claudia's surf city

I promise to tell how I fell in love at the dump. But having just swept myself out of the house, taken the 8:00 ferry, hauled ass to New Yo...

Brother. This house-prepping stuff sucks. Shelves. Dishes. Refrigerator. Laundry. Dishwasher. Laundry. Wastebaskets. Laundry. Mad rush clean...

Pick up glass and straighten out lumber under house Find new fin for sailboard Put plastic on picnic table and set up cookout tools Adjust r...

The summer people are here now. They have their bicycles and mopeds, their SUV's and surfboards, their Mercedes convertibles and kayaks....

photograph by Peggy Purcell

Where the fuck is "my" lawyer? The guy won't even call me back, never mind move this zoning process forward. Waiting. Calling....

Still haven't painted the railings. But I did make a half-assed door for the outdoor shower. I figured what with BI Bro & family mov...

If the day stays calm, I'm going to try a Tom Sawyer today with painting the railing. Don't tell my houseguests.

The Pawley's Island hammock is swaying in a light, cool breeze from east northeast. The fleet of WASPs on the island for the Storm Trisa...

Not really looking forward to it. I was ready to haul ass out of here and back to the island today when I woke up and it was beautiful out a...

I seem to spend a lot of time taking dragonflies and birds out of the house. I hope they're all out now, because I'm closing the sto...

"I keep cutting it and it's still too short," says Railroad Man. He was talking about the molding I was putting in, but he co...

I wonder if experienced carpenters pause superstitiously before they cut into a virgin board, questioning whether they've retained their...

Doing it. Have to set the saw to the correct depth and turn on the little laser guide light—about as high tech as I get without the manual. ...

I was planning to finish up this stupid bead board thing today, now that everyone is gone and I am all alone with the laundry, the sand on t...

I have two 8' x 4' sheets of fako beadboard paneling and some scraps left. I have one roll and a twitch of insulation. I have a new ...

Everybody loves you when you have a beach house—or so the Angelina Jolie of the Piedmont and I are finding out. Somehow with places that sle...

So what is it with a lawn mower that has sat too long? You could like break your arm trying to start the darn thing. Or maybe I don't ha...

OK, sorry. The DSL is hooked up (one month late), and I'm back. In self promotion news, my story about MIT is on line now at Discover . ...

They all left, and I got back to work. Pieced together a wall of beadboard like a jigsaw puzzle and managed to paint it before the weather r...