April 19, 2015.  After breakfast this morning, we took the two dogs (Doris and her cousin Daisy) for a walk on the beach at Oak Island — very near Southport.  When we returned to Jenny’s house, a car was in the drive — two good friends who lived here 8 years ago had dropped in for a visit.  We had fun catching up with them over lunch.

A word or two about Southport.   Located near the mouth of the Cape Fear River (33.924484, -80.20513 on your GPS dial), Southport was founded in 1792 as the town of Smithville, named after Benjamin Smith (or perhaps a variation on Smallville, where Superman was from).   In either event, “Smithville” never got much traction as a town name, so in 1887 the Chamber of Commerce tried out the catchier name “Southport” in an effort to promote the town as a major shipping port.  Bingo!  Not only did the shipping trade head this way in droves, interest in the picturesque village inexorably reached as far as Hollywood CA.  Southport is now a popular location for shooting TV dramas and movies, including film adaptations of many of Nicolas Sparks’ novels (think Bridges of Madison County and so on), the TV series Dawson’s Creek, Under the Dome and Matlock, and a bunch of movies, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Summer Catch, Domestic Disturbance, Crimes of the Heart, Nights in Rodanthe, A Walk to Remember and Safe Haven.  Today, almost everyone in town goes around wearing sunglasses.

Brad and Dick are in there sleeping through the golf tournament and Jenny and I are cooking dinner and getting back down to business with the cards.  Tomorrow, Brad, Doris and I will head out early for a longish trip up to Cape Lookout, the jumping off point for a drive up the Outer Banks.

Daisy, the Captain and Doris all tensed up on the porch.