Pepper's Morning at the Brunswick Forest Dog Park

Pepper and a passle of other dogs had a great time at Brunswick Forest's Dog Park this morning. Pepper, a Giant Schnauzer who weighs just about 100 pounds was probably the largest and heaviest dog there. A pair of 4 pound Yorkshire Terriers and a Chihuahua were the smallest, with some German Shepards, a Lab or two, several mixed breed dogs, and a feisty Cairn Terrier.

Many of the dogs met for the first time and they all got along. It was a nice time and today was a perfect day for it. In the first photo below part of group all ran to the gate to greet a newcomer. The rest of the photos are without captions, but the message of dogs at play is clear.

Dogs and Music at Paw Jam, Crafts and Business at Waterford May Day - A Leland Spring Saturday

Saturday May 2nd, 2009 was a typical busy day in the greater Leland area. Simultaneous events ran on the western bank of the Cape Fear River at USS North Carolina Battleship Park and at the Shoppes of Waterford in front of Waterford of the Carolinas. These events played against a backdrop of the 2009 Spring Parade of Homes thoughout our whole area.

As points of "technical fact" neither of the events, Paw Jam 2009 or May Day at Waterford actually took place in Leland, though most people would think so and say so. Battleship Park is on a small slice of land west of the Cape Fear River that's actually part of the City of Wilmington in New Hanover County and the Shoppes of Waterford are in an area that's actually a segment of incorporated Belville. Whatever, we'll assert that they were in the greater Leland area and move right along.

Paw Jam is an annual event, this was the 8th year, that combines lots of dog-related, dog-fun activities and booths. It's held in Battleship Park in the shade (almost) of the battleship USS North Carolina in a grassy park that's right on the river. It's a convenient, pretty site, with plenty of parking. The first 7 years Paw Jam was held in early June but the past 3 years it was so hot for dogs and people this year they decided to try early May. It was still warm, but not hot, though it was a bit windy at first and some very light rain fell late morning.

One of the first people Pepper and I saw when we entered Paw Jam (which benefits animal rescue centers throughout the area) was Anna Platz, a young old friend.

Here's the official poster for the event (I intentionally made this the second image in this blog post so Anna and Pepper's photo would show up in RSS feeds).


As you can see, there were plenty of booths, many under trees.


Looking the other way.

There was a large tent for shade in the middle of the park and plenty of water buckets. Here's Pepper doing her best to drain a large water container. Someone soon after said, "Ew, your dog slobbered on me." LOL, not exactly, but her beard does carry a bunch of water if not wiped.

Our buddies Mike and Meredith Moshofsky had a booth backing up to the river. Meredith sells Flint River Ranch human-grade dog and cat food. See those blue tubs in the background? Those were there for dog cooling - didn't need 'em as much this year as in recent years, but great that they were there.

When the band started playing Pepper paid attention.

Some more booths on the river, with the Riverside Hilton and PPD building in the background across the river.

We had a nice time at Paw Jam 2009 but also wanted to go to the May Day event at Waterford.

This was the first time the Waterford Shoppes had an event in the spring - last year's Fall Festival was the first and it was rockin'. This season's event was a bit more laid back - possibly because the wind was so heavy in the early AM some vendors decided not to set up.

The electric bikes and scooters were there in force, however.

As was the ices booth.

Some really nice crafts booths.

Artists, businesses, and restaurants.

An animal rescue group.

King Tiger Martial Arts school, with loads of demonstrations.


Our always buddies from NBM Magazine - including Ava Williams, who was on hand but is hard to see in the photo.

Artist Ronald Williams displayed orginal coastal and landscape art.

The electric scooter guy

The ever-ebulliant Bullards of Bugsy's Cigars!

And Diane and Jay Merritt of Victory Church - good friends involved with Manna Minstries.

Overall a fine day in Great Leland!

Wilmington Sunday Riverwalk

What a great day today was. After spending all day yesterday at the Waterford Fall Festival, it was neat today to hang around the house and do some chores. Accomplished some serious garage cleaning. By mid afternooon, though, Marge, Pepper, and I were ready for a break. We hopped in the car (well, Marge and I entered the vehicle a bit more sedately) and drove downtown to see if we could find our new friend Justine Ferreri's shop at Chandler's Walk. Turned out we got there too late (Chandler's Walk closes at 4 on Sundays), but that didn't stop us from having a nice stroll on the riverwalk.

We're always amazed when we find the gorgeous Riverwalk uncrowded, which it often is on Sunday mornings and late afternoons. Pepper loves it, and immediately struck a pose, so below you'll find the obligatory "dog on Riverwalk photo".


Walking north we soon came to a fleet of good-sized boats docked in front of the condos that directly face the Cape Fear River (note the Cape Fear River Bridge in the background). There was some serious floatage tied up today, includind a newer 56 footer, a spiffy catamaran sailing vessel, and one that if I knew anything about boats (which I don't) I'd guess was a Chris Craft Connie, a long one. Still few other people in sight.


After walking for a while we decided to head home but on the way to the car (don't you love it you can park downtown for free all day Sunday) Pepper and Marge wanted to pose under the sign for the Cape Fear Serpentarium. I happily obliged, with the result below.

This was yet another nice day in lovely downtown Wilmington.

Sunday AM at Wrightsville Beach - Surfers, Bikers, and Pepper!

What a great time we had at Wrightsville Beach this morning. Dogs on leash are allowed on the beach October through April, so Marge and I put Pepper, our 8-year old female Giant Schnauzer, in the car and headed out early.

Those who don't live around here may not know that Wrightsville Beach has the best surfing on the East Coast, but truly year round, in almost any weather, you can find surfers on WB. So it wasn't unusual when Pepper made her first new friends of the day fresh out of the surf.

As we walked further down the beach we realized something was up, however, as the number of photographers with long lenses outnumbered everyone but the surfers. Turns out this weekend was the occasion of a surfing competition hosted by the SurfRiding Foundation.

Pepper enjoyed hanging out in front of the judge's stand for a while - she particularly liked the music.

Like most people, however, her eyes were glued on the 10s and 10s of surfers in the water. My camera isn't right for capturing images out that far, but the water was popping with wet-suited surfers, and many were waaaay much better than the usual Sunday morning crowd.

Pepper also met a young guy who took a break from competing to ride a blow up shark.

Here's the same guy with some friends in the water.

As we were leaving Pepper spied some folks on bikes and, well, she just can't stay away from motorcycles. So, the next thing we knew she wanted her picture taken with the bikers. Fortunately they were happy to oblige.

We left the beach to go home for lunch and to do a few chores. Pepper didn't want to leave at first, but we promised we'd take her downtown later.