and Rosie could swim all day and play Frisbee and DH could frolic in the shallow water with Rosie. And no one else would be on that little beach except us. Ahhh. Good times. (And dogs aren't allowed anymore.) Here's Daughter Hawthorne in her little float

and Rosie with her frisbee.

Daughter Hawthorne on Colington Beach. She loved it here.

This is one of my favorite pictures.

And here's Daughter Hawthorne on her very first fishing expedition. This is down at Coquina Beach, not Colington Harbour, and has nothing to do with this post, but was in the same folder with the other pictures of Daughter Hawthorne. I needed to include it just for me. Such determination! And she's holding her tongue just right.

Back to the Blessing of the Fleet. (Sorry, I get off on a tangent sometimes.)

The boats have been gathering in a little inlet just outside of the harbor. Now, they're entering the harbor and circling.

Officiating at the service are Father Bill Stickle (or it could be Stickel) and Reverend Teresa Holloway of Colington United Methodist Church. I'm going to include the entire Blessing Of The Fleet ceremony in the next 8 videos. First the introduction: The National Anthem, sung by Beth Brown of the Colington Yacht Club. Prayer by Reverend Holloway. Blessing of the Fleet. (Notice the osprey nest in the background and the osprey stayed right there the entire time.) Blessings continue to flow. And flow. Concluding prayer by Father S.

After the ceremony, the boats docked up for the pig-pickin'. I left for home and gardening, weeding, seeding, cutting the grass which took me only 2 hours, and turning on the sprinklers to water my cut, stressed grass, which in turn made it rain very hard today. All.Day.Long. My exact intentions. Here's the historical marker at the harbor. I enjoyed this ceremony. I enjoyed sitting on a park bench waiting for it to begin. It was calming and peaceful. I enjoyed reminiscing about 22 years ago when I'd bring Daughter Hawthorne and my Sweet Rosie to the beach for the day. I enjoyed watching the boats. I enjoyed the sense of community and belonging. I enjoyed being by myself. I'll be back next year. God bless our fleets.