Groundhog Day 2015

The day we returned from the beach to Sara and Ben's house was Groundhog's Day... and my birthday. Because of that, I got to choose where we stopped for lunch. I didn't want to eat at an ordinary fast food chain so Sara used her phone to see what was around. We stopped at a sweet little restaurant in some little town. The restaurant where we ate was in a building that was probably a department store or something in the past. We sat at a table that was maybe in an area that used to be for the window displays. We were the window display for a bit.

It was decorated in a very eclectic manner. Along the front in the window was a whole little Christmas scene, complete with fake snow.  I guess they weren't in a hurry to take it down. On another wall they had framed pictures that had Winnie-the-Pooh quotes on them. A few of the walls had words from old hymns painted on them. It was kind of sweet. Our waitress had on a t-shirt that said, "I'm not perfect but I'm forgiven." 

That may look like a tender moment between me and Mike but do you know why my hand is on his? I was holding it down because he kept grabbing my nose!

For dinner that night we were at Sara and Ben's and they cooked a delicious dinner for us. What was really sweet was that Sara went and changed into a pretty dress. The reason that was so touching was the dress had been made by and belonged to my Grandma Rose. It looked beautiful on Sara and I thought it was a sweet gesture to wear it for my birthday.

We completed the day by playing a game that was new to us, TICKET TO RIDE. Have you played it? I really enjoyed it and look forward to our next time to play it. 

My birthday was quite memorable and it just made me so happy to spend it with Ben and Sara.

Beach Photo Shoot

Our daughter-in-law, Sara, was photographer for this strange, spontaneous photo shoot involving Ben, Mike and me.

OBX Lighthouses

After church last Sunday Mike and I met up with Ben and Sara and we took off to explore more of the Outer Banks. We weren't going to be there long enough to fully explore the area so we decided to head South and climb a lighthouse. There are four lighthouses along the OBX (remember, that is the cool way to write "Outer Banks") and two of them were advertised as open to the public for climbing. We all wanted to do that. It seemed interesting and we knew the view from the top would be fantastic!

Well, even on a fantastic day such as that one, disappointments could still occur.

As it turned out, the lighthouses were NOT open for public climbing because it was still the off season. Bummer. Still, we were able to walk around outside two of them.

This first lighthouse is the Bodie Island Lighthouse. There was a lot of water around it (well, duh?!) and a lot of birds. There were also a lot of birdwatchers hauling around giant cameras and tripods.  Close enough for the birdwatchers to hear him, Ben said to Sara something like this, "This is why I can't go anywhere! The Paparazzi are always there." Funny guy.

Bodie Island Lighthouse

Sara and Ben must have outrun the paparrazi.

We continued on down the skinny piece of land called the Outer Banks/OBX.  The road looked to have been plowed as sand was piled high on each sand. Some places the highway was this skinny...

No, we didn't get a helicopter ride. This photo is public domain, compliments of Wikipedia. The crazy thing about driving along that highway was that, although we knew that we had ocean on both sides of us, much of the time we couldn't see it because of those piles of sand on each side of the highway. Not to worry, we parked from time to time and filled our shoes up with sand as we climbed over the sand to play on the beach. It was worth filling our shoes! 

These beaches just go on and on and on.

Mike Skipping Stones - Hard to Do With Waves Coming In

Sara and Ben

(I love this photo)

We stopped at another bird reserve and followed an interesting path that had been 

tunneled through the scruffy brush. It was pretty cool.

Aaaah, Ben and His Ladies

I was going to tell you what was going on with me here but I actually can't remember.

From there, we moved on to Hattaras Lighthouse. It is known for its diagonal stripes. Actually, all 4 lighthouses along the OBX are painted differently. That way, ships at sea would know where they were by recognizing the designs on the lighthouses. Although the gift shop was open, the doors to climb up inside were locked until April 1.

But, Ben wanted to climb a lighthouse. We didn't let him. That kid has been climbing things since he was 8 months old!

There were deer all around the grounds there. We see deer all the time in 

Wyoming but these seemed different, more petite.

Speaking of wildlife...

I am not sure which little village we ate at as they kind of ran together. It was a little seafood place but after I sat down Mike pointed out this guy behind us.

I am not a big fan of animal heads hanging over my meal but this one was just weird. Here we were, out in the ocean, far from Wyoming. There hung a Pronghorn. Many people may not know this but 80% of the world's pronghorn live within a 200 mile radius of our town in Wyoming. Many live right in our town. Some of them hang out on the lawn of our church! I asked the waitress about it and she said her boss had gone hunting in Wisconsin or Wyoming or somewhere. I guess it was one of those "W" states, huh?  

Well, I'm going to stop for now but check back tomorrow because I have a photo of a special house to show to you.

From Forest to Hockey Rink

Mike and I just returned this week from a wonderful vacation in North Carolina. We went there to visit Ben and Sara, our son and daughter-in-law. We had a great time there! I took a lot of photos, not all of which turned out quite as I'd hoped. Still, I have some good ones to share.

We always enjoy pleasant hikes near Ben and Sara's house and that was our first order of business. These photos were taken as we were walking into Duke Forest. It was pretty cool and windy but still so pretty and I was so happy to be with Ben and Sara. Their little dog, J-rake, led the way when allowed. I was impressed when Ben called out, "J-rake, Caboose!" That cool little dog stopped, walked backwards a few steps as we walked forward and then walked behind us all.

I enjoyed this area where the layers of grasses, little evergreens and then bigger trees lined up in order. The contrast was pleasing to me.

Just a pretty, crisp day and a stroll with our far-away kids. I felt so happy.

Later that evening we went to see the St. Louis Blues play the Carolina Hurricanes. We're talking hockey here people.  I'm not exactly a hockey fan but I was pleased we got to attend as I AM a Mike fan and this made him very happy.  I don't know that Ben and Sara are hockey fans in general but they seemed to have fun. For some ridiculous reason they felt  that since they live in North Carolina, they ought to cheer for the North Carolina team. They are lucky we acknowledged them at all!

The hockey game started right off with the St. Louis Blues making two goals. For those of you who follow hockey, you know that sometimes those games can go a looooooong time without a score. As it turned out, it was a pretty exciting game and I had fun as well.

And, yes, the Blues won!

I'll stop here for now but the vacation got even better the next day!

Driving into a Storm

I recently made two purchases. You know I have a lot of family members who are artists, right? Obviously I can't have all their artwork, no matter how lovely. Now and then, though, I treat myself by investing in art that I love.

The first new purchase was this piece created by our daughter-in-law. I liked it the first time I saw it. I went online and purchased it before someone else did.  The title of it is Driving into a Storm.

I am really enjoying it! After I bought it Sara told me where it was. It is on the drive between our's and my Mom's. I love that drive so it is no wonder that painting spoke to me!

If you want to see any more of her work go to the website, newly designed by our son, Ben.

I will get photos ready for my next post of the other new art I purchased.  See you soon!

Sara's Birthday Post

Happy Birthday to our daughter-in-law, Sara!

She has added her own special sparkle to our family and we love her.

Magnolia Plantation

 After touring Drayton Hall, we went down the road and toured the Magnolia Plantation. The house at Magnolia had been destroyed during the revolutionary war, rebuilt and is now restored. It was beautiful and was surrounded by beautiful gardens. I'll get to that later.

This photo of Ben and Sara is blurry so I can't enlarge it, but I liked it so much I couldn't delete it.

 The greeting party at Magnolia included a number of peacocks.

Peacocks are so strange to me, 

beautiful from the front and naked looking on the back.

This guy posed nicely for me.

 Pretty civilized peacocks who expect to be fed at the table!

 It was fun to take this tour with Ben and Sara.

 Around the outer parts of the plantation, things were a bit spooky-looking.

Sara loved the swampy areas!

 Our guide told us this site was used in the old movie, Swamp Thing.

I will say that I do NOT want to go swimming there!

 I was intrigued by these little stumpy things around the bases of these trees.

Friends from the South, what kind of tree is that and will those little

things grow up to be more trees?

To me, they kind of looked like little gophers surrounding

the base of the trees.

 I know these birds are perfectly fine birds

but don't they look a bit evil?

I was about to delete this photo, not because it was so bad 

but I took soooooo many photos, editing is necessary.

Thankfully, I decided to enlarge it just in case I was missing something.

And there he is, a baby alligator!

We were told there were some really big ones there in the ponds

but they were elusive on our tour. This little guy showed up for us, though.

We then moved in closer to the house, touring the beautiful gardens.

This is pretty, don't you think?

There's the house.

Nice, huh?

Poor Ben and Sara.

I made them pose until they were sick of it.

We were touring through an area called the romantic gardens.

The original home was destroyed in 1780 by the British.

That was a long time ago!

Ben and I braved the garden maze.

Sara waited outside; I was

confident she would rescue us if we couldn't

find our way out.

It got a little frustrating at times

but it was kind of fun.

I followed Ben for awhile then we went our own ways.

Thankfully, we made it back to each other at the end!

Cemetery Walk

I have to admit, I kind of like walking through cemeteries. In 6th grade, when my family moved to a rural church parsonage in Minnesota, I began a lifelong fascination with them. That parsonage we lived in was right beside the little church where my Dad was a pastor. The beautiful setting was completed with a small cemetery. Click here to read about that place and to see photos taken when Mom and I last visited there.

There is a cemetery just a block from where I work now. It is a cemetery where I've gone for several years now, using it as my place of peace or thinking or whatever I need at the time. I started going there when my friend/patient, Sara, died. I treasured her and miss her easy laugh. She was also a nurse and we enjoyed a precious bond. You can read again about Sara here.

Later, when other dear patients died, I didn't usually know where they were buried. Sara's grave became a place where I could mourn all of the patients I've known and cared for. Is that too weird? Over the years the spaces around Sara's grave have been filled. Just standing at the foot of her grave I can read the names of at least 7 or 8 other patients I knew. It is a strange feeling. It kind of reminds me, though, that we are all in this place for just a short time, really.

Anyway, like I said, this cemetery is by my workplace. I decided it would be a nice place for a lunchtime walk recently. As it turned out, I wasn't really alone there. I just thought you'd like to see the photos I took with my cell phone when I took that walk.

Hey!

I don't think you are supposed to eat those!

So, tell me the truth.

Am I weird or do any of you enjoy a walk through a cemetery?